Faculty

Dr. Anya Golovkova is a historian of Asian Religions and a Sanskritist. Prior to joining Lake Forest College as Assistant Professor of Religion, she was an A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Religion at Bowdoin College and a Visiting Scholar at Cornell University’s South Asia Program. Dr. Golovkova completed her Ph.D. in Asian Studies at Cornell University and holds a B.A. (with distinction) in Linguistics and Intercultural Communication from Moscow State Linguistics University, an M.A. in the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University, and a Master of Studies (with distinction) in Oriental Studies from Oxford University. Dr. Golovkova has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited book chapters. She is the co-editor (with Hugh Urban and Hillary Langberg) of The Tantric World, forthcoming from Routledge. Her forthcoming monograph, A Goddess for the Second Millennium: The Making of Śrīvidyā, is the first comprehensive study of a Hindu Tantric (esoteric) tradition called Śrīvidyā. Dr. Golovkova serves as the Co-Chair of the Tantric Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion, the largest scholarly society dedicated to the academic study of religion, with more than 8,000 members around the world.

Courses taught: 

• YS 133 | Śrīvidyā: Tantric Wisdom of the Goddess