Vasudha Dalmia
Professor Emerita
dalmia@berkeley.edu
M.A. University of Cologne
Ph.D. Jawaharlal Nehru University 1985
Habilitation, University of Heidelberg 1996
Vasudha Dalmia is a Professor Emerita of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies. The body of her work may be described as the study of cultural formations, grouped around four broad thematic clusters: the politics of religious discourse, transitional cultural phenomena of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the politics of the literature of the new nation-state, particularly of modern Indian theatre, and studies of the position of women in these transitions. Her monograph, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth Century Benaras (1997), studies the life and writings of a major Hindi writer of the nineteenth century as the focal point for an examination of the intricate links between politics, language, culture, religion and nationality. Her work on drama, Poetics, Plays and Performances: The Politics of Modern Indian Theatre (2006), tracing the genealogies of theatre in modern at the appropriation of ‘folk’ theatre as it sought to constitute itself anew after independence. Of her edited works, The Oxford India Hinduism Reader (2007) appeared most recently.
George L. Hart
Professor Emeritus
glhart@berkeley.edu
(510) 642-8169
Office Location: 350B Dwinelle Hall
Ph.D. Harvard University (Sanskrit and Indian Studies) 1971
George Hart has taught all areas of Tamil literature as well as courses on Indian Civilization, Indian literature, and Indian religion. His latest publication (with Hank Heifetz) is an annotated translation of the great Tamil classic, The 400 Poems of Wisdom and War (The Purananuru). He has written extensively on premodern Tamil, its relationship to classical Sanskrit, and South Indian religion and culture. He has also translated several important works from Tamil, and his work was nominated for The American Book Award.
James A. Matisoff
Professor Emeritus
matisoff@berkeley.edu
(510) 643-7617
Ph.D. University of California (Linguistics) 1967
James Matisoff, Professor of Linguistics and SSEAS, is a leading authority on Southeast Asian linguistics, especially on the diverse group of languages comprising the Tibeto-Burman family and has been on the Berkeley Linguistics faculty since 1970. He is the author of many books, monographs, and articles on Southeast Asian and general linguistics. He co-founded the annual International Conferences on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics in 1968. He is editor of the journal Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. He has been Principal Investigator of the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus project (STEDT) since 1987.