In the years leading up to Indias independence, a young Punjabi woman known to us only as Mrs. A. joined psychoanalyst Dev Satya Nand for an experiment in his new, Oriental method of dream analysis. Her analysis contained a surge of emotion and reflections on sexuality, gender, marriage, ambition, and art as she turned to female figures from the Hindu epics to reimagine her world and its ethical arrangements. These stories, taken up in surprising ways, helped her envision a future beyond marriage, colonial rule, and gendered social constraints. This talk explores Mrs. A.s case and the mythic landscapes she entered for the ways they put ethics in motion, finding repertoires for the creative transformation of ideals and highlighting self-conscious and effortful work to enliven forms typically engaged for their durability.
Speaker Bio
Sarah Pinto is Professor of Anthropology at Tufts University. She is author of Where There Is No Midwife: Birth and Loss in Rural India (Berghahn 2008) and Daughters of Parvati: Women and Madness in Contemporary India (University of Pennsylvania Press 2014), and works on gender, kinship, and the intersection of medical practices with intimate lives. She is currently researching the history of hysteria in India and anticipates the release of The Doctor and Mrs. A.: Ethics and Counter-Ethics in an Indian Dream Analysis in the fall of 2019 (Fordham University Press and Women Unlimited).
Read more about Prof. Pinto at her faculty webpage HERE
The South Asia Art Initiative, inaugurated in Spring 2018, is the culmination of a comprehensive art program, built over the past several years, that promoted conversation around the visual cultures of South Asia through talks, conferences, and exhibitions. The goal of the Initiative is to move onto the next level with local, national, and international collaborations that combine creative energies with insights drawn from scholarly research. To read more about the Initiative or to help support its various fundraising goals, please click HERE
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Event made possible with the support of the Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies
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PARKING INFORMATION
Please note that parking is not always easily available in Berkeley. Take public transportation if possible or arrive early to secure your spot.
The event is FREE and OPEN to the public.
