Stephanie Majcher is Lecturer in Sanskrit in the School of Culture, History & Language. Her primary research interests are the composition of Vedic texts, early South Asian perspectives on language, and how modern approaches to textual analysis have influenced the interpretation of Vedic teachings and culture. Her research questions the divide between modern and traditional understandings of Sanskrit and asks how our methods can benefit by listening closely to what Vedic texts say about themselves. In particular, her work grapples with the way that modern approaches can be narrow and unable to accommodate the nuances that cultural understandings of language can bring to textual interpretation.

Stephanie’s other major research interest is the study, translation, and digitization of ancient Buddhist manuscripts from Gandhāra. She is part of an international team of scholars and digital humanists developing the capacity for digital editions that reach beyond small groups of expert scholars to wider academic communities. Stephanie’s current contribution to the study of Gandhāran Buddhist manuscripts is the critical examination of how these existing developments can be a means of “digital repatriation” – making inaccessible scholarly research available to cultural communities and encouraging the open sharing of knowledge.

Prior to commencing at the ANU, Stephanie held numerous roles at the University of Sydney as a lecturer (Sanskrit, Asian Studies), tutor (Buddhist Studies), research consultant and assistant. She is a member of the Managing Committee of the Journal of Gandhāran Buddhist Texts (USYD Open Journals) and a member of the Languages and Linguistics Editorial Board (ANU Press). She has been teaching Sanskrit language both at universities and in the wider community since 2012.

Cultural perspectives on language; textual analysis, interpretation, and translation; religious cultures of South Asia; Vedic studies; manuscript cultures; digital repatriation