Nora Melnikova, PhD.
E-mail:
Seminar of Indian Studies, Assistant Professor
Research interests
Modern and Old Hindi
Teaching Hindi as a second language
Teaching Czech to Hindi native speakers
Indian “religious” traditions
Theravada Buddhism
Education and academical qualifications
2010-2015 Student at the Department for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, PhD degree (PhD dissertation: The modern school of Vipassana – a Buddhist tradition?)
2001-2008 Student at the Department of South and Central Asia, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic (Hindi and Sanskrit), MA degree (MA thesis: Old Hindi in the poetry of Meeran Bai)
2003-2006 Student at the Institute for Indology and Tamil Studies, Faculty of Arts, University in Cologne, Germany (Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil) (Erasmus)
1996-2001 Student at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, BA degree (BA thesis: Introduction to the Study of Shree Vidya)
Current and previous affiliations
From 2015 Research assistant at the Department of South and Central Asia, Arts Faculty, Charles University
2011-2015 Research assistant at the Department of Religious Studies, Arts Faculty, University of Pardubice
2011-2015 Visiting lecturer at the Department of Religious Studies, Hussite Theological Faculty, Charles University
2012-2013 Lecturer at the Evening academy of Religious Studies at Hussite Theological Faculty, Charles University, 6 lectures in summer semester 2012 and 2013 (Buddhism)
2007-2011 Lecturer of Czech Language and Literature, Department of Slavonic & Finno-Ugrian Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi
Courses taught:
Hindi (6-semester course, Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice, 2012-2014)
Sanskrit (6-semester course, Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice, 2011-2014)
Introduction to Buddhism (1-semester course, Department of Religious Studies, Hussite Theological Faculty, Charles University, 2011-2014; 2-semester course, Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice, 2012-2015)
Introduction to Indian Traditions (1-semester course, Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice, 2012 Department of Religious Studies, Hussite Theological Faculty, Charles University, 2011-2015)
Czech Language and Literature (Department of Slavonic & Finno-Ugrian Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, 20 hours/week, 2007-2011)
Courses taught at FF UK:
Hindi II (2015)
Hindi Literature (2015)
Buddhism (2015)
Theravada Buddhism (2015)
Participation at conferences
2011: Rethinking Religion in India III, Pardubice. Paper „McDonaldization of Meditation“
2012: Rethinking Religion in India IV, Mangalore. Paper „The Modern School of Vipassana - Buddhist or Secular?“
2014: Pandanus, Praha. Paper „The Law of Nature“
2015: Politics and Religious Traditions in India, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies TF JU, České Budějovice. Paper „Buddhism in contemporary India“
List of publications
MELNIKOVA, Nora. The law of nature and practices leading to its realization in S. N. Goenka's Vipassana and in the oldest Buddhist texts. Pandanus, Praha 2014, 8/2014, no. 1, pp. 65-85. ISSN 1802-7997.
MELNIKOVA, Nora. Vipassana – an ancient Buddhist tradition or a modern school of meditation? In Dušan Deák. Hieron. Bratislava: Katedra porovnávacej religionistiky v spolupráci s vydavateľstvom Chronos, 2013. pp. 19-32. Indian Religions Across Time and Space XI. ISBN 978-80-89027-39-2.
MELNIKOVA, Nora. Indická astrologie dnes. Praha: Dingir, 2012, pp. 123 – 125. ISSN 1212-1371.
MELNIKOVA, Nora. Mánavadharmašástra. Review. Religio, Revue pro religionistiku, 2012. ISSN 1210-3640.
MELNIKOVA, Nora. Jednota v rozmanitosti – Buddhismus v České Republice. Review. Dingir: časopis o současné náboženské scéně, Praha: DINGIR, s.r.o., 2012. ISSN 1212-1371.
MELNIKOVA, Nora. Jméno. Translation. Olomouc: Aluze, Revue pro literaturu, filozofii a jiné, 2006. ISSN 1212-5547.
Workshops
28.7. 2014 – 7. 8. 2014: Braj Bhasha/Early Hindi Workshop, Bansko, Bulgaria
Grants
Grant of the Dean of Arts Faculty, Masaryk University, 2012: McDonaldization of Theravada Buddhism – a study of structure and functioning of S. N. Goenka's Vipassana tradition
Grant of the Dean of Arts Faculty, Masaryk University, 2014: Metamorphosis of the Vipassana tradition in modern world – Burma and India
Grant of the Dean of Arts Faculty, Charles University for post-doc support: Preparation of a 17. - 1./2 19. century North Indian manuscripts corpus project
European Association for South Asian Studies Workshop Funding: Opening up Intimate Spaces: Women’s Writing and Autobiography in India (2015-2016)
Grant of the Dean of Arts Faculty, Charles University for support of pedagogical work of academic staff (2016-2018)