Distinguished Lecture Series
Below is a selection of lectures organized by the Center.
2018
Dr. Amit Sood, author, The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness: A 4-Step Plan for Resilient Living will be at Stony Brook on March 26 for a lecture and a conversation.
2012
Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar, University of Delhi Conserving India’s Cultural Diversity: Vibrant Tradition vs. Forces of Homogenization
Prof. John Stratton Hawley, Columbia University Religion to Make a Nation: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement
2011
Sanjata Patel, University of Hydarabad, India's Contribution to Sociology
Ambassador Harsh Bhasin, Stony Brook University"Indo-US Relations: Obama Visit and After"
2008
Mira Kamdar, award-winning author, “Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World"
2007
Neelam Deo, Consul General of India, New York
“Rising India and its Global Implications”
Christopher Chapple
Professor, Loyal Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
“Recovering the Earth: The Goddess Tradition and Eco-Awareness”
A.R. Ghanashyam, Deputy Consul General of India, New York
Rising India: Economic Implications”
Jonathan Gold, Drew University
“The Sword of Wisdom: Scholarship in a Buddhist Worldview”
2006
Nathan Katz, Professor of Religious Studies, and Director, Center for Spirituality,
Florida International University, Miami ,
“Models, Metaphors and Mechanisms of Acculturation suggested by the case of the Jews
of Cochin”
Sukrita Paul Kumar, Professor of English, Delhi University
“Partition / Narratives”
Husain Haqqani, Former Pakistani Ambassador to United States and
Director, Center for International Relations and Professor at Boston University
“The Islamic World: Between Reform and Terrorism”/,
2005
Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor, Columbia University and Senior Fellow in Economics
at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Why Globalization has a human face”
Shashi Tharoor, Under Secretary General, The United Nations, New York.
2004
Ashghar Ali Engineer, Director, Center for the Study of Society and Secularism and
Institute of Islamic Studies, Mumbai.
“Islam: Toward a Theology of Peace”
Sunil Kothari, Padmashri awardee and Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
“New Directions in Indian Dance”
Praveen Chandhari, Director, Brook Haven National Laboratory, Upton.
“Science and Indian Philosophy”
2003
Anita Desai, Novelist, Booker Prize finalist, and Professor of Writing, MIT
“Writing Indian English Fiction in the West: Experiences and Challenges”
Purushottama Bilimoria, Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University, Melbourne Austalia.
“How the Gandhian Non-violence imaginary shaped the African American Civil Rights
Movement since circa 1910”
Meena Alexander, Distinguished Professor of English, Hunter College New York.
Poetry Reading
2002
Rajmohan Gandhi, Professor, Center for Global Studies, University of Illinois
“Diversity and peacemaking: Is Gandhi relevant in 2002?”
T. N. Srinivasan, Sterling Professor of Economics and Chair, Department of Economics,
Yale University,
“Globalization of trading and financial systems in India”
Swami Agnivesh (see above)
“Who is Afraid of Globalization and Development”
George Cardona, Professor of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania.
“Panini and His Relevance to Current Linguistics”
Kamlesh Sharma, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations
“Issues in Multilateralism: The Collective Global Agenda”
Girish Karnad Jnan Peeth award winner playwright, film director, actor, Rhodes Scholar,
former Director, Nehru Center, High Commission of India, London.
“Colonialism and the Creative Arts of India”
2001
Swami Agnivesh, Former Chair, United Nations Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
(January 1994 to December 2004), Minister of Education in Haryana 1979
“Terrorism: religion and social responsibility”
Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia
University.
“War and peace and the world religions: Indic contributions to the dialogue”
William Bright, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics & Anthropology, UCLA
“India and Linguistics”
Harsh Bhasin, “Terrorism and Democracy”
Former Ambassador, South Africa, Denmark, Visiting Professor, Dept of Asian Studies,
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.
2000
Frederick Asher, Chair, Department of Art History, University of Minnesota, and President,
American Institute of Indian Studies, Chicago and Delhi.
“Sacred spaces in South Asia”
1999
Alan Roland” President, International Association of Psychology, New York
“Psychology of South Asian Americans
1998
S.R.Rao, Excavator of Indus Valley city, Lothal, and Former Director, Institute of
Marine Archeology, Goa.
