LILA-PRISM Lecture 2 "The First Firangis" discussion based on the book by Jonathan Gil Harris at Habitat World, India Habitat Centre (IHC), Lodhi Road > 7pm on 29th August 2013

Time : 7:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Note : Call  91-11-43663333 (Habitat World) to re-confirm any last minute change or cancellation of the event.

Place : Habitat World, India Habitat Centre (IHC), Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
Parking : Gate No. 1 to 3 (Cars), Gate No. 2 ( Bikes & Bicycles )
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Stations :
'Jor Bagh(Yellow Line)Exit Gate-1' - Walk Direction
'Khan Market(Violet Line)'
Area : Lodhi Road Area Events

Event Description : LILA-PRISM Series. The First Firangis by Jonathan Gil Harris. 
The dialogue considers the strange phenomenon of Europeans who immigrated to India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and, to lesser and greater extents, became Indian. These early migrants, who predate the British Raj by two centuries, are a far cry from the "white Mughals" examined by William Dalrymple. They came to India not to conquer and command, but with much humbler ambitions: to escape poverty and persecution. Paying particular attention to the life of Thomas Stephens, an English Catholic dissident who fled to the Konkan coast in 1579, became a Marathi poet, and wrote a 11,000- stanza purana in traditional ovi form, this talk asks: what does it mean to be "authentically" Indian, and how does the word "firangi" itself capture the distinctive nuances of what it means to become Indian? 

About the Speaker:- Jonathan Gil Harris, Professor of English at Ashoka University, is interested in early modern understandings of globalization and the foreign, and how these have helped shape our knowledge and experiences of bodies, disease, commerce, time, and religious difference. He is the author of Foreign Bodies and the Body Politic (Cambridge UP, 1998), Sick Economies: Drama, Mercantilism and Disease in Shakespeare's England (U Penn P, 2004), Untimely Matter in the Time of Shakespeare (U Penn P, 2009), Shakespeare and Literary Theory (Oxford UP, 2010), and Marvellous Repossessions: The Tempest, Globalization, and the Waking Dream of Paradise (Ronsdale, 2012). He is also the editor of Indography: Writing the "Indian" in Early Modern England (Palgrave, 2012). His new book, The First Firangis: How to Be Authentically Indian, will be published by Aleph Books in 2014.

Background : LILA PRISM Lecture Series 2013 is an attempt to explore some major fields of knowledge in the developmental context of contemporary India. This initiative is already finding support and following in India and abroad. The 16 speakers, beyond rigorously discussing their specific topics, will share with us the dream of a society in which creative efforts and meaningful results are integrally connected. They will not only pose key questions that must awaken policy makers, but also share their suggestions to link their disciplinary sites with the lives of common people, in a non-intrusive and creative way.

Related Events : Talks | Books | Places for Books