AsPr Peter Friedlander

Peter Friedlander lived in India from 1977-1982 where he learned Hindi while teaching English in Varanasi. He then studied at SOAS (London University) and completed his PhD on the life and works of the medieval Hindi poet-saint Ravidas in 1991. He has taught Hindi language, Buddhist Studies and Indian studies for Antioch University abroad (Bodhgaya), La Trobe University (Melbourne), and the National University of Singapore. He was awarded an honour for his contribution to the study of Hindi and Hindi literature at the World Hindi Conference in South Africa in 2013 and was the invited keynote speaker at the World Hindi Secretariat International Hindi day in Mauritius in 2016.  He was academic advisor on the development of the Australian National Curriculum for Hindi (2015-16) organiser and convenor of the first national workshop on Hindi in Australia at ANU in July 2015 a co-organiser of a Symposium on 'New Directions in Language Education' to held at ANU in 2019. His research interests have focused around the the interaction between Hindi language and literature and religious traditions in South Asia particulaly in relation to Buddhism and the Sant tradition poet-saint leaders such as Kabir and Sant Raidas (also known as Bhagat guru Ravidas). 

Hindi-Urdu, language, literature, media studies, history, pedagogy
Religion and society, Hinduism, Dalit Studies, Buddhist Studies