Diana Dimitrova is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Professor of South Asian Traditions and Cultures, and President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religions. She received her doctorate in Modern Indology (South Asian Studies), Classical Indology, and English and American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Before joining the University of Montreal, she was a Professor at the University of Frankfurt in Germany, and Emory University, Loyola University Chicago, and Michigan State University in the United States. Her area of specialization covers Hinduism and South Asian religions, including Bhakti Hinduism, Sikh traditions, Buddhist traditions, modern Hinduism and 19^th- and 20^th-centuries, Hindu reform movements, as well as South Asian cultural studies including drama, theatre and Hindi cinema (Bollywood films). Her research languages are Hindi-Urdu, Sanskrit and Classical Hindi (Braj, Avadhi, Sadhukkari/the sacred language of Sikhs).

Diana Dimitrova is the author of Cultural Identity and Hindi Plays: Poetics, Politics and Theatre in India (Oxford University Press, 2023); of Hinduism and Hindi Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, paperback 2018); of Gender, Religion and Modern Hindi Drama (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008) and of Western Tradition and Naturalistic Hindi Theatre (Peter Lang, 2004) Her edited volumes include Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions (Routledge, 2021); Divinizing in South Asian Traditions (Routledge, 2018, paperback 2020, with Tatiana Oranskaia); Imagining Indiannes: Cultural Identity and Literature. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, paperback 2019, with Thomas de Bruijn); The Other in South Asian religion, literature and film: perspectives on otherism and otherness (Routledge, 2014, paperback 2017) and Religion in Literature and Film in South Asia (Palgrave Macmillan: 2010).

Professor Dimitrova offers courses in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and a variety of courses on the cultures of South Asian traditions and their links to other cultures in Asia and beyond. She supervises M.A. and Ph.D. theses on India, South Asia and the South Asian diaspora.

Monographies

Dimitrova, Diana. Cultural Identity in Hindi Plays: Poetics, Politics and Theatre in India. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

Dimitrova, Diana. Hinduism and Hindi Theatre. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2016; édition paperback 2018. 215 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana. Gender, Religion and Modern Hindi Drama. Montreal and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2008. 168 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana. Western Tradition and Naturalistic Hindi Theatre. New York: Peter Lang, 2004. xi129 p.

Ouvrages collectifs

Dimitrova, Diana, ed. Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. 152 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana and Tatiana Oranskaia, eds. Divinizing in South Asian Traditions. London and New York: Routledge, 2018; édition paperback 2020. 146 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana and Thomas de Bruijn, eds. Imagining ’Indianness’: Cultural Identity in South Asian Literature. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2017; édition paperback 2019. 166

pages.

Dimitrova, Diana, ed. The Other in South Asian Religion, Literature and Film: Perspectives on Otherism and Otherness. London and New York: Routledge, 2014; édition paperback  184 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana, ed. Religion in Literature and Film in South Asia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. xv226 pages.

Articles et chapitres de livres:

« Le théâtre hindi et l’imaginaire hindou ». Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses.

2022. Vol. 51 (2) 242-259.

« Les femmes et les mythes hindous dans le drame hindi ». Studies in Religion/Sciences

religieuses. 2022. 23 pages.

« Religious Othering in Hindi films ». In Juergensmeyer, Mark, Kathleen Moore and

Dominic Sachsenmaier, eds., Religious Othering: Global Dimensions. London and New York: Routledge, 2022. 164-173..

« Hinduism in Canada ». Article encyclopédique. EUREL-Données sociologiques et juridiques

            sur la religion en Europe et au-delà. November 2021. 3 pages.

« Buddhism in Canada ». Article encyclopédique. EUREL-Données sociologiques et juridiques

          sur la religion en Europe et au-delà. Novembre 2021. 2 pages.

 « L’hindou « autre » et le musulman « autre » dans le drame hindi ».  Religiologiques. 41

(printemps) 2021. 181-200.

« Hindu Apocalyptic Notions, Cultural Discourses and Climate Change ». In Alber, Jan, ed.

The Apocalyptic Dimensions of Climate Change and Fluctuating Environments in Scientific Models and Cultural Discourses, Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. 81-93.

« Images hindoues du féminin dans le film hindi ». Religiologiques. 40 (automne) 2020. 139-155.

« Méditation et dévotion dans la tradition du Radhasoami ». Laval Théologique et

Philosophique. 76,1 (février) 2020. 31-40

 « Introduction ». In Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions. Éd. Diana Dimitrova. London

and New York: Routledge, 2021. 1-9.

