SEMINAR & INTERACTIVE SESSION – RS THEATRE FEST ’11

Identity, Allegiance and Alienation

ADMISSION FREE
Ranga Shankara, Sun. Oct.16, 2011: 11 AM – 1:00 PM

Speakers: Columnist Aakar Patel on Narendra Modi — The Impossible Leap from Gujarati Asmita to Inclusive India; Sociologist Dr. Chandan Gowda on Bengaluru and the Question of Kannada and Author Dr. Arshia Sattar on Europe’s failed Romance with Multi-culturalism.

Interactive Session: 12.15 – 1.15 pm

Curated and moderated by Prakash Belawadi

About the Speakers:

Arshia Sattar, translator, facilitator and author, obtained her PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 1990. Her abridged translations of the epic Sanskrit texts, Kathasaritsagara and Valmiki’s Ramayana have both been published by Penguin Books.

Chandan Gowda, Professor, Azim Premji University, has a PhD from the Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; a PhD Certificate in Cultural Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and is currently writing a book on the cultural politics of development in the old Mysore state. In May this year, he gave a lecture on ‘Kannada Language Activism in Bangalore: Historical Origins, Contemporary Predicament’ at Center for South Asia, Stanford.

Aakar Patel is a columnist for Mint (Lounge) and The News International. He has been Editor-in-Chief of Divya Bhaskar, Mid Day and Gujarati Mid day , Inquilab and Resident Editor of The Asian Age, Mumbai. He is now a Director with Hill Road Media, Mumbai. Patel recently wrote a profile of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.