The Hermit’s Hut: a Study in Asceticism and Architecture by Kazi Khaleed Ashraf is a 2002 dissertation from the University of Pennsylvania. A preview is available on the Web; the dissertation itself can be purchased. The first sentence of the abstract begins: “The ascetic’s dwelling forms a distinctive genre among various meditations on the elemental hut …” The focus is India. URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview_all/3043847.