SAC presents: Kalpana Ram

Kalpana Ram, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University 

The Nature of the Complaint: In the Court of the Goddess in South India

In his final work, Maurice Merleau-Ponty develops the image of a chiasm or fold, through which we and the world are intertwined in a carnal embrace. Based on ethnographic work in Tamil Nadu, Ram argues that this vision gives us a way of understanding deep seated notions of justice that underlie the complaints of suffering brought to the goddess, particularly by women. While not denying the need for multiple visions of justice, this presentation will reverse the usual direction of questions and ask: how does the justice meted out by the goddess help us address the blind spots in modern political traditions?​

Open to the public.

Sponsored by the South Asia Center at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, Department of Anthropology, and Women's and Gender Studies.