Vineet Gairola, Conference Papers

          Conference Papers

International Conferences

1. Gairola, V. (2025, October 8–10). Sonic empathy and collective healing in the Garhwal Himalaya: Bhāva, rasa, and divine embodiment in Jāgar ritual. Paper presented at the Entangled Medical Futures workshop, University of Edinburgh, UK. (Oral). 

2. Gairola, V. (2025, August 24-30). Palanquins of the Divine: Herbs, Emotions, and Divine Embodiment in Himalayan Pilgrimages. Paper presented at the XXIII International Association for the History of Religions World Congress at Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland (Oral). 

3. Gairola, V. (2025, April 9-10). Drumming and Bhāva: Metaphysics of Drumming and Divine Embodiment in Garhwal Himalaya. SEMPRE Spring Conference: Intersections between Music Psychology and Education Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, UK (Oral). 

4. Gairola, V. (2025, March 3-4). Bhāva of the Himālayan Devī: Linking Feelings and Divinization in the Himālayan Pilgrimages. Paper presented at the Performance Studies Conclave 2025 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (Oral). 

5. Gairola, V. (2024, July 21-26). Beyond Dissociation: Exploring Deity Possession and Embodied Memories in the Garhwal Himalaya. Paper presented at the 33rd International Congress of Psychology – ICP 2024. O2 Universum, Prague, Czech Republic. Also selected for their Emerging Psychologists' Programme (EPP). (Oral).

6. Gairola, V. (2024, May 23-24). The Flute Player’s Return: Exploring Drumming and Dancing in the Ritual Worship of Bagḍwāl Devtā in the Garhwal Himalaya. Paper presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society. Spaces, Movement, Time: Religions at Rest and in Movement. Institute of Religious Studies, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Emerging Scholar Award Winner (Oral, virtual). 

7. Gairola, V. (2024, February 14-16). Journeying with the Divine Feminine: Emotion and Deity Possession in the Worship of a Mountain Goddess. Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Convention of National Academy of Psychology. Psychology for Sustainable Development: Empowering the Future. Organized at GITAM (Deemed to be University), Visakhapatnam. (Oral). 

8. Gairola, V. (2023, November 15-19). Worship in Transition: An Encounter with the Rājrājeshwarī Devī of the Garhwal Himalaya. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Canadian Anthropology Society/Société canadienne d’anthropologie (CASCA). Transitions, held in Toronto, Canada. (Oral, virtual). 

9. Gairola, V. (2023, October 18-20). The Rhythms of Tradition: Understanding Ḍhol Sāgar and Drumming Knowledge in Garhwal, North India. Paper presented at SysMus23 - 16th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. Organized at the University of Sheffield. (Oral). 

10. Gairola, V. (2023, August 21-24). Linking Body, Memory, and Divine Embodiment: Two Cases from the Garhwal Himalayas. Paper presented at the 2023 International Association for the Psychology of Religion (IAPR) Conference. The Psychology of Religion in an Entangled World at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. (Oral). 

11. Gairola, V. (2023, July 26-29). Travelling Goddesses of Garhwal Himalaya: Uncovering the Interplay of Religion, Text, Music, and Environment in Travel Narratives. Paper presented at the 27th European Conference for South Asian Studies (ECSAS) at the University of Turin, Italy. (Oral). 

12. Gairola, V. (2023, June 20-22). Krishna’s leela and Winnicott’s play: A correspondence. Paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society. Religion in the Public Sphere: From the Ancient Years to the Post-Modern Era. (Oral, Virtual as an Emerging Scholar). 

13. Gairola, V. (2023, Mar 25-28). A Lesson into Decolonized Psychiatric and Psychoanalytic Practice: Demystifying the Works of Girindrasekhar Bose. Paper presented at 31st European Congress of Psychiatry by European Psychiatric Association, Paris. (poster)

14. Gairola, V. (2023, Mar 25-28). Distance and psychoanalysis: Negotiating with the virtual world. Paper presented at 31st European Congress of Psychiatry by European Psychiatric Association, Paris. (poster)

15. Gairola, V. (2022, Oct 29-30). Reducing inequality for persons with disabilities: Demystifying the ‘and’ between disability and development. Paper presented at 4th International Conference, Developing New India Through Science, Social Science, Humanities & Research organized by Indian Mental Health and Research Centre and Shia PG College.  

16. Gairola, V. (2022, Oct 13-17). The divine as a child and the mother goddess: On history and practice of Kunwarikā Devī worship in Garhwal Himalayas. Paper presented at 6th Himalayan Studies Conference. University of Toronto. (Virtual) (Oral). 

17. Gairola, V. (2022, Aug 29-Sep 2). Significance of Archetypal Sounds: Exploring Mystical Practices of Uttarakhand Himalayas. Paper presented at XXII International Congress for Analytical Psychology by the International Association for Analytical Psychology, Buenos Aires. (Oral Breakout Session) (Virtual). 

18. Gairola, V. (2022, April 1-10). On Wilfred Bion’s Way of Being: Linking Truth, Thought, and Nostalgia. Stephen Mitchell Award paper presented at 41st Annual Spring Meeting Trauma and (Trans)cendence by Division 39 of the American Psychological Association (Oral) (Virtual).

19. Gairola, V. (2022, March 4-6). Social Life of COVID-19: Contextualizing the Interface of Vaccine and Mental Health. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Convention of National Academy of Psychology. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. (Happened virtually)(Poster).

20. Gairola, V. (2021, October 22). Demystifying Sound and Music: On Chronological and Timeless Nature of Sonic Cure. Paper presented at SEMPRE conference: Engaging and Interacting with Education, Music and Psychology Research. Keele University. (Happened virtually). (Oral)

21. Gairola, V. (2021, April 10-13). History of medical body: Demystifying the continuum of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. E-Poster presented at the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry by European Psychiatric Association.

22. Gairola, V. (2021, April 10-13). COVID-19 turned upside down: A psychological perspective. E-Poster presented at the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry by European Psychiatric Association.  

23. Gairola, V. (2020 October 17-18 & 24-25). The Little Prince: The big lesson. Paper presented at 2020 Annual Conference of Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society on Truth & Dare: Complexities in the Psychosocial Space. Rutgers University, New Jersey, NJ, U.S.A (Happened virtually). (Oral)

24. Gairola, V. (2020, October 9). Demystifying sound and music: On chronological and timeless nature of sonic cure. Paper presented at Music & Psychology Research Conference: Virtually Together. Australian Music & Psychology Society and the University of Melbourne (Happened virtually). (Oral).

25. Gairola, V. (2020, May 28-30). Uttarakhand as a research field. Paper presented at 5th Annual International Conference on Spirituality and Psychology: Tomorrow People Organization, Bali, Indonesia (Happened virtually). (Oral)

26. Gairola, V. (2019, December 20-22). Bhagavad Gita and psychotherapy: A cure for soul? Paper presented at the 29th Annual Convention of National Academy of Psychology (NAOP), India & International Conference on Making Psychology Deliverable to the Society: Pondicherry University, Puducherry. (Oral)

National Conferences

1. Gairola, V. (2021, May 28-30). Distance and psychoanalysis: Negotiating with the virtual world. Paper presented at 47th National Annual Conference of Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. (Happened virtually). (Oral)

2. Gairola, V. (2019, September 13-15). Ḍhol-damauñ and devī devtās of Uttarakhand: From routes to roots. Paper presented at Fortis Third Annual Psychology Conference on Exploring the Psychosocial Realm in Psychology: A Multi-Faceted Approach: Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, Haryana. (Oral)