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Krishni Munevar, '13

The greatest benefit I received from studying religion was the opportunity to draw from the full gamut of academic disciplines; whether it was anthropology, political science, biological science, musicology, psychology, or any other, I was only limited by what I could not fathom to study in the broad world of religion. With that freedom, I studied immersed in international communities, and conducted regional ethnographic research on an overlooked topic that I was passionate about. In all, I graduated with immense confidence in my ability to conduct strenuous research independently, author a compelling narrative of my ideas, and productively transform my intellectual curiosity into new ventures.

Realizing that my previous research on women in religion has illustrated only one of the ways in which a religious movement can transform in new contemporary contexts, I plan to expand my research into the effect of globalization on religious communities at Duke University's Graduate Program in Religion, beginning fall 2015. Specifically, I want to study the transnational routes of exchange and diasporic narratives of ISKCON in order to bring new perspective on patterns embedded in religious transformation such as changes in contemporary ISKCON. Beyond academics, I have collaborated with six other musicians to independently produce an album that incorporates and is inspired by different religions and spiritual philosophies. Samadhi Kirtan's debut album Awakening will release in September 2015.