Posing as Spiritual - Yoga Culture with Rumya Putcha

Selfie Reflective

Rumya Putcha is an assistant professor at the University of Georgia, whose research interests centre around post-Enlightenment, colonial and anti-colonial thought ~

Are you someone who has donned your Lulu's, put on the self-timer, struck a yoga pose and captured a photo to post on Instagram, maybe without even going a class? Have you ever added a motivational quote or hash-tagged the word namaste under said Instagram post?

Perhaps you're more like me, a casual observer whose feed delivers a steady stream of ubiquitous aspirational yoga imagery. Whenever you see it, you can't help but feel a tug of inadequacy - because in our online sphere in particular, yoga imagery has become a symbol for female empowerment. Discipline. Self-care. Enlightenment. A commitment to reaching for a higher calling.

But have you ever stopped to ask - why does so much of the imagery and aspirational ideals surrounding yoga centre white women (often young, conventionally attractive white women)? What is the pull of the pose on social media? What are the people who partake in yoga culture online trying to signal? And is it possible that some good intentions fall flat..?

Today's guest is Rumya Putcha, an assistant professor of women's studies and music at the University of Georgia. Her research interests centre on post-Enlightenment, colonial and anti-colonial thought, particularly around constructs of citizenship, race, gender, sexuality, the body, and the law.

I discovered Rumya's work after a friend sent me one of her blog posts entitled, Yoga and the Maintenance of White Womanhood. In that article, Rumya unpacks how yoga imagery and yoga puns have become a signaller for white virtue, inclusiveness, and an individual spirituality that cannot be criticised. She explores why this is a damaging and concerning trajectory - and in this episode, we explore these ideas further in conversational form.

Topics include virtue signalling, appropriation, namaste puns, neoliberalism, the colonisation of yoga, the performance of spirituality, spiritual bypassing and more.

Shownotes:

Find out more about Rumya's professional work here, or to have your mind blown, take a look around her blog, Namaste Nation.

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