USSA Seminars in 2010

The Role of Interdisciplinary South Asia Cultural Expertise in Public Health Care and Research: Notes from The George Institute’s Experience

Monday 12 April
Associate Professor Anushka Patel
Director, Cardiovascular, The George Institute for International Health

Nuclear Competition in South Asia and Australian Nuclear Policy

Tuesday 1 June
Dr Lavina Lee
Department of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University.

Epics and Dharmaśāstras: A New Dating Scheme for Some Ancient Indian Texts

Friday 2 July, 5.30pm
Professor Patrick Olivelle
Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, Asian Studies, University of Texas, Austin

Almost all the dates proposed for the two Sanskrit epics and for the early texts on Dharma (as also for other kinds of ancient Indian texts) have been guesses, at best educated guesses. Although it is somewhat easier to establish a relative chronology of these texts, arriving at an absolute chronology within a century or so has been beset with difficulties. This paper is a modest attempt to come up with some objective criteria anchored in vocabulary for dating two genres of texts: epics and Dharmaśāstras. Using Aśoka and the grammarian Patañjali as chronological markers, this study focuses on the definition of Dharma and the use of dvija, "twice-born" to arrive at a terminus post quem, and possibly even dates, for these texts.

Institutions for Food Security: Global Insights from Rural India

Monday 16 August, 5.00pm
Associate Professor Bill Pritchard
Department of Economic Geography in the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney

The recent Global Food Crisis raises major questions about the how the contemporary international politics of agriculture intersects with food security aspirations for the world’s poor. Associate Professor Pritchard’s presentation will address these issues in the context of rural India. It will provide an outline of impending research into these issues, which is being funded through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects scheme.

Ethnographic Photography: Two Narratives from 1860s India

Wednesday 25 August, 5.00pm
Akshaya Tankha
Research Fellow, Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi

Past Events

USSA Welcome Forum

University of Sydney South Asia (USSA) Research Network
Holme Refectory
Tuesday 10 November 2009

Welcome Forum schedule

Religion, State and Society in Modern India

A talk by Robert Frykenberg
Kevin Lee Room, Quadrangle Building
Friday 13 November 2009

Robert Frykenberg is Professor Emeritus of History and South Asian Studies at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is widely regarded as the leading world
authority on the history of Christianity in India, and since the early 1990s has
explored the political uses of Hinduism in India.

Seminar flyer

Workshop: Protection of the South Asian Sweet and Dessert Industry

South Asian Studies Group and Discipline of Economics
Darlington Centre Boardroom
10-11 December 2009

Workshop flyer