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Women, Sanskrit, and the Public Sphere
November 5, 2018, 7:00 PM
Free
Laurie L. Patton is president of the American Academy of Religion and the 17th president of Middlebury. Patton is a leading authority on South Asian history, culture, and religion, the author or editor of 11 books in these fields, and she has translated the ancient Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita. She is also the author of three books of poetry, including her most recent, House Crossing.
Patton’s lecture draws upon 15 years worth of field notes and 90 life histories of women who have taken up the study and teaching of Sanskrit in urban India. In their interviews, the women reveal the creative possibilities, as well as challenges, of being playwrights, poets, reciters, and radio announcers working in the medium of Sanskrit in 21st-century India.
The lecture will be preceded by a Divali (Indian festival of lights) reception with music and Indian desserts.