This week, we dive into Kumaré, in which Vikram Gandhi fashions a social experiment that turns into a journey of self-discovery...or something. Topics include but are not limited to: guru persona as ideological container, autauthenticity rhetoric and performance, what factors make manipulation seem innocuous or exploitative to an audience, yoga + air guitar, and what Mike’s been reading lately. Join us!

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Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Departmentof Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance.

The views expressed in this episode are our own asexperts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent theUniversity of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.