Publications

Prof. Dr. Karin Polit

MONOGRAPHS

2016
When Gods set out to wander: The value of art, heritage and ritual in Uttarakhand, India. (Habilitation thesis, submitted in April 2015. Faculty of Behavioural and Empirical Social Sciences, University of Heidelberg).

2012
Women of Honour: Gender and Agency among Dalit Women in the Central Himalayas. Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan.

2006
Keep My Share of Rice in the Cupboard : ethnographic reflections on practices of gender and agency among Dalit women in the Central Himalayas. Heidelberg: Universitätsbibliothek der Uni Heidelberg. URL: http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/10671.

EDITORSHIP

2017
(with H. Walsdorf Hg.) Rituelle und Performative Lernkulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.

2016
(with G. Alex Hg.) Childbirth and its Accompanying Rituals. Draupadi: Heidelberg.

2011
(with C. Brosius Hg.) Ritual, Heritage and Identity: The Politics of Culture and Performance in a Globalised World. New Delhi: Routledge.

2010
(withC. Brosius Hg.) Ritual and Media, section of Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual. Volume IV- Reflexivity, Media and Visuality. (Hg Axel Michaels et al.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

JOURNAL AND BOOK CONTRIBUTIONS

2023

(im Druck). Subjectivities, Agency and Ritual Performance in the Garhwal Himalayas.  In: Susanne Goumegou, Sebastian Thies und Russel West-Pavlov. Precarious Subjectivities in the Global South. London:Routledge.

2021        

mit Sarah Ewald.  Wenn der Umbruch zum Alltag wird. Veränderte Temporalität, Zeugenschaft und künstlerische Praxis im Kaschmirtal. In: Carolin Führer und Anton Weixler (Hrsg). Umbruch-Bild-Erinnerung. Relationen einer zeithistorischen Narration. Berlin: De Gruyter.
 

2019        

“Wandering God; how young Himalayans negotiate religion, caste identity and modernity”. In Christoph Bergmann und Jürgen Schaflechner (Hrsg). Ritual Journey in South Asia. Constellations and Contestations of Mobility and Space. London:Routledge: 62-84.    

2018     

Gifts of love and friendship: On changing marriage traditions, the meaning of gifts and the value of women in the Garhwal Himalays. In Journal of Hindu Studies.
 

2017        

Rituelles Lernen in ritueller Praxis: Kinästhetisch-mimetisches Lernen am Beispiel nordindischer Ritualpraktiken. In: Karin Polit und Hanna Walsdorf (Hg.). Rituelle und Performative Lernkulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.

2017        

mit Fletcher Dubois. Spontane Performanz, Kreativität und die Poesie der Musik. In: Karin Polit und Hanna Walsdorf (Hg.). Rituelle und Performative Lernkulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.

2016
Gifts of love and friendship: On changing marriage traditions, the meaning of gifts and the value of women in the Garhwal Himalays. In Journal of Hindu Studies.

2016
Rituelles Lernen in ritueller Praxis: Kinästhetisch-mimetisches Lernen am Beispiel nordindischer Ritualpraktiken. In: Karin Polit und Hanna Walsdorf (Hg.). Rituelle und Performative Lernkulturen. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.

2016
(with G. Alex) Childbirth and its accompanying rituals – an introduction. In: Gabriele Alex und Karin Polit (Hg.). Childbirth and its Accompanying Rituals. Heidelberg: Draupadi.

2016
The making of persons and ancestors: rituals of birth and death among Dalits in the Garhwal Himalayas. In: Gabriele Alex und Karin Polit (Hg.). Childbirth and its Accompanying Rituals. Heidelberg: Draupadi.

2015
Rythm, Agency and Divine Presence in the Garhwal Himalayas. In: Schulze, H. (Hg.) (Musical) Text as Ritual Object. Brepols: 151-161

2013
Verkörperung. In: Christiane Brosius, Axel Michaels, Paula Schrode (Hg.). Ritual und Ritualdynamik: Schlüsselbegriffe, Theorien, Diskussionen. Göttingen: UTB: 215-221.

2013
Performative Ritual as Sensual Experience of Body, Place and Sociality. In. Axel Michaels und Christof Wulf (Hg.). Exploring the Senses. New Delhi: Routledge.

2013
Moving Deities and the Public Sphere. In: Ute Hüsken und Axel Michaels (Hg.). South Asian Festivals on the Move. Wiesbaden. Harrasowitz: 275-296.

2012
(with W.S. Sax) Moved by God: Performance and Memory in the Western Himalayas. In: Koch, S; Fuchs, T & Müller, C. (Hg.). Body Memory, Metaphor and Movement. Ch. 16.

2011
Wenn Rituale Kulturerbe werden: Zur Konstruktion und Ästhetik kulturellen Erbes in Uttarakhand, Nordindien. In: Karolewski, J.; Miczek, N & Zotter, C. (Hg.)‚ Ritualdesign’ Beiträge zur ritualtheoretischen Anwendung des Begriffs Frankfurt am Main: Transkript, Sektion3.

2011
(with C. Brosius) Introduction: Ritual, Heritage and Identity in a Globalised World. In: Brosius and Polit (Hg.) Ritual, Heritage and Identity: The Politics of Culture and Performance in a Globalised World: New Delhi: Routledge, 1-17.

2011
Heritage, Art and Elections: Popular Culture, Ritual and Political Competition in Uttarakhand. In: Brosius and Polit (Hg.) Ritual, Heritage and Identity: The Politics of Culture and Performance in a Globalised World. New Delhi: Routledge, 149 – 164.

2011
From Ritual Ground to Stage (mit F Dubois, E. de Maaker and M. Riphagen) In: Grimes et. al. (Hg.) Ritual, Media, and Conflict. New York: Oxford University Press, 37-75.

2011
Was sind eigentlich Rituale? In: Alexandra Heidle (Hg.) Die bunte Welt der Rituale. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 6-11.

2010
(with C. Brosius) Introducing Media Rituals and Ritual Media. In: Brosius and Polit (Hg.)"Ritual and Media", section of Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual. Volume IV- Reflexivity, Media and Visuality. (Hg Axel Michaels et al.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 267 – 276.

2009
Staging Ritual Heritage: How Rituals Become Theatre in Uttarakhand, India. In: Brosius and Hüsken (Hg.) Ritual Matters. New Delhi: Routledge, 29-48.

2008
Pilgrimages: Hinduism – Gender and sexuality. In: Encyclopaedia of Sex and Gender. New York: Macmillan Reference.

2008
Performing heritage through rituals, the case of Uttarakhand. In Bent Flemming Nielsen, Bent Holm, and Karen Vedel (Hg.). Religion, Ritual, Theatre. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang.

2007
The Consequences of Ritual Failure. A Garhwali case study. In Ute Hüsken (Hg.) When Rituals go wrong. Mistakes, Failure, and the Dynamics of Ritual. Leiden: Brill, 199 – 208.

2005
The Effect of Marginality on People’s Well Being: An Ethnographic encounter among Dalits of the Central Himalayas. In: Stefan Ecks and William S. Sax (Hg.). The Ills of Marginality: New Perspectives on Health in South Asia, special issue of Anthropology and Medicine. 12(3): 225-237.

2005
(with Razum. O. and Sahin-Hodoglugil, N.N.) Health, wealth or family ties? Why Turkish work migrants return from Germany: Qualitative study with re-migrants in Turkey. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 31: 719-739.

FILMS

2011
When Gods set out to wander: the divine pilgrimage oft he godking „Jakh“ in the Central Himalayas. 59min, (Kamera, Regie, Konzept: K.Polit; Schnitt: S. Ewald und F. Pfeiffer)

2011
Jugendkulturen in Indien und deren Rituale. 4,12 min. www.dfg-science-tv.de/de/projekte/rituale/2011-06-22 (Konzept, Mitarbeit und Protagonist: K.Polit – in Zusammenarbeit mit F. Pfeiffer und C. Bertolo, Universität Heidelberg)