February
3 - NOON
6203 Social Science
DR. JOE ELDER (Professor, LCA and Sociology, UW-Madison)
"A Traveler's Tale: Views from being in South
Asia after the Tsunami"
Joe Elder
has just returned from his annual trip to India and Nepal - he
arrived in India just after the Tsunami hit. He will talk about
the general state of affairs, and possible political aftershocks
in India and Sri Lanka.
February
10-NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Dr. Davesh Soneji
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, McGill University
"Dancing
Disjunctures: Memory, Identity, Performance and the Devadasis
of Telugu-Speaking South India"
In 1948, five
women Manikyam, Anusuya, Varahalu, Seshachalam and Maithili were
expelled from the temple of Krishna in the village of Ballipadu,
Andhra Pradesh after the Government of India implemented and enforced
the Anti-Devadasi Act of 1947. Today, they live in the town of
Duvva, adhering to their traditional patterns of kinship as kalavantulu
or devadasi women. Whereas in the public sphere, devadasis oscillate
in and out of sets of historical and moral discourses in which
they occupy a highly contested position, in their homes, contemporary
devadasis embody fragments of their past by remembering (and in
some cases re-enacting) precisely those aspects of their identity
which they can no longer express or display in public. Their music
and dance repertoire, their extra-domestic sexuality, the lack
of menstrual taboo in their community, and their own experiences
during the anti-devadasi movement in the early part of the twentieth
century figure prominently in these private journeys of recollection.
Based on over
a decade of research with several devadasi communities in the
East and West Godavari districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, this
presentation focuses on the importance of such performances of
memorythat allow for the articulation of devadasi identity in
post-social reform South India. These performances that occur
regularly behind closed doorsin the homes of devadasis, also present
us with new ways of reading devadasi identity through living repertoire.
Citing examples of a nineteenth-century javali (Telugu poem) that
discusses menstruation and a salam-daru (song of salutation) dedicated
to the Maratha kings of Tanjavur, I show that these journeys of
memory highlight the disjunctures between past and present, and
are the primary modalities through which devadasis are able to
re-constitute and represent their identities in contemporary South
India.
February
17-NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Dr. Sthaneshwar Timalsina
Lecturer, Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures,
Washington University
"The Language of Images: Reflection upon Tantric Visualizations"
The dazzling
diversity of images in Hinduism perplexes many viewers from outside
the respective culture or from within. Tantric images, emerging
from a deep cultural and philosophical background, are particularly
misunderstood due to the secretive nature of the tradition. Attempts
to decipher these symbols have raised challenges, compelling further
reflection. The first and foremost problem concerns the authenticity
of any interpretation. Both etic and emic perspectives assert
that images of worship, in addition to being objects of devotion,
contain meaning and can be deciphered. Within this background,
I explore some emic perspectives in interpreting cultural symbols.
Utilizing Tantric images, my presentation suggests a method of
interpretation following internal categories. To support my arguments,
I examine Ksemaraja’s understanding of Bhairava,
formulated in 11th century Kashmir, and analyze the contemporary
Sarvamnaya Nepalese Tantric tradition that weaves a multitude
of divinities within a single stream, showing the evolving and
generative nature of Tantric images.
February.
24 - NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Dr.
Patrick Olivelle, Professor and Chair,
Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas-Austin
“Manu's Code of Law: Text, Ideology, and Social History"
Born in Sri Lanka, Olivelle received his B.A. (Honours) in 1972
from the University of Oxford, where he studied Sanskrit, Pali
and Indian Religions under Thomas Burrow and R.C. Zaehner. He
was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974
for a thesis containing the critical edition and translation of
Yadava Prakasa's Yatidharmaprakasa. Between 1974 and 1991 Olivelle
taught at Indiana University. Since 1991 he has been Professor
of Sanskrit and Indian Religions in the Department of Asian Studies
at the University of Texas at Austin.
March
2 - 5pm - 6:30pm
PYLE CENTER AUDITORIUM
Langdon Street
P. Sainath, Development Writer and Author
"When Farmers Die: the Agrarian Crisies, Farmers Suicide
and the Media in India"
Mumbai-based P. Sainath is Asia's leading development journalist,
writing frequently about issues such as poverty and the effects
of industralization on India. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen describes
him as "one of the world's greatest experts on famine and
hunger". Through his work on the livelihoods of India's rural
poor, Sainath has changed the nature of the development debate
in his own country and across the world. His landmark book, "Everybody
Loves a Good Drought", is a devastating portrait of
Indian government economic policies gone awry.
