INDICA is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Sushumna Kannan as Scholar in Residence. Dr. Kannan has a PhD in Cultural Studies from Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru, India. Her research on the South Asian devotional traditions and feminist epistemology focused on the medieval saint, Akka Mahadevi and her vachanas. She received the BOURSE MIRA, French research fellowship in 2006 and 2007 and the Sir Ratan Tata fellowship for PhD Coursework and Writing in 2003 and 2007.
She has published her research on Bhakti, dharmashastras, ethics, women’s writing in Kannada and English as well as on translation theory in peer-reviewed journals and as book chapters. She received the Indic Academy fellowship in Indic feminism to study “Women’s position in the dharmashastras” in 2021.
She is currently working on a book project, Hinduism, Violence and Nonviolence and is working towards proposing a theory of varnashrama dharma. She is also finishing an essay on “The Mahabharata as a stri-shudra text.” Later this year, Sushumna will be presenting a paper on Bhakti at The Annual South Asia Conference in Wisconsin, Madison.
Sushumna will be co curating a conference on Bhakti for INDICA in February https://indica.in/callfor-papers-for-a-conference-on-the-episteme-and-experience-of-bhakti/
During her time as Scholar-in-Residence, Sushumna will design syllabi and teach courses around the theme, ‘Women and Hinduism’ and host a series of talks with scholars who have worked on related issues. She will oversee the peer-review process at INDICA’s academic journal, INDICA TODAY.
When her book project is completed, Sushumna hopes to work on converting her work on “Women in Dharmashastras” into a book. She would also like to work on a project that offers a corrective to the scholarship on Kamasutra. She also hopes to finish her translation projects,from Kannada to English: Akka Mahadevi’s vachanas and her Yoganga Trividhi and SanchiyaHonnamma’s Hadibadeya Dharma.
Our Earlier Scholars In Residence
