Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh, currently on display in the David Winton Bell Gallery, focuses on the situation of women in rural India. In conjunction with the exhibition, this Year of India forum will address the cultural construction of women in India as daughters, married women and widows. Professor of Anthropology Lina Fruzzetti will discuss issues of dowry and marriage for both Hindus and Muslims. What does it mean to be a widow? Who is a marginal person? And what are the alternatives for women in an Indian society?

Following the forum, there will be an informal reception to celebrate Brown’s 2009-10 Year of India–a program of major public lectures, cultural events, academic conferences, and other explorations of India and its dramatic rise on the world stage.

Location: List Art Building, Room 120, 64 College Street.

Romila Thapar, professor emerita of ancient Indian history at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, India, is a world-renowned scholar who revolutionized the study of early Indian history. She will speak on “The Past as Recorded in Early North India.”

The prevalent view is that Indian civilization lacked a sense of history and therefore wrote no history. This lecture will attempt to explain why this view came to prevail, why it is legitimate to question it, and how we can recognize the variety of ways in which historical consciousness was expressed in early India.

Location: List Art Center, Room 120, 64 College Street.
Read more about Professor Thapar and the other 2010 honorary degree recipients here.

“Odissi Dance: Bodies and Stories Unbound”
Neeta Pal ’09 will present Odissi, an Indian classical dance form originating in Orissa, India. Neeta has spent the past year studying at the Orissa Dance Academy (ODA) in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, on a Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship. ODA is one of the largest institutions of Odissi dance in the world.

Apart from performing, Neeta will share her observations about Odissi as a lens onto globalized India, addressing issues such as the promotion and consumption of classical dance and the evolution of dance as livelihood, spiritual practice and entertainment.

A large number of new Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs), IITs and Central Universities have been started recently in India. All these institutions and existing academic institutions require outstanding faculty members in mathematics and computer science. The primary goal of this meeting is to inform junior faculty, post-docs and senior graduate students in the US about academic opportunities available in India and motivate them to return to India. A delegation from India representing a wide cross-section of institutes and universities will make presentations on various aspects of an academic career in India. Prof. K. R. Sreenivasan of NYU, the former director of ICTP, Trieste will present an external perspective of challenges in science in India. Younger participants will also make brief presentations on their work.
Hosted by the Division of Applied Mathematics. More information available here.