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• Musicians, authors and diplomats part of Dhar India Studies' fall lecture series

Musicians, authors and diplomats part of Dhar India Studies' fall lecture series

• Sept. 18, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- This fall's India Studies lecture series at Indiana University will bring leading historians, book authors, a documentary filmmaker, a classical music master and others knowledgeable about India and South Asia to the IU Bloomington campus.

The lecture series, which is presented by the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program, is free and open to the public. It will begin Thursday, Sept. 19, with a presentation by Harleen Singh, associate professor of literature and women's and gender studies at Brandeis University.

Singh will speak about "Representing the Past in Hindi: Rani Lakshmi Bai in Poetry, Prose and Film," beginning at 5 p.m. at the Dhar India Studies House, 825 E. Eighth St.

Other events in the series include:

• Sept. 25 -- A public workshop on Indian classical music, presented by world-renowned Indian classical music maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his son Ayaan Ali Khan, at 5:30 p.m. in Auer Hall at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Khan, a master of the sarod, also will offer a weeklong 1-credit-hour class on Indian classical music and culture Sept. 23 to 27 at the Dhar India Studies Program, 825 E. Eighth St. The event is co-sponsored by the School of Global and International Studies.
• Sept. 26 -- A lecture by Arjun Appadurai, the Paulette Goddard Professor of media, culture and communication at New York University. He will speak on the topic "Finance and the Global Imaginary," at 5 p.m. Sept. 26 in Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. The lecture is part of the Framing the Global Conference at IU Bloomington Sept. 26 to 28.
• Sept. 27 -- Author M.G. Vassanji will speak about "Not Just Right? Being African Indian," at 5:30 p.m. in the Dogwood Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. Vassanji was born in Kenya and today is one of Canada's most acclaimed writers. His most recent book is "The Magic of Saida," a partly autobiographical story about a "double immigrant," an Indian born in Africa who wants to assimilate himself in a third culture without losing his ethnic identity. His talk is part of the daylong workshop, "The Indian Diaspora in Africa."
• Oct. 3 -- A talk by Rajendra Madhukar Abhyankar, India's former ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg and diplomat-in-residence at the IU Center of American and Global Security. He will speak on the topic, "Some Vignettes of Indian Diplomacy," at 5 p.m. at Dhar India House. He also is chairman of the Kunzru Centre for Defence Study and Research in Pune, India, and was secretary in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs with responsibility for Asia, North Africa and Oceania.
• Oct. 10 -- Nico Slate, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, will speak about "The United States of India: Democracy, Diversity and Development" at 5 p.m. at Dhar India House. This talk is co-sponsored by the American Studies Program.
• Oct. 24 -- Independent filmmaker Pankaj Rishi Kumar will screen and discuss his documentary film, "In God's Land," at 5 p.m. at Dhar India House. The film documents the journey of a tiny village, Inam Alungalam in Tamil Nadu, which is robbed of its land in order to construct a Special Economic Zone.
• Oct. 31 -- A book release party for Paul Losensky, IU associate professor of Central Eurasian studies and of comparative literature, and author of "In the Bazaar of Love: Selected Poetry of Amir Khusrau," at 4 p.m. at Dhar India House.
• Nov. 7 -- Ramnarayan Rawat, assistant professor of history at the University of Delaware, will speak about "Public Space and Democratic Practice: Dalits in Modern India" at 5 p.m. at Dhar India House.
• Nov. 15 -- Rohan D'Souza, assistant professor in the Centre for Studies in Science Policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University, will discuss "The Political Limits of the Large Dam in South Asia," at 4 p.m. in Room 150 of the Student Building. The event is co-sponsored with the Department of Geography.
• Dec. 5 -- Ulrike Stark, professor of South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago, will speak about "Benares Beginnings: Print Modernity, Book Entrepreneurs and Cross-Cultural Ventures in a Colonial Metropolis," at 5 p.m. at Dhar India House.

For more information about the Dhar India Studies Program, which is part of the School of Global and International Studies in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, call 812-855-5798 or email india@indiana.edu.

Related Links

• Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program
• IU School of Global and International Studies