Deconstructing gender in yoga

Sian Hawthorne, Melanie Klein

You can watch the recording of this event on YouTube . For other event recordings see our Media page.

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A conversation with Sîan Hawthorne and Melanie Klein. Why is the subject of ‘women in yoga’ important? What can a sociological analysis tell us about the terms ‘women’ and ‘yoga’? How do questions of race and colonialism intersect with gender? The Yoga Journal estimates that in North America today, 75% out of 15-20 million practitioners are female. What explains these gender demographics, if hathayoga was a practice primarily for men?
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Speaker Biography

Sîan Hawthorne is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Religion in the School of History, Religions, and Philosophies, SOAS, University of London. Her research interests lie in the areas of intellectual history, religion and politics, narrativity, feminist and postcolonial criticism, and epistemological modelling and theory and method in the study of religions. She is the convenor of SOAS' MA Religions in Global Politics, the BA Global Liberal Arts and co-founder and co-convenor of the BA World Philosophies, a unique degree that focuses on training students in philosophical traditions beyond (but in dialogue with) European and Anglophone philosophy.

Melanie Klein is a successful and highly acclaimed writer, and professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies. Her areas of interest and specialty include media literacy education, body image, and the intersectional analysis of systems of power and privilege. Her work has been featured in outlets such as Yoga Journal, Yoga International, Mind Body Green, Mantra Yoga + Health Magazine as well as Gaiam and the National Eating Disorders Association. She’s a co-founder of the Yoga and Body Image Coalition, which has been at the forefront of online advocacy work to widen public perceptions of yoga practitioners.