The discussion will be conducted on 27th August 2021 at 8:00 PM IST on zoom. Register

About the Speaker

Professor Ruth Vanita is a globally renowned author, specializing in British and Indian literary history. She completed her B.A, M.A and PhD in English from the Delhi University, where she also taught for two decades. In 1978, she co-founded ‘Manushi: A Journal About Women and Society’ which became India’s first nationwide feminist magazine that combined academic inquiry with grassroots level activism in feminism.  Her literary career spans over a dozen books, translations and edited works. Some of her prominent works are “Memory of Light (a novel, Penguin 2020); Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriages in Modern India (2005)”, “Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870 (2012) and “Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema” (2017). She has also translated many historical literary pieces originally in Hindi and Urdu to English, most notably, “Chocolate: Stories on Male-Male Desire” (2008).

She continues her research in the field of literature, focusing on gender and sexuality while working on her literary endeavours. She is a Professor of ‘English and World Cultures’ at the University of Montana, Missoula, USA where she is also the director for the program in South and South-East Asian Studies.

About the Chair

Dr. Omair Anas is the Director of Centre for Studies of Plural Societies. He was earlier associated as Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, a think tank of India’s Ministry of External Affairs. Dr. Anas received his Phd from Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2015. He completed his Mphil from the same centre. He has published 30 papers in international journals and edited volumes and more than 200 articles in national and international media on international affairs.