Amanda J. Lucia is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California. Her research engages the global exportation, appropriation, and circulation of Hinduism. In 2020 she published White Utopias, The Religious Exoticism of Transformational Festivals, a book based on her long-term ethnographic research on ‘transformational’ spiritual events (like Burning Man, Lightning in a Bottle, Bhakti Fest, Wanderlust etc.) where participants create temporary utopias focusing on spiritual growth and human connection through music, arts and various spiritual practices – including yoga.