
Associate Professor Emeritus
Religious Studies and South Asia Studies
Education
Bio
Guy Welbon (1937-2024) was Associate Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and South Asia Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences. He passed away on September 26, 2024 at the age of 87.
Dr. Welbon received his bachelor of science in journalism (BSJ) with highest distinction from Northwestern University in 1958, followed by a master of arts, also from Northwestern, in 1960. He then earned his PhD "with Distinction" in Sanskrit and Indic Studies from the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought in 1963. As a graduate student, he studied under Mircea Eliade, J A B van Buitenen, U Pe Maung Tin, and Shoson Miyamoto. His dissertation was entitled "The Buddhist Nirvana and its Western Interpreters," published in 1967 by the University of Chicago Press. He taught briefly at the University of Rochester and then at the University of Minnesota, where he became chair of the department of South Asian Languages and Literatures and Director of its National Resource Center for South Asia.
In 1972, Dr. Welbon joined Penn’s faculty as an Associate Professor of Religious Studies. In 1978, he took on a secondary role as Associate Professor in the College of General Studies (now the College of Liberal & Professional Studies). In 1984 he became Chair of the Religious Studies Department, a position he held until 1989. In 1995, Dr. Welbon was appointed Chair of the Department of South Asia [Regional] Studies and Director of the South Asia Center, where he served until 2002. He also served as Graduate Chair of the Religious Studies Department from 2003 until his retirement in 2005. He was elected a Life Member of Clare Hall (University of Cambridge) in 1999. While at Penn, Dr. Welbon taught, mentored students, and conducted research on the religious and cultural traditions of pre-modern South India and Southeast Asia. He specialized in Hindu and Buddhist ritual practices, the agama and South Indian “temple Hinduism,” the history of Burma and Cambodia, and Pali Buddhist texts.
After retiring in 2005, he was elected President of the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (2005-2008) and co-founded the Bangla language program supported by the U.S. Department of State through the Council for American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). The successful Bangla program pioneered many features that were later incorporated into CAORC's other language programs. He also continued his research and writing on Hindu ritual practices in South India, including a biographical study of the purohita with whom he studied in Andhra Pradesh during the 1980s and 1990s. At the time of his death, he was also working on a monograph on the earliest spread of Buddhism to South India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Welbon is survived by his wife of 57 years, Julia, and a son, Chris.
Research Interests
- Hindu and Buddhist ritual practices
- The agama and South Indian ‘temple Hinduism’
- History of SEAsia (especially Burma and Cambodia)
- Pali Buddhist texts
- Problems in intercultural hermeneutics