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Scopus Author ID: 7003983105

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Employment (1)

University of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh, US

Professor (Anthropology)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter

Education and qualifications (1)

University of California Berkeley: Berkeley, CA, US

PhD (Anthropology)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter

Professional activities (2)

University Center for International Studies: Pittsburgh, US

Research Professor
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter

Association for Asian Studies Inc: Ann Arbor, MI, US

Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter

Works (37)

The Maya of Things: South Asian Reflections on Social Theory and the Magic of Humanism

2025-02-01 | Other
DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfaf017
Contributors: Joseph Alter
Source: check_circle
Crossref

The Embodiment of Meaning and the Meaning of Embodiment: Theoretical and Methodological Concerns in the Study of Postural Practice

Journal of Yoga Studies
2023-04-10 | Journal article
DOI: 10.34000/JoYS.2020.V4.14
Contributors: Joseph Alter
Source: check_circle
Crossref

The Ethics of Yoga and the Spirit of Godmen

Social Analysis
2022-12-01 | Journal article
DOI: 10.3167/sa.2022.660403
Contributors: Joseph S. Alter
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Nature cure and public health: illness narratives, medical efficacy, and existential suffering

Anthropology & Medicine
2022-10-02 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1080/13648470.2022.2106412
Contributors: Joseph S. Alter
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Biosemiotics and Religion: Theoretical Perspectives on Language, Society and the Supernatural

Theory, Culture & Society
2022-01 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1177/02632764211029348
Contributors: Joseph S. Alter
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Pahalwan Baba Ramdev: Wrestling with yoga and middle-class masculinity in India

Modern Asian Studies
2021-07 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X20000219
Contributors: JOSEPH S. ALTER
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Nisargopchar Ashram: Gandhi’s Legacy and Public Health in Contemporary India

Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India
2019-12 | Journal article
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter

Modern medical yoga: Struggling with a history of magic, alchemy and sex

Asian Medicine
2018 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1163/157342105777996818
EID:

2-s2.0-85064730226
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Nature cure and non-communicable diseases: Ecological therapy as health care in India

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
2017 | Journal article
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph14121525
EID:

2-s2.0-85037658807
Contributors: Alter, J.S.; Nair, R.M.; Nair, R.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Medicine, Alternative Medicine, and Political Ecologies of the Body

A Companion to Anthropology and Environmental Health
2016 | Book
Part of DOI: 10.1002/9781118786949.ch6
EID:

2-s2.0-85026796659
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Nature cure treatment in the context of India's epidemiological transition

Journal of integrative medicine
2016 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1016/S2095-4964(16)60265-0
EID:

2-s2.0-85050578275
Contributors: Alter, J.S.; Sharma, C.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Gattungswesen - The ecology of species-being: Alienation, biosemiotics, and social theory

Anthropos
2015 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-84945381095
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Nature Cure and Ayurveda: Nationalism, Viscerality and Bio-ecology in India

Body and Society
2015 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1177/1357034X14520757
EID:

2-s2.0-84924853780
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Spirits and Exorcism: On the Semiotics of Healing and Recovery

Ethos
2014 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1111/etho.12061
EID:

2-s2.0-84912530106
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Sex, askesis and the athletic perfection of the soul: Physical philosophy in the ancient mediterranean and South Asia

Religion and the Subtle Body in Asia and the West: Between Mind and Body
2013 | Book
Part of DOI: 10.4324/9780203558249
EID:

2-s2.0-84918897581
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Sacrifice, the body, and yoga: Theoretical entailments of embodiment in hathayoga

South Asia: Journal of South Asia Studies
2012 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2011.628747
EID:

2-s2.0-84918934212
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Asian medicine and globalization

Asian Medicine and Globalization
2011 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-84917513966
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

A¯myurvedic acupuncture-transnational nationalism: Ambivalence about the origin and authenticity of medical knowledge

Asian Medicine and Globalization
2011 | Book
EID:

