Hinduism and the role it plays in "No One Can Pronounce My Name."

Kristin Scheible will present a brief introduction to Hinduism, using the many references in "No One Can Pronounce My Name" as a framework. How does Hinduism inflect the various themes (cultural conventions, attitudes toward sexuality, relationships, obligations, identity) explored through the characters? What are some Hindu practical and theological concerns that transform in diaspora?

Kristin Scheible (Harvard University, Ph.D) is a scholar of South Asian Religions who researches religious/historical narrative literature, rhetorical strategies employed in Pāli and Sanskrit texts, and the affective domain provoked by religious texts. She is the author of Reading the Mahāvaṃsa: The Literary Aims of a Theravāda Buddhist History (Columbia University Press, 2016), and is currently at work with a co-author on an anthology spanning