“New light on ancient Indian history, including the exploration of Krishna’s Dwaraka”
Braj B. Kachru, Jubilee Professor and former Director, Center for Advanced Study,
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
“India Studies in the United States”
G.S.Sivarudrappa. Kannada Poet Laureate, Critic, and former Director, Karnataka Literary
Academy Bangalore.
“A Thousand Years of Kannada Poetry”
U.R. Anathamurthy, (see above)
“Indian culture in transition”
1997
U.R. Anathamurthy, Jnan Peeth Awardee novelist and Past President, Sahitya Akademi
(Indian Academy of Letters), Delhi.
“The Role of the Creative Writer in Developing Societies”
V.S. Arunachalam, Padma Vihushan, Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Public
Policy, Carnegie Melon University, Pittsburg, and former Scientific Advisor to Prime
Ministers of India.
“The Story of Indian Technology: Once More with Feeling”
Department Colloquia in association with Asian and Asian American Studies.
2010
Joel Bordeaux, Columbia University, Department of Religious Studies,
"Satirizing Shiva in Bharatcandra Ray’s Annadamangal"
2008
Sandeep Shastri, Pro Vice Chancellor, Jain University and Director, International
Academy for Creative Teaching at Bangalore
"The Emergence of the Indian State as the Center for Indian Politics"
2007
Namita Sanjay Sugandhi, University of Chicago and Stony Brook University
“Between the Patterns of History: Rethinking Mauryan Imperial Interaction in the Southern
Deccan.”
2006
Andrew J. Nicholson “Believer” (astikas) and “Unbelievers” (nastikas) in Indian History
2005
M.K. Sreedhar, Professor and Head, Dept Sanskrit, National College, Bangalore
“India and Hinduism: Present Relevance”
Raghupathy Sarma,” Professor of Emeritus, Dept Biochemistry, Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook. NY
“50th Anniversary of the collagen structure determination: Ramachandran-Crick controversy
revisited
Saleem Peeradina, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Siena Heights
University, Michigan
“Contemporary Indian English poetry”
2004
Arvind Mandair, Professor, Hofftra University, Hempstead, NY
“New Imperialism: Area Studies and Religious Studies”
Karen Pachelis, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Drew University
“From the Perfect Wife to the Ghoulish Saint: A Classical Woman Saint from India’s
transformation”
Swami Veda Bharati, Author and Lecturer, “Peace in the World through Peace of Mind”
Sanjoy Dutta-Roy, Professor, University of Allahabad, India and Fulbright Scholar,
University of California,
“Narrative strategies in India: Past and Present”
Sandip Shastri, Professor of Emeritus, Dept Political Science, Bangalore University
“Analysis of Indian Electoral Patterns”
2002
Sangeetha Menon, Professor, National Institute of Advanced Study, Bangalore
“Being with Transcendence: Experiencing the Bhagavadgita”
“Indian Ways of Thinking, Acting, and Experiencing in the context of the current discussions
on Consciousness”
Purushottama Bilimoria, Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University, Melbourne, Austalia
“Personal Law in India”
2001
Tej K. Bhatia, Professor of Linguistics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
“From the Walls to the Web: Advertising in Rural India”
2000
Swami Tattvavidananda, Aarsha Vidya Gurukulum, PA,
“Science in the Yajurveda”
Ahmer Latif, Stony Brook, NY
“Appreciating the Ghazal”
Malini Bhattacharjee, Head, Dept Women Studies, Jadhavpur University, and former Member
of Lok Sabha (Parliament)
“Gender and Religious Violence in South Asia”
1999
Brij Kishan Moza, President, Kashmir Bhavan, Calcutta.
“Preserving Kashmiri Pandit Cultural Identity: The Calcutta Experience”
Laura Kunrither, University of Michigan, and adjunct Faculty,
“Love or Property; Woman & The Law of Inheritance in Napal”
1998
Radh Achutan Professor, South Hampton College
“Education in Rural India”
John Williams, Professor of History, Stony Brook University
“Can we be Gandhians today? Should we be?”
Pramila Venkateswaran, Professor of English, Nassau County Community College
“Goddess and Feminine Activism in India”
Mulki Bhat, Senior Scientist, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY
“India’s Contribution to Science” and “Science in Vedic Times”