Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies

The Halle Institute for Global Research was pleased to host the 18th annual Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies with Chitra Divakaruni, best-selling author and professor of creative writing at the University of Houston. She spoke on "Celebrating Diversity, Building Bridges" and shared her immigrant experience through the themes found in her books: loneliness, racism, the desire to conform, the excitement of being in a new country, the opening up of possibilities as a woman, and the loss of extended family.

The 2018 Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies is sponsored by the Sheth Family Foundation, the Hightower Speaker Fund, and the Emory Global and Postcolonial Studies program.


Established in 2000, the annual Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies is made possible by the generous support of the Sheth Family Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness of the culture and history of India and South Asia and to serving the Indian community in Atlanta and the Southeast.

Past speakers have included distinguished guests such as author Salman Rushdie, internationally acclaimed film director Deepa Mehta, and prominent environmental human rights activist Medha Patkar, among others. 

Date
Speaker
Title of Talk
September 23, 2018 Chitra Divakaruni, author and professor of creative writing "Celebrating Diversity and Building Bridges"
September 24, 2017 T.N. Ninan, Chairman and former Editor of Business Standard The Challenges of Being a Latecomer: When the rules have changed
October 2, 2016 Nipun Mehta, founder of ServiceSpace Gandhi 3.0: Bridging the Internet and the Inner-Net
October 5, 2014 Sumantra Ghosal, film maker, and Malavika Sarukkai, dancer-choreographer The Unseen Sequence: Exploring Bharatanatyam through the Art of Malavika Sarukkai
April 14, 2013 Sadhguru Vasudev, founder, Isha Foundation Inner Management: The Missing Link to Leadership Excellence - VIDEO
February 12, 2012 K. Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India Universal Health Coverage in an Emerging Economy: Will India Accomplish Its Goal? - VIDEO
2010 Deepa Mehta, filmmaker Approaching Midnight: Making Salman Rushdie’s Novel, Midnight’s Children, into a Feature Film
2009 Medha Patkar, environmental and human rights activist People's Movements: The State and Civil Society
2008 Shashi Tharoor, former UN diplomat, author, novelist, and political leader The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone: The Transformation of India in the 21st Century
2007 Salman Rushdie, novelist The Composite Artist
2006 Mira Nair, filmmaker Between Two Worlds
2005 Gyan Prakash, historian The Modern City in Ruins: The Memory of Cosmopolitan Bombay
2004 Vidya Dehejia, art historian The Body Adorned: Secular and Sacred
2003 Ashutosh Varshney, political scientist Hindu-Muslim Violence: Gujarat Riots in Perspective
2002 Amitav Ghosh, novelist The Greatest Sorrow: Times of Joy Recalled in Wretchedness
2001 Vasudha Narayanan, history of religions scholar Diversity, Diaspora, and Dharma