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Karen  O'Brien-Kop

Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop

Lecturer in Modern Asian Religions

  • Undergraduate Assessment Sub-board
  • Undergraduate Dissertations Co-ordinator

Biography

I gained my PhD at SOAS University of London in an intertextual study of early South Asian texts describing mind-body philosophies - including the Patanjalayogasastra, the Abhidharmakosabhasya and the Yogacarabhumisastra. After a post as Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS, I joined the University of Roehampton to lecture in Asian religions and ethics, before joining King’s College London.

Research interests and PhD supervision

  • Hinduism
  • Buddhism
  • Asian mind-body philosophies
  • Sanskrit texts
  • Theory and method of religion

I research early South and Central Asian Sanskrit texts and culture on meditation, philosophy of mind, and mind-body practices – in particular exploring the interconnections of Hinduism and Buddhism. More broadly, my research interests are Indian religion and philosophy, theory and method in the study of religion, global philosophies, critical theory of religion, decolonial thought, literary studies and the health humanities.

Selected publications

  • O’Brien-Kop, K. (2024) ‘Defining Body and Mind: Yoga, Asceticism and Meditation’ in Sathaye, Adheesh (Ed.) A Cultural History of Hinduism in the Classical Age 200BCE-800CE. Bloomsbury Academic: London.
  • O'Brien- Kop, K., Rippa, A., & Ren, X. (2024). 'Cultural Mobilities and Cultural Heritage: Concepts for an Asia-Centric Approach' Journal of the British Academy, 12. DOI: 10.5871/jba/012.a12
  • O'Brien-Kop, K. (2023) 'Mobilities in Religious Knowledge: Phiroz Mehta and the Logics of Transreligiosity in 1970s–80s South London' in Religions, 14(7), 907
  • O'Brien-Kop, K. (2023) 'The Hard Problem of "Pure" Consciousness: Sāṃkhya Ontological Dualism' in Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion' 1-17. doi:10.1017/S0034412523000410
  • O’Brien-Kop, K. (2022) ‘Meditation, Idealism and Materiality: Vivid Visualization in the Buddhist “Qizil Yoga Manual” and the Context of Caves’ in Journal of Indian Philosophy. 50.2. Open Access.
  • O’Brien-Kop, K. (2021) Rethinking ‘Classical Yoga’ and Buddhism: Meditation, Metaphors and Materiality. Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies. Bloomsbury Academic: London.
  • Newcombe, S. and O’Brien-Kop, K. (Eds.) (2020) Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies. Routledge: London and New York.

Teaching

My teaching is interdisciplinary and combines study of religion, philosophy of religion and ethics. I teach on both historical and contemporary topics in Asian traditions and their global expressions. I also teach on the more theoretical aspects of study of religion, with an emphasis on critical theory and decolonial theory.

Expertise and public engagement

'In Our Time' BBC Radio 4, Episode: 'Karma' (2024)

    Research

    Header
    Centre for Technology and the Body

    Stories of embodied technology: from the plough to the touchscreen

    News

    New book expounds the philosophical conceptions of yoga

    Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop's The Philosophy of the Yogasutra highlights its status as a significant work of philosophy

    Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop_book image

    Events

    06MarGuru to the world11

    Roundtable: 'Guru to the World' by Ruth Harris

    Professor Harris will be in conversation with Dr Suzanne Newcombe (Open University/INFORM) and Dr Luna Sabastian (Northeastern University) about her new...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    26MayPublic health after Covid Header

    Public health after COVID: beliefs, religion and competing epistemologies

    British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conferences bring together scholars and specialists from around the world to explore themes related to health and wellbeing.

    Please note: this event has passed.

      Research

      Header
      Centre for Technology and the Body

      Stories of embodied technology: from the plough to the touchscreen

      News

      New book expounds the philosophical conceptions of yoga

      Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop's The Philosophy of the Yogasutra highlights its status as a significant work of philosophy

      Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop_book image

      Events

      06MarGuru to the world11

      Roundtable: 'Guru to the World' by Ruth Harris

      Professor Harris will be in conversation with Dr Suzanne Newcombe (Open University/INFORM) and Dr Luna Sabastian (Northeastern University) about her new...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      26MayPublic health after Covid Header

      Public health after COVID: beliefs, religion and competing epistemologies

      British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conferences bring together scholars and specialists from around the world to explore themes related to health and wellbeing.

      Please note: this event has passed.