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Policing Knowledge: M.M. Kalburgi, Vaccana Poetry, And Writers' Revolts In India
December 7, 2015, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
This event is a remembrance for M.M. Kalburgi, the renowned progressive Kannada scholar and former Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University who was assassinated on August 30th, 2015. Kalburgi was deeply immersed in the study of the vaccanas – the radically anti-casteist poetry of medieval bhakti saints such as Basava and Mahadevi Akka. We are coming together to pay tribute to Professor Kalburgi, and to express solidarity with the more than thirty Indian writers who have returned their government awards recently. We’ll recite the vaccanas (with English translation) that so inspired Kalburgi and discuss the history of “hurt sentiments”, gendered censorship, and writers’ movements in India to contextualize the contemporary moment.