 « Body and Devotionalism: Yoga, bhakti and pilgrimage in the Radhsoami tradition ». In

Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions. Éd. Diana Dimitrova. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. 69-84.

Dimitrova, Diana. Introduction. In Divinizing in South Asian Traditions. Ed. Diana Dimitrova et Tatiana Oranskaia. Lonodn and New York: Routledge, 2018. 1-6.

Dimitrova, Diana. Divinizing in the Radhasoami Tradition. IN Divinizing in South Asian Traditions. Ed. Diana Dimitrova et Tatiana Oranskaia. London and New York: Routledge, 2018. 102-115.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Hindi Theatre.“ Oxford Bibliographies Online. Ed. By Tracy Coleman. Oxford University Press, juin 2018. 17 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Identité culturelle et spiritualité dans la tradition de Radhasoami en Amérique du Nord.” Théologiques 25/1 (2018). 18 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana. “On ‘Indianness’ and Indian Cultural Identity in South Asian Literature” in Imagining Indianness: Cultural Identity in South Asian Literature. Ed. Diana Dimitrova et Thomas de Bruijn. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 1-11.

Dimitrova, Diana. “’Indianness’ and Modern Hindi Drama” in Imagining ’Indianness’: Cultural Identity in South Asian Literature. Ed. Diana Dimitrova and Thomas de Bruijn. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 77-92.

Dimitrova, Diana (2016) Hinduism and Its Others in Bollywood Film of the 2000s.  Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 20: Iss. 1, Article 10. 20 pages.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Neo-Sanskritic and Naturalistic Hindi Drama.” Modern Indian Theatre. Ed. Nandi Bhatia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 364-391. (3e édition).

Dimitrova, Diana. “On Otherism and Otherness.” The Other in South Asian Religion, Literature and Film: Perspectives on Otherism and Otherness.  Ed. Diana Dimitrova. London and New York: Routledge, 2014. 1-16.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Religion and Otherness in a New World: The Radhasoami Movement in Transnational Space.”  The Other in South Asian Religion, Literature and Film: Perspectives on Otherism and Otherness.  Ed. Diana Dimitrova. London and New York: Routledge, 2014. 34-44.

Dimitrova, Diana. “The Politics of Otherness: The Hindi Plays of Urdu-Hindi Author Upendranath Ashk.” The Other in South Asian Religion, Literature and Film: Perspectives on Otherism and Otherness.  Ed. Diana Dimitrova. London and New York: Routledge, 2014. 84-99.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Neo-Sanskritic and Naturalistic Hindi Drama.” Modern Indian Theatre. Ed. Nandi Bhatia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 364-391. (2e édition).

Dimitrova, Diana. “On Myth and Mythologizing.” Religion in Literature and Film in South Asia. Ed. Diana Dimitrova. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 1-19.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Religion and Gender in Bollywood Film.” Religion in Literature and Film in South Asia. Ed. Diana Dimitrova. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 69-81.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Neo-Sanskritic and Naturalistic Hindi Drama.” Modern Indian Theatre. Ed. Nandi Bhatia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 364-391.

Dimitrova, Diana. ”The Development of Sanatana Dharma in the Twentieth Century: A Radhasoami Guru’s Perspective,” The International Journal of Hindu Studies, Volume 1, Issue 1 (2007) 89-98.

Dimitrova, Diana. “The Indian Character of Modern Hindi Drama: Neo-Sanskritic, Pro Western Naturalistic or Nativistic Dramas?” Theology and Literature: Rethinking Reader Response. Ed. Joseph, Clara and Gaye Ortiz. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 173-183. 

Dimitrova, Diana. Upendranath Ashk's Play 'Tufan se pahle' (1946) and Hindu-Muslim Cultural Hybridity. In Voices from South Asia: Language in South Asian Literature and Film. Ed. Theo Damsteegt. Zagreb: Bibliotheca Orientalica of the Croatian Philological Society, 2006. 127-148.

Dimitrova, Diana. “Of Satis, Sitas, and Miras: Three Female Protagonists in Modern Hindi Drama.” Heroes and Heritage: The Protagonist in Indian Literature and Film.  Ed. Theo Damsteegt. Leiden: Research School CNWS, Leiden University, 2003. 66-78.

Dimitrova, Diana. “The Treatment of Women and Gender in the Plays ‘Asharh ka ek din’ and ‘Adhe adhure’ by Mohan Rakesh (1925-1972).”  Tohwa-e-dil. Festschrift Helmut Nespital.  Ed.  Dirk W. Lönne.  Reinbek: Wezler, 2001.  177-188.