Released: March 14, 2001

Dempsey�s book published by Oxford University Press

Corinne Dempsey, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, has authored her first book, �Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in India,� published by Oxford University Press of New York.

The book is an ethnography-based study that demonstrates how the business of saints routinely extends beyond their capacity as earthly conduits of miraculous power and into areas of national and international concern.  Throughout the book she highlights the traditions of Saint George, the martyr, and Sister Alphonsa of Bharananganam, two figures that reflect the many preoccupations of sainthood in Kerala, south India.

Sister Alphonsa, a native of Kerala, is famous for her life of suffering and posthumous power.  She is in line to be canonized by the Vatican.  Saint George, the caped dragon slayer imported to Kerala by Syrian merchants and Portuguese and British colonizers, is today out of favor with the Vatican.  

�My goal in writing the book was to provide a comparative study of cultures, religions, and worldviews, grounded in contemporary ethnographic, post-colonial and feminist concerns,� said Dempsey.

Dempsey holds a bachelor�s degree from Oregon State University and master�s degrees from UC-Berkeley and Syracuse University.  She completed a Ph.D. in religion in 1997 at Syracuse University.  Her areas of specialization are religions of south India, gender and religion, the transnational flow of religious traditions, and popular religious expression.  She joined the faculty last fall after one year as visiting assistant professor at Syracuse.

 The book lists for $45 and can be ordered at amazon.com.

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tmiller/vc/Dempsey book

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