Podcast 3

In this episode of the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast, Arihanta Institute professors Cogen Bohanec and Jonathan Dickstein discuss the emerging field of Vegan Studies and the recently launched Vegan Studies Initiative (VSI@AI) at Arihanta Institute.

Episode Highlights:

• Defining Disciplines: Dr. Dickstein explores the distinctions and overlaps among Animal Studies, Critical Animal Studies, Food Studies, and Vegan Studies, emphasizing the interdisciplinary approach of Vegan Studies.
• Asking the BIG Questions: The conversation delves into ethical considerations, questioning why we should care about animals amidst human suffering, war, and caste-based oppression.
• VSI@AI: Learn about the innovative online program that promotes and enacts veganism as an expression of multispecies nonviolence.

Join us for an insightful and engaging discussion that underscores the significant role of Jain studies in dialogue with Vegan Studies and related contemporary fields of inquiry.

Subscribe and stay tuned for more enlightening episodes!

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Guest: Jonathan Dickstein, PhD, Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute

Jonathan Dickstein is Assistant Professor of Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Claremont School of Theology. Jonathan specializes in South Asian Religions, Religion and Animals, and Comparative Ethics. He received his doctoral degree in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his master’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Jonathan has published in a wide array of interdisciplinary journals such as Religions, Philosophy East and West, Food Ethics, and Capitalism Nature Socialism. Jonathan’s current work focuses on Jainism and contemporary ecological issues, extending into Critical Animal Studies, Food Studies, and Diaspora Studies. He is also the academic lead for the Vegan Studies Initiative at Arihanta Institute. Jonathan considers himself a scholar-practitioner, having spent many years not only in libraries but also in public advocating for justice for both humans and nonhumans alike.

Host: Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD, Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute

Cogen Bohanec currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in Sanskrit and Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute where he teaches various courses on Jain philosophy and its applications. In addition, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Claremont School of Theology (CST) where he teaches Sanskrit and Gujarati, and he has taught numerous classes on South Asian Culture & Religions and Sanskrit language at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. Dr. Bohanec specializes in the Jain and Hindu traditions, comparative dharma traditions, philosophy of religion, theo-ethics (virtue ethics, and environmental and animal ethics in particular), and Sanskrit language and literature, and has numerous publications in those areas, particularly in the fields of Jain and Hindu Studies amongst other disciplines. He has a PhD in “Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion” with an emphasis in Hindu Studies from GTU, where his research emphasized ancient Indian languages, literature, and philosophical systems. He also holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies at GTU where his research primarily involved translations of Pāli Buddhist scriptures in conversation with the philology of the Hindu Upaniṣads. He is the author of “Bhakti Ethics, Emotions and Love in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Metaethics” (Lexington, 2024), an interdisciplinary study that frames traditional Hindu themes of ecotheology, ecofeminist theology, feminist care ethics, within a framework of virtue ethics in conversation with a bhakti-based psychology of emotions. Currently he is largely engaged in publication and research on various aspects of the Jain tradition, emphasizing translations and analyses of Jain Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Gujarati texts, but is also publishing academic works on various topics within the Hindu tradition.

Resources:

• Subscribe to the Arihanta Institute Newsletter
• Course 1014 | Jainism, Veganism, and Engaged Religion w/ Profs. Jonathan Dickstein & Christopher Jain Miller
• Vegan Studies Initiative @ Arihanta Institute | Courses, Speaker Series, Research & More!
• Voices in Vegan Studies Speaker Series | May - Dec 2024
• Arihanta Institute | Ancient Wisdom Modern Living

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