Nikhil Mandalaparthy

I am currently pursuing a PhD in religious studies at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. I also curate Voices of Bhakti, a digital archive of South Asian poetry on religion, caste, and gender. For the past decade, I’ve been active in progressive Hindu American groups: I am a board member of Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, and a steering committee member for Samadarshini.

Before starting my PhD, I spent a year living and working in Colombo, Sri Lanka as a Luce Scholar, where I was affiliated with the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and taught a course on “Religion and Resistance in Sri Lanka and Beyond.” I have previously worked with Hindus for Human Rights and the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program. My consulting work includes projects with GreenFaith, Tasveer, and the International Commission for Dalit Rights, and I have conducted quantitative and qualitative research at the World Bank, the Stimson Center, and the University of Washington.

As a journalist, I have reported on religion and politics in India, South Africa, and the United States. My writing has been published in outlets such as Religion News Service, Foreign Policy, and Religion Unplugged, with support from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. I’ve been quoted and interviewed by the BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, and HuffPost, among others. As a public speaker, I have spoken to audiences ranging from the Parliaments of the World’s Religions to high school, undergraduate, and graduate classes.

I grew up near Seattle, and I received my undergraduate and master’s degrees in public policy from the University of Chicago. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, cooking new recipes, and listening to Carnatic music.