He received international recognition after he spent two years
in the poorest districts in India, reporting about the daily struggles
of the citizenry. He covered everything from agriculture subsidies
to starvation deaths. That work formed the basis for his book.
Sainath has won numerous awards for his reportage, including the
European Commission's Natali Prize in 1994 for articles related
to development and poverty as well as working and living conditions
of vulnerable social groups. In November 2001, he won the Boerma
Journalism Prize from the United Nations Food and Agricutural
Organization -- the most important award in development journalism.
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March
3 - NOON
ELVEJHEM MUSEUM
Dr. Dina Bangdel, Art Historian, Ohio University
"Images of a Sacred Landscape:
Visual Constructions of Religious Identity in Nepal"
Talk Description:
Is this Buddhist, Hindu or both? Addressing this often-cited question
in the context of the religious environment in Nepal, the talk
will discuss the polemics of "religious syncretism"
in the Kathmandu Valley, and the ways in which religious identity
may be constructed through a visual discourse.
Dr. Dina Bangdel
is a specialist in Himalayan and Indian art, and is the Director
of Special Collection at The Ohio State University. Dr. Bangdel
will joining the Department of Art History at Virginia Commonwealth
University as Associate Professor in Fall 2005.
March
10 - NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Dr. John Cort, Professor of Religion, Denison University
"God as King, God as Ascetic: Jain Theology and the Ornamentation
of Temple Images"
This talk
investigates a key theological difference between the Digambar
and Shvetambar Jains concerning the nature of the Jina--of the
divine, of God. This difference is rarely articulated in texts,
but is immediately apparent to anyone who enters both a Digambar
and Shvetambar temple. The talk therefore also addresses issues
of methodology in the study of religions, and the relative weight
given to texts and material culture.
John E. Cort is the author of Jains in the World: Religious
Values and Ideology in India (Oxford University Press, 2001);
editor of Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in
Indian History (State University of New York Press, 1998),
and Kendall W. Folkert's Scripture and Community: Collected Essays
on the Jains (Scholars Press, 1993); and translator of Bhartrhari,
An Old Tree Living by the River (Writers Workshop, 1983). He is
also the author of several dozen articles on the Jains, and religion,
culture, and society in western India.
March
17 - NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Mary
Des Chene,
Co-editor, Studies in Nepali History and Society
"The Wars in Nepal "
April
7 - NOON
Location to be announced
David Washbrook, History, Oxford University, Director
of the South Asian Studies Programme
M.A., Ph.D.
Reader in Modern South Asian History
St Antony's College
April
14 - NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Dr. Georges Dreyfus Professor,
Department of Religion, Williams College
“Debate and Commentary in Tibetan Monastic Education”
An expert
in Buddhism, he was the first Westerner to earn the title of “Geshe,”
the highest degree awarded by Tibetan Buddhist monastic universities
and presented by the Dalai Lama himself. His latest book, “The
Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist
Monk” was published by the University of California Press
in 2003. In addition to Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy,
his research interests include the study of religious intellectual
practices, traditions, and identity in addition to post-colonial
and cross-cultural studies. He received his baccalaureate at La
Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and his Ph.D. in the history of religions
from the University of Virginia.
Apr.
21 - NOON
206 Ingraham Hall
Dr. Kim Gutschow Visiting Assistant Professor,
Department of Religion, Williams College
“Being a Buddhist Nun: the Struggle for Enlightenment
in the Himalayas”
They may shave
their heads, don simple robes, and renounce materialism and worldly
desires. But the women seeking enlightenment in a Buddhist nunnery
high in the folds of Himalayan Kashmir invariably find themselves
subject to the tyrannies of subsistence, subordination, and sexuality.
Ultimately, Buddhist monasticism reflects the very world it is
supposed to renounce. Butter and barley prove to be as critical
to monastic life as merit and meditation. Kim Gutschow lived for
more than three years among these women, collecting their stories,
observing their ways, studying their lives. Her book offers the
first ethnography of Tibetan Buddhist society from the perspective
of its nuns.
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