Harleen Singh, Brandeis, delivers the keynote address
On April 4, 2014, teachers from across Massachusetts gathered for the sixth annual Educators for Teaching India (EFTI) Conference at Harvard, hosted by SAI in partnership with EFTI, The Winsor School, Phillips Academy and The Groton School. The conference brought together high school and middle school educators from both private and public schools who are interested in teaching courses about India and South Asia. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Women in India: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity.’
In the interactive workshops, teachers were able to engage with experts on a wide variety of topics related to women in India, including peer pressure on street children, women and leadership in India, female identity in Hinduism, the influence of the education system in reducing gender violence, and female infanticide India.
The following podcast is the second in a series from the conference. Check our website in the coming weeks for future podcasts.
Woman and Leadership, Then and Now
Presenters: Harleen Singh, Associate Professor of Literature, Women’s and Gender Studies, and South Asian Studies, Brandeis University and Thomas Lamont, Head of History Department, Groton School
This workshop focused on the lives and impact of three Indian women who played crucial roles during different eras of modern Indian history; Lakshmi Bai (the Rani of Jhansi), who fought the British during the Uprising of 1857; Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister of India during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s; and Mayawati, who was recently the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. How these women gained power, wielded it, and lost it reveals insights into the role of gender and patriarchy in Indian society at different times in history.
Note: The workshop starts at 6:37.
Previous podcasts:
‘Women’s Rights and Gender Based Violence: The Influence of the Education System‘ Antara Lahiri, Harvard Kennedy School and Amy Enright, Rivers School