Signe Cohen
Professor of South Asian Religions, University of Missouri
Fellow 2025–26
- Current Project
- “No Other World Than This”: A History of Atheism in South Asia
- Project Discipline
- Religious Studies
- Fellowship Title
- Henry Luce Fellowship
About Fellow
Signe Cohen is a scholar of Hinduism and South Asian Buddhism. Her research focuses on classical Indian texts and their linguistic, philosophical, and cultural contexts. She has published widely on topics ranging from ancient Indian automata to the intersections of religion and popular culture, including a comparison of Siri with ancient oracles, and examinations of religious themes in the Harry Potter series.
Her current book project, “No Other World Than This”: A History of Atheism in South Asia, offers a comprehensive study of atheistic thought across Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. Moving beyond the well-known Cārvāka school, the book uncovers broader currents of non-theism and functional atheism in Indian intellectual history. Alongside original textual translations, it traces how South Asian thinkers have articulated systems of ethics, metaphysics, and liberation without reliance on divine beings.
Selected Publications
- Cohen, Signe. The Problem of God in Buddhism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press 2025.
- Cohen, Signe and Rabia Gregory, eds. Confluences: Religion, Health, and Diversity in Missouri. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2025.
- Cohen, Signe. The Classical Upaniṣads: A Guide. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2024.
- Cohen, Signe. I, Yantra: Exploring Self and Selflessness in Ancient Indian Robot Tales. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2024.
- Cohen, Signe. Textual Criticism and Sacred Texts: A Comparative Method. New York: Lexington Books, 2023.