Symposium - Patronage and Power: Women Movers and Shakers in the Indian Subcontinent

Hon. Chris Van Hollen, House of Representative
Asian Division of the Library of Congress
Asian Division Friends Society (ADFS)
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University

Invite you to a

SYMPOSIUM
Patronage and Power: Women Movers and Shakers in the Indian Subcontinent

Friday, April 20, 2007
8:30 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
The Members Room, LJ-162, Jefferson Building
Library of Congress

Accompanied by a Special Book Exhibit
8:30am-5:00pm
Asian Reading Room, LJ-150, Jefferson Building
Library of Congress

Book Exhibit Curators:
Nuzhat Khatoon
Dr. Allen Thrasher

Co-sponsors:
Prof. Walter and Mrinalini Andersen
Rama and Arun Deva
David Good, Tata Group
Dr. Kenneth and Joyce Robbins
Ranvir & Adarsh Trehan and the Trehan Foundation

PROGRAM

8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Registration

8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Opening Remarks –
Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee, Chief, Asian Division
Dr. Walter Andersen, The Johns Hopkins University
General Moderator
Dr. Kenneth Robbins, Board Director for the Asian Division Friends Society, including greeting from Maharani Shivkumari of Kotah

Welcoming Remarks –
Hon. Congressman Chris Van Hollen
Dr. Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian, Library of Congress

9:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Panel 1 – Women and Religion
Moderator: Dr. Rachel McDermott, Chair
Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures Department, Columbia University

Dr. Laurie Patton, Professor and Chairperson
Department of Religion, Emory University
“Katyayani’s Complaints: Women Sanskritists Narrate the Religious Past”

Dr. Nancy Martin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Griset Lecturer in Ethics
Department of Religious Studies, Chapman University
“Mirabai”

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Panel 2 – Begums and Maharanis
Moderator: Zeenut Ziad, Independent Scholar

Dr. Barbara Ramusack, Professor
Department of History, University of Cincinnati
“The Autobiographies of the Maharanis of Jaipur & Gwalior”

Dr. Kenneth Robbins, Independent Scholar
“Begum Somru”

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch break

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Panel 3 – Women Leaders in India’s Independence Struggles
Moderator: Dr. Smita Jassal, Gender and Development,
Columbia and American Universities

Dr. John McLeod, Associate Professor and Chair
Department of History, University of Louisville
“The Rani of Jhnasi and India’s First War for Independence”

Dr. Geraldine Forbes, Distinguished Teaching Professor
History, State University of New York - Oswego
“Sarojini Naidu-The Nightingale of India and the Indian Struggle for Independence”

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Panel 4 – Women and Art
Moderator: Debra Diamond, Assistant Curator, South and Southeast Asian Art, Freer and Sackler Galleries

Dr. Molly Aitken Zaidi, Columbia University
“Pardah and Portrayal: Rajput Women as Subjects, Viewers and Patrons”

Dr. Padma Kaimal, Associate Professor of Art and Art History
Robert Hung-Ngai Ho Associate Professor in Asian Studies Colgate University
“Women Patrons of Early Chola Period Temples”

4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Concluding Remarks

Contact: Dr. Anchi Hoh, (202) 707-5673 or email: adia@loc.gov

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8276325@N08/sets/72157600197256054/