Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana: authenticity, authority and adaptation
27-29 May 2026 Paris, France
Yoga’s popularity as a global practice continues to support an exponentially increasing number of publications on yoga across a wide range of academic fields. This conference seeks to support dialogue and collaboration between scholars of the social sciences and humanities, who are critically exploring traditions, beliefs and practices associated with ‘Yoga’ in the past and the present.
We have chosen three themes for inspiration and to provide a loose conceptual focus for the discussion of the conference. Authenticity, authority and adaptation are interlinked concerns of both the earliest recorded discussions of yoga and the teachings of contemporary yoga advocates. Where did these traditions come from? What are their ultimate purposes? Why should a practitioner trust the teacher, method or practices available to them in particular times and places ? These are enduring and complex issues.
We do not expect these themes to be tightly interwoven into all paper proposals, but we hope that these ideas will inspire engagement with the critical preoccupations of many yoga studies scholars. Early career scholars and PhD students are encouraged to apply and we welcome presentations of work in progress. We welcome both stand alone papers and full panel proposals (3-4 papers grouped together) especially those that bridge the philological and sociological, exploring the continuities and changes through time of how yoga traditions adapt, establish authority and negotiate authenticity.
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The 4th International Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana conference will take place from Wednesday 27th midday to the evening of Friday 29th of May 2026 in collaboration with the Center for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (CESAH) at the School for Higher Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris.
We expect that most individual papers to be for presentations 20 minutes in length with 10 minutes for questions.
Opening of the Submission is on the 15th April 2026
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