2-s2.0-84885551704
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Yoga, Modernity, and the Middle Class: Locating the Body in a World of Desire

A Companion to the Anthropology of India
2011 | Book
Part of DOI: 10.1002/9781444390599.ch8
EID:

2-s2.0-84885517479
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Yoga in Asia-Mimetic history: Problems in the location of secret knowledge

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East
2009 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1215/1089201X-2009-005
EID:

2-s2.0-69749097885
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Rethinking the history of medicine in Asia: Hakim Mohammed Said and the society for the promotion of Eastern Medicine

Journal of Asian Studies
2008 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1017/S0021911808001745
EID:

2-s2.0-55849151321
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

The once and future "Apeman": Chimeras, human evolution, and disciplinary coherence

Current Anthropology
2007 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1086/520133
EID:

2-s2.0-35348875617
Contributors: Alter, J.S.; Cassidy, R.; Mullin, M.; Corbey, R.; Marks, J.; Stanford, C.B.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Yoga and physical education: Swami Kuvalayananda's nationalist project

Asian Medicine
2007 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1163/157342107X207191
EID:

2-s2.0-34548524810
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Yoga and fetishism: Reflections on Marxist social theory

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
2006 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00362.x
EID:

2-s2.0-33750479548
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Empowering yourself: Sport, sexuality and autoeroticism in North Indian Jori swinging

Subaltern Sports: Politics and Sport in South Asia
2005 | Book
Part of DOI: 10.7135/UPO9781843317609.003
EID:

2-s2.0-70350745492
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Modern medical yoga: Struggling with a history of magic, alchemy and sex

Asian Medicine
2005 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1163/15734218-00101007
EID:

2-s2.0-34548533517
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Indian clubs and colonialism: Hindu masculinity and muscular christianity

Comparative Studies in Society and History
2004 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-4344591250
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Subaltern Bodies and Nationalist Physiques: Gama the Great and the Heroics of Indian Wrestling

Body & Society
2000 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1177/1357034X00006002003
EID:

2-s2.0-84937328642
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Heaps of health, metaphysical fitness: Ayurveda and the ontology of good health in medical anthropology.

Current anthropology
1999 | Journal article
EID:

2-s2.0-0033070759
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

A therapy to live by: Public health, the self and nationalism in the practice of a North Indian yoga society

Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
1997 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1080/01459740.1997.9966144
EID:

2-s2.0-0031155589
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Seminal Truth: A Modern Science of Male Celibacy in North India

Medical Anthropology Quarterly
1997 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1525/maq.1997.11.3.275
EID:

2-s2.0-0031230910
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Gandhi's body, Gandhi's truth: Nonviolence and the biomoral imperative of public health

Journal of Asian Studies
1996 | Journal article
DOI: 10.2307/2943361
EID:

2-s2.0-0040217386
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

The celibate wrestler: Sexual chaos, embodied balance and competitive politics in north India

Contributions to Indian Sociology
1995 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1177/0069966795029001007
EID:

2-s2.0-84965703880
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Celibacy, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Gender into Nationalism in North India

The Journal of Asian Studies
1994 | Journal article
DOI: 10.2307/2059526
EID:

2-s2.0-84971872392
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

Somatic nationalism: Indian wrestling and militant hinduism

Modern Asian Studies
1994 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X00011860
EID:

2-s2.0-84974220837
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

The Body of One Color: Indian Wrestling, the Indian State, and Utopian Somatics

Cultural Anthropology
1993 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1525/can.1993.8.1.02a00030
EID:

2-s2.0-21144471701
Contributors: Alter, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier

the sannyasi and the Indian wrestler: the anatomy of a relationship

American Ethnologist
1992 | Journal article
DOI: 10.1525/ae.1992.19.2.02a00070
EID:

2-s2.0-84981897305
Contributors: ALTER, J.S.
Source: Self-asserted source
Joseph Alter via Scopus - Elsevier
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