In July this year, I was awarded a 1-yr fellowship to complete a monograph (about 50% complete). I was meant to start in September at one university which was going to host me, however the bureaucracy there has yet to figure out the simple paperwork to get it going. As we march into 2023, it doesn't appear that I will get to start this in 2022...

This lag is too much. Therefore, in discussion with the funding body, I'm attempting to find a new host and institution. The only catch is that the university has to be within the EU. I'm currently in Japan and would likely not come for the entire duration due to my commitments here. Though wherever this lands I would like to come and spend a few months at least. If you'd have me for that long.

The project is a combination of philology, archaeology, art history, and historical sociology/cultural economy. It considers outcast guilds of street performing wrestler-acrobats and pole dancers and the circuits they travelled across south Asia, including being employed as entertainers in royal courts and merchant's houses and their involvement in the transportation of goods, people, and information.

This project is a branch of a much larger agenda that spreads across from about 2400 bce to about the 20th century ce. Though, for this part of the research, the main focal period will be between 800ce to 1600ce. The two principal texts I've been working with are the Mānasollāsa and the Mallapurāṇa. Though there are a lot of Buddhist texts that I've read too, since they were steeped in mercantilism.

It would be great to have a host who is an expert or at least interested in art historical matters related to the Ragamala, Kalicut, and Thanjavur styles of art, and/or someone interested in physical culture/martial arts/performance, and/or ancient trade routes and merchant trading practices.

I'm particularly focused on analysing the representations of wrestlers and acrobats, especially in relation to pole dancing and rope-walking. Ultimately, this project is about tracing the origins of 'pole yoga' or mallakhamb (the wrestler's pole).