Keith Cantu

Ph.D. Student

Specialization

Hinduism and Alternative Religions, Western Esotericsm and Medieval Studies, Cognitive Delusions and Default Processing

Education

B.A., International Studies (Political Science), Pepperdine University

M.A. International Studies (Comparative Religion), University of Washington

M.A. International Studies (South Asian Studies), University of Washington

Ph.D. Student Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research

Keith's dissertation research is focused on the nineteenth-century Tamil ?aiva yog? ?r? Sabh?pati Sw?m? (b. 1840), especially how his cognitive practices share historical affinities with other early modern and medieval yogic, tantric, and alchemical traditions. He also is researching ?r??a Candra Basu (or Vasu), a Bengali intellectual living in Lahore who was Sabh?pati Sw?m?'s initial editor as well as the editor of some early Sanskrit publications of texts on Ha?hayoga. Apart from yet intersecting with this material, Keith has a keen personal and academic interest in the writings of Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), the Theosophical Society, and alternative religious movements more broadly.

Publications

City of Mirrors: Songs of L?lan S?i. Carol Salomon. Edited by Keith Cantú and Saymon Zakaria with an Introduction by Jeanne Openshaw and Foreword by Richard Salomon. Oxford University Press (South Asia Research series), August 2017.
 
?????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ("The Essential Image in Sabhapaty Swami's Lifework and an Inquiry into its Resemblance to Bengali Yogic Practice"). Bhabnagar International Journal of Bengal Studies, Vol. 3, no. 3. October 2015.
 
Theurgy and the Snake: The Yoga Kalandar and Bengali Sufism. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2015.