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“Conducting research means you continue to learn and stay curious, which creates enthusiasm that you can bring into your teaching,” says Robin Rinehart, associate professor of religion.
During spring semester, Rinehart spent a sabbatical in India conducting research on the highly controversial Dasam Granth, a compilation of writings attributed to Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), the 10th guru of Sikhism, a religion developed in the Punjab in the 16th century. She met with Indian academics who study Sikh history at universities in the region in northwest India on land divided between India and Pakistan. Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism-all practiced there-have a long history of interaction, she says. Her book is about the issues surrounding the Dasam Granth, which until now has received littlecritical scholarly attention.
As she brings the issues and enthusiasm stimulated by her research back to the classroom, Rinehart says she seeks to stimulate students’ curiosity and motivate them to wrestle with issues they previously have not considered. “Studying religion gives people the opportunity to think about what they value and why,” she notes, “and to learn something about what other people value. I also think students are interested in looking at how people negotiate their own relationship with their religion. How do you decide if you believe everything your religion teaches?”
Rinehart served as professor, academic adviser, and London study-abroad leader for Lindsay Gianacopolos ’01, who graduated with a degree in religion and anthropology and sociology. “She had a significant impact on me,” says Gianacopolos. “Professor Rinehart has excellent insights into many different religions and was the reason I wanted to study religion. She gave me confidence in what I was doing.”
Gianacopolos is pursuing a master’s degree in secondary education at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn. “I hope someday as a teacher I can impact someone the way she has impacted me,” she says. “Her patience and understanding are two things I’ll take with me to the classroom.”
