Distinguished Lecture Series

• Lecturers
  

  Alan Nazareth

   

   

  

  Braj Kachru

   

   

  

  Raj Mohan Gandhi

   

   

  

  George Cardona

   

   

  

  Lori Patton

   

   

  

  Anuta Desai

   

   

  

  Girish Karnad

   

   

  

  Jagdish Bhagwati

   

   

  

  Rck Asher

   

   

  

  Robert Thurman

   

   

  

  Nathan Katz

   

   

  

  Hussain Huqqani

   

   

  

  Kamlesh Sharma

   

   

  

  Karan Singh

   

   

  

  Ron Asher

   

   

  

  Shashi Tharoor

   

   

  

  Swami Agnivesh

   

   

  

  U.R. Ananthamurthy

   

   

  

  V.S. Aruachalam

   

   

  

  William Bright

   

   

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

View photo album

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”