Dr Crispin Branfoot
BA (Manchester), MA, PhD (London)
Overview
Department of Art and Archaeology
(Senior Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology)
Centre of South Asian Studies
(Member, Centre of South Asian Studies)
Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Architecture, Sculpture and Painting; Pilgrimage and Sacred Geography, Archaeology and Material Religion; South IndiaContact Details
- Name:
- Dr Crispin Branfoot
- Email address:
- crispin.branfoot@soas.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- 020 7898 4450
- Fax:
- 020 7898 4479
- Address:
- School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG - Building:
- Brunei Gallery
- Office No:
- B311
Teaching
Students supervised
Programmes Convened
Courses Taught
Research
Crispin Branfoot's main area of research is the architecture, sculpture, painting and decorative arts of southern India from 1350 to 1800, the period encompassed by the Vijayanagara empire and the Nayaka successor states. His fieldwork has been concentrated in Tamilnadu, and more recently in Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, and Sri Lanka. The main themes of his research have included: architecture, politics and state formation; festival ritual and the planning of temples and cities; sacred architecture and religious identity; pilgrimage, sacred landscape and the long-term development of historic sites; iconography and artistic practice in architectural sculpture; ritual, image and visuality in Indian religions; royal portraiture in south Indian temples and courts; merchant-patrons, temples and the Indian Ocean trade; the historiography of Indian art, archaeology and religion; traditional arts in contemporary South Asia and the diaspora.
Biography
Following a degree in Ancient History and Archaeology at Manchester University, Dr Branfoot worked in the Departments of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum and Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. He taught South Asian art at SOAS during and following his doctoral research on Tamil temple architecture. He was Senior Research Fellow in South Asian Art and Architecture at De Montfort University in Leicester (2000-5), collaborating on the innovative MA in South Asian Arts that combined historical and design-led approaches to South Asian material culture. He has also taught South Asian art for Oxford University, Sotheby's Institute of Art and the British Museum.
Expertise
For help in contacting SOAS academics and advice on services to business and the community, please contact SOAS Enterprise on 020 7898 4837 or email interface@soas.ac.uk.
For all press and media enquiries please call 020 7898 4956 or email jf51@soas.ac.uk
Available for
- TV
- Radio
- Press
- Briefings
- Special Study Programmes
- Short Term Consultancy
- Long Term Consultancy
Regional Expertise
- South Asia
Country Expertise
- India
Languages
Publications
Authored Books
Branfoot, Crispin (2007) Gods on the Move: Architecture and Ritual in the South Indian Temple. London: British Academy & Society for South Asian Studies.
Edited Books
Branfoot, Crispin and Barnes, Ruth, eds. (2006) Pilgrimage: The Sacred Journey. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
Chapters in Books
Branfoot, Crispin (2007) 'South Asia and the Himalayas.' In: Contadini , Anna, (ed.), Objects of Instruction: Treasures of the School of Oriental and African Studies. London: SOAS, pp. 68-74.
Branfoot, Crispin (2007) 'Regional Pasts, Imperial Present: architecture and memory in Vijayanagara-period Karnataka.' In: Hardy, Adam, (ed.), The Temple in South Asia. London: British Association for South Asian Studies, pp. 105-125.
Branfoot, Crispin (2006) 'Where on Earth is South Asia? Indian art and UK universities.' In: Tatlock, Janet, (ed.), 21st Century Art History - Global Reception. Brighton: Association of Art Historians, pp. 11-15.
Branfoot, Crispin (2006) 'Pilgrimage in South Asia: Crossing Boundaries of Space and Faith.' In: Branfoot, Crispin and Barnes, Ruth, (eds.), Pilgrimage: The Sacred Journey. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, pp. 44-79.
Branfoot, Crispin and Allan, James W. (2006) 'Travellers of Faith: Pilgrim Tales.' In: Branfoot, Crispin and Barnes , Ruth, (eds.), Pilgrimage: The Sacred Journey. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, pp. 96-115.
Branfoot, Crispin (1999) 'Tiruchirappalli and the Sacred Island of Srirangam.' In: Michell, George, (ed.), Eternal Kaveri: Historical Sites Along South India's Greatest River. Bombay: Marg Publications, pp. 75-88.
Articles
Branfoot, Crispin (2008) 'Imperial Frontiers: Building Sacred Space in Sixteenth-century South India.' The Art Bulletin, 90 (2). pp. 171-194.
Branfoot, Crispin (2007) ' Painting Processions: a Company album from south India.' Orientations, 38 (8). pp. 73-78.
Branfoot, Crispin (2006) 'Processions and Presence: Bronze Sculptures from the Temples of Southern India.' Arts of Asia, 36 (5).
Branfoot, Crispin and Dallapiccola, Anna (2005) 'Temple architecture in Bhatkal and the Ramayana tradition in coastal Karnataka.' Artibus Asiae, 65 (2). pp. 253-308.
Branfoot, Crispin (2004) 'The Madurai Nayakas and the Skanda temple at Tirupparankundram.' Ars Orientalis, 33 . pp. 146-179.
Branfoot, Crispin (2002) '‘Expanding Form’: The Architectural Sculpture of the South Indian Temple c.1500-1700.' Artibus Asiae, 62 (2). pp. 189-245.
Branfoot, Crispin (2002) 'Bhima and Purusamirukam in the Nayaka-period Sculpture of Tamilnadu.' South Asian Studies, 18 . pp. 77-82.
Branfoot, Crispin (2001) 'Mangammal of Madurai and South Indian Portraiture.' East and West, 51 (3-4). pp. 369-377.
Branfoot, Crispin (2001) 'Tirumala Nayaka's 'New Hall' and the European Study of the South Indian Temple.' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 11 (2). pp. 191-218.
Branfoot, Crispin (2000) 'Royal Portrait Sculpture in the South Indian Temple.' South Asian Studies, 16 . pp. 11-36.
Branfoot, Crispin (2000) 'Approaching the Temple in Nayaka-period Madurai: the Kutal Alakar temple.' Artibus Asiae, 60 (2). pp. 197-221.
Branfoot, Crispin (1995) 'Burmese Nats: Wooden Sculpture from the Richard C. Temple Collection.' Eastern Art Report, 4 (2). pp. 34-36.
