Talk by Ann Gold (Religion, Syracuse University)

On March 1, 1968 my first husband and I, both college drop-outs, set forth on the now stereotypical overland journey from Europe to South Asia. We reached Pakistan in mid-April at the peak of the hot season, and walked across the border into India about three weeks later. Well into August we literally circled the subcontinent: from Lahore to Kashmir, gradually southward all the way to Rameshwaram, north again briefly visiting Nepal. We moved constantly -- riding ordinary buses and 3rd-class trains, rarely stopping anywhere more than 2-3 nights, rarely spending more than 5-10 rupees for a night’s lodging. In letters home I repeatedly lament my ignorance and express my yearning to remain in one place, even as I rush to the next destination. While observant, I never contemplate how privileged are my hardships and the mobility I take for granted. I learn to love South Asian culture, meals, and people. Numerous strangers exert themselves to welcome, teach and feed us. Today’s presentation draws on Chapter 6 of a memoir manuscript describing my seven years as a college dropout. Chronologically it falls about two years into that chaotic period of my life. When I resumed my education in 1973 I chose to study anthropology and eventually to focus on India. My memoir wonders how I found my way into a fulfilling career without any prior plan through a fortuitous combination of aptitude, affinity, ancestry and dumb luck. Emerging retrospective anthropological themes in the South Asia chapter are the privilege of mobility and the “banquet of hospitality.”

Ann Grodzins Gold is emerita Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University. Her research in North India focused on pilgrimage, gender, expressive traditions, environmental history, and most recently landscape and identity in a small market town. She has authored or co-authored numerous articles and five books all based on fieldwork in provincial Rajasthan, including Shiptown: Between Rural and Urban North India (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017). Her book, In the Time of Trees and Sorrows: Nature, Power and Memory in Rajasthan (Duke University Press, 2002, co-authored with Bhoju Ram Gujar) was awarded the Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies. During her career as an anthropologist of religion, Gold has held awards from the Fulbright Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and National Humanities Center, among others. In 2025 she was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Talk by Ronojoy Sen (Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore)

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory in the Indian general elections for the third time at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in New Delhi, he ended his speech by chanting Bande (bow) several times in rapid succession, getting the audience to reply Mataram (mother) on each occasion. The chants of Bande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki jai (Victory to Mother India) were common to most campaign rallies by Modi as well as other senior BJP leaders during the six-week election. The song Bande Mataram can be traced to Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s well-known novel, Anandamath (1892). Bankim is also central to the powerful formulation of the nation as mother goddess. This presentation looks at the many strands of the intellectual journey of the song Bande Mataram, which is independent India’s official song (as opposed to the national anthem), from the pages of Bankim’s novel to becoming a defining feature of Hindu nationalism. There were several personalities who carried forward the ideas of Bankim in different ways and turned Bande Mataram into a potent political slogan during the Swadeshi movement. Some of the central figures in this story are Aurobindo Ghose, who was inspired by both the slogan Bande Mataram, and the connection between the nation and the mother goddess, as well as his contemporary Bipin Chandra Pal. Rabindranath Tagore, too, is a critical figure both as the person who set the song to tune and as someone who was alive to its communal interpretation.

Dr Ronojoy Sen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies and the South Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore. He has worked for over a decade with leading Indian newspapers, most recently as an editor for The Times of India. His latest book is House of the People: Parliament and the Making of Indian Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2022). He is also the author of Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India (Columbia University Press/Penguin, 2015) and Articles of Faith: Religion, Secularism, and the Indian Supreme Court (Oxford University Press, 2010; revised ed. 2018). He has edited several books, the latest being Media at Work in China and India (Sage, 2015). He has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago and read history at Presidency College, Calcutta. He has held visiting fellowships at the Wilson Center, the National Endowment for Democracy, the East-West Center, Washington, and the International Olympic Museum.

Go global in summer 2026! Global Internships give you valuable international work experience in fields spanning global development, climate and sustainability, international relations, communication, business, governance, and more.

Applications are open now.

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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Go global in summer 2026! Global Internships give you valuable international work experience in fields spanning global development, climate and sustainability, international relations, communication, business, governance, and more.

Applications are open now.

Can’t attend? Contact programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.

***

The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Go global in summer 2026! Global Internships give you valuable international work experience in fields spanning global development, climate and sustainability, international relations, communication, business, governance, and more.

Applications are open now.

Can’t attend? Contact programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.

***

The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Go global in summer 2026! Global Internships give you valuable international work experience in fields spanning global development, climate and sustainability, international relations, communication, business, governance, and more.

Applications will open in the fall.

Can’t attend? Contact programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.

***

The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Join us to learn about opportunities for graduate students with the Einaudi Center for International Studies. This session will discuss how to discover or strengthen global interests, including research and travel grants, guest lectures, fellowships, and more!

Can't attend? Email programs@einaudi.cornell.edu for more information.