Media & Interviews
Conversations, appearances, and recorded reflections on education, consciousness, culture, and contemplative practice.
My Podcast Series
Join me as I listen to Hindus raised in the United States share their journeys, triumphs, and the meaningful struggles that shape their lives.
A podcast series hosted by The Hindu American Foundation
Episode 1: Aditi Banerjee | March 14, 2024
In this episode, the first of our Hindu At Heart series of interviews, Indu Viswanathan speaks with author Aditi Banerjee on a wide range of issues: Hindu sacred geography in Ayodhya and Varanasi, growing up Hindu in America, and a variety of other topics.
Episode 2: Sneha Rao | from aviation engineer to Hinduism scholar | May 9, 2024
In this episode of the Hindu At Heart series, Indu Viswanathan speaks with Sneha Rao about her journey from the aviation industry to studying Hinduism, yoga, and Hinduphobia, and starting the Hindu Decoloniality group on Facebook.
Episode 3: Hemanth Venkataraman | Practicing restorative justice in New York City public schools | October 17, 2024
In this episode, part of Indu Viswanathan’s Hindu at Heart series, she speaks with Hemanth Venkataraman, a New York City-based educator and restorative justice practitioner about his life growing up Hindu in New Jersey in the 1980s and 90s, his time teaching in the NYC public school system and co-founding the Unity Preparatory Charter School in Brooklyn, and how he moved on to consult with schools on implementing restorative justice with School Culture Solutions.
That’s So Hindu Special Episodes
Hindu at Heart: Coerced into Islam, Seeking Freedom, Part I
Hindu at Heart: Coerced into Islam, Seeking Freedom, Part II
The special two-part episode that inspired the Hindu at Heart series. The Hindu American Foundation generously offered to platform my interview with “Keshav,” a young Hindu American man, who has a unique and important story to tell. Keshav was raised Hindu and began questioning his beliefs, to the point that he converted to Islam and started publicly making stereotypical Hinduphobic comments and denouncing India. But Keshav had a change of heart and mind and came back to Hinduism — only to receive threats for leaving Islam. At his request, we're calling him by the pseudonym 'Keshav' and disguising his voice. (Transcriptions available here.)
Select Podcast Guest Appearances
Improving Wellbeing for Students and Teachers in American Public Schools | Fit as a Fiddle with Dr. Sneha Gazi | May 12, 2022
In this interview, I reflect on two decades in education and how contemplative practices like breathwork and meditation can shift how we support students—especially those from marginalized communities. We explore the role of transnational identity, the erasure of Dharmic worldviews in American schools, and how my research evolved to center both inner life and educational justice.
Why do colonial-era errors about Hinduism persist, even among anti-colonial activists and academia? | That’s So Hindu: A podcast by the Hindu American Foundation | February 10, 2022
Mat McDermott speaks with Dr Indu Viswanathan and HAF executive director Suhag Shukla. They discuss the curious phenomenon of how stereotypes and misperceptions about Hindus and Hinduism that have their roots in colonial-era scholarship and thinking still get repeated today to negatively portray Hinduism, ironically too often by activists who are themselves anti-colonial in outlook.
The humanities keep talking about Hindus without including our voices | That’s So Hindu: A podcast by the Hindu American Foundation | August 26, 2021
Suhag Shukla speaks with Dr. Indu Viswanathan. Viswanathan has worked in education for over two decades as a teacher, curriculum developer, teacher-educator, and non-profit research director. They talk about the conference on Hinduphobia she helped organize at Rutgers University, the problems with the controversial upcoming Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, and how Hindu practices and Hindus continue to be misunderstood by Western academia and researchers.
Hinduphobia: Fighting bias both home and abroad | Beliefs Podcast with Jonathon Woodward | Religion News Service | January 17, 2020
Often, amid the Western media political stories of Hindu nationalism and anti-Muslim discrimination in India, a background picture of Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bias lurks. Many Hindu-Americans are caught between narratives, feeling themselves misunderstood or poorly depicted in these stories. To understand this dynamic, Beliefs producer Jay Woodward talked with Hindu-American scholar, activist and writer Indu Viswanathan. Viswanathan is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College. Her research focuses on the transnational consciousness of second-generation Indian-American teachers.
Video Interviews & Panels
Hinduphobia, Social Progress, and Digital Advocacy | FOR THE CULTURE with Vedanth Ganesh | Dec 24, 2021
Dr. Indu Viswanathan (an educator, scholar, and public pedagogue) and I discuss her drastic career switch from Cornell-educated economist to elementary-school teacher, her experiences in living in a post 9/11 America, Hinduphobia and its prevalence in Western Society, and the tricky situation most young Hindus find themselves in when advocating for themselves via social media.
Hindu American Encounters with Schools | Chai Pe Charcha with Agastya Gurukulum | August 23, 2020
Raising Hindu American children is a challenge for Hindu parents, particularly in an environment of increasing Hinduphobia. In this wide-ranging interview with the brilliant, erudite, and insightful educator and academic Indu Viswanathan, Agastya Gurukulam parent Dr Archana Purushotham discusses several topics relevant to Hindu parents in North America and worldwide as their children encounter and negotiate the Western school system. Indu was a New York public school student and teacher and is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in education at Columbia University. She shares her experience of growing up Hindu in the US in the seventies and eighties, her career as a teacher and academic, and the challenges associated with raising children confident of their Hindu identity in North America. She also shares tips with parents for communicating with their children and discusses homeschooling and other aspects of education and identity formation.
Hinduism and Society: Conversation with Indu Viswanathan and Parth Parihar | Meru Media with Mukunda Raghavan | July 14, 2020
Join Mukunda as he speaks to Indu Viswanathan and Parth Parihar. Both Parth and Indu are PhD candidates, Indu in Education at Teachers College and Parth in Economics at Princeton. Indu and Parth are involved deeply in engaging with Hindu traditions/ideas in the modern world. In this episode, we discuss far-reaching and diverse topics including what it means to be a Hindu in the West, the colonialism of the mind vs indigenous knowledge, Racism versus Caste, Abrahamic worldview vs. Dharma worldview, Karma and Agency, Hindu representation in the Media and Education, Hinduism on College Campuses, Caste System, The Idea of Decoloniality, Dharma for the 21st Century and a wealth of other topics. It is a dynamic and great conversation with two fantastic thinkers and human beings.