Dr. Shiva Urella completed his IMA in Political Science (2013-18) from the University of Hyderabad and worked under the supervision of Prof. Jyotirmaya Sharma to finish his master’s thesis on Hindu myths and political thought, has joined Yale University. He received his PhD in Religious Studies, specializing in African, Asian, and Middle Eastern Religions, from Emory University, Atlanta, for his dissertation on Telangana-based ritual specialists and oral narrative performers called Ogguvandlu. Dr. Shiva received the prestigious Taraknath Das Memorial Junior Research Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies for 2022-2023 for his dissertation fieldwork. He has presented his work at the Annual Conference on South Asia in Madison, the AIIS Junior Fellows conference, Emory Telugu Studies, South Asia Seminar Series, and co-organized the 2024 Madison Telugu Studies symposium.
At Yale, he will work as a Lector in Telugu and offer elementary and intermediate level language courses, and teach a seminar course focusing on religion, language, politics, and caste in South India.
Congratulations to Dr. Shiva Urella.