Spring-2019

18th International Conference on Maharashtra: Communication and Community in historic and contemporary Maharashtra

January 24-26, 2019, 9 AM - 6:30 PM
Glickman Conference Center, RLP 1.302A and B, UT Austin campus

The 18th International Conference on Maharashtra: Culture and Society will be held at the University of Texas at Austin, January 24-26, 2019. Its theme is: Communication and Community in historic and contemporary Maharashtra.

Any community is created by communication among its members. In a major culture zone, such as the one where the Marathi language is understood, communication has taken many forms through time. Traditionally these forms have included large pilgrimages accompanied by images and songs that traverse city and countryside, the circulation of texts in manuscript form and orally by individual itinerant puraniks and performers, and gatherings in local shrines, bazaars, forts, courts, and kachehris, where official business, daily activities, or simple curiosity have brought people together. In modern times, printing brought new forms of communication and community formation. Print, we know, underwent revolutionary changes in the colonial period, changes that intensified with the development of 'modern' education and the press. The past century added cinema, and the last few decades have also seen the meteoric rise of cybermedia.

Maharashtra has had a strong presence in all these forms of communication, and many communities related to these forms have emerged and disappeared through time.

This conference seeks to bring together scholars of all disciplines with an interest in this theme through the past and present of Maharashtra. Members of the public are most welcome as observers. Proceedings will integrate English and Marathi. There will be no registration fee.

Participants:

Rachel Ball-Philips, Southern Methodist University
Nikhil Narendra Bellarykar, Independent Scholar
Jessica Chandras, George Washington University
Rashmi Arvind Condra, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University
Nagamani Dendukuri, Asiatic Society of Mumbai
Dušan Deák, Comenius University in Bratislava
Madhuri Deshmukh, Oakton College
Prachi Deshpande, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
Rajeshwari Deshpande, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Swati Dyahadroy, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Philip Engblom, University of Chicago
Anne Feldhaus, Arizona State University
Cezary Galewicz, Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Sneha Shishir Gole, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Joel Gruber, University of San Diego
Sumit Guha, University of Texas at Austin
Daniel Jasper, Moravian College
Sachin C. Ketkar, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Jon Keune, Michigan State University
Shailendra Ramesh Kharat, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Shamrao Koreti, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University
Kedar A. Kulkarni, Foundation for a Liberal and Management Education, Pune
Muphid Mujawar, University of Delhi
Shraddha Kumbhojkar, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Tereza Menšíková, Masaryk University, Brno
Vidya Nadkarni,    University of San Diego
Kaustubh Somnath Naik, JNU New Delhi
Anjali Nerlekar, Rutgers University
Rosalind O'Hanlon, Oxford University
Shailaja Paik, University of Cincinnati
Saili K. Palande-Datar, Samvidya Institute of Cultural Studies, Pune
Shreeyash Satish Palshikar, Albright College
Suhas Palshikar, Independent Scholar
Mayuri Pralhad Patankar, University of Delhi
Deepak Pawar, University of Mumbai
Aruna Sandeep Pendse, University of Mumbai (Retired)
Ashutosh Potdar, Independent Scholar
Hemant Prakash Rajopadhye, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai
Anuradha Kishor Ranade, K. V. Pendharkar College
Makarand Sathe, Independent Scholar
Mohini Ganesh Savedkar, K. V. Pendharkar College
Lee Schlesinger, Purchase College
Anna C. Schultz, University of Chicago
Bina Sengar, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University
Scott Stroud, University of Texas at Austin
Anagha Ajay Tambe, Mount Holyoke College
Rupali Warke, University of Texas at Austin

Sponsored by the South Asia Institute and the Department of History, UT Austin