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PROFESSOR ROMILA THAPAR, HISTORIAN OF ANCIENT INDIA AND ARDENT ADVOCATE OF SECULARISM, TO SPEAK AT OBERLIN COLLEGE
SEPTEMBER 20, 2002--Professor Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, will deliver the Oberlin Shansi Distinguished Lecture for the 2002-2003 academic year. Her lecture, "The Writing of History and Contemporary Politics in India," will be at noon Monday, September 30, in Craig Lecture Hall, Science Center, Oberlin College.
Professor Romila Thapar is the author of many seminal works on the history of ancient India. Her volume of the Penguin History of India has been continuously in print since 1966. More recent works include History and Beyond, Sakuntala : Texts, Readings, Histories, and Cultural Pasts. She has pioneered both the study of the legends of early Indian history as myths, and the integration of the critical use of archaeology and art history with written sources.
Professor Thapar has held many visiting posts in Europe, the United States, and Japan. She is an Honorary Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and SOAS, University of London and has honorary doctorates from The University of Chicago, the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientale, Paris, the University of Oxford and the University of Calcutta.
Thapar is at the forefront of the struggle of the Indian intelligentsia against the systematic onslaught on the secular foundations of the educational system by the ruling parties led by Hindutva forces in India.
Through the annual distinguished lectureship Oberlin Shansi seeks to focus on an important contemporary issue in the matrix of relationships between the Asian polities and cultures and the United States. Oberlin Shansi is a non-profit organization that promotes understanding and communication between Asians and Americans through individual and group educational programs and community projects. Founded in 1908, Shansi is one of the oldest international educational exchange programs in the United States. Shansi maintains affiliate relationships among Oberlin College and institutions in Japan, India, Indonesia, and China.
Media Contact: Carl Jacobson or by telephone, (440) 775-8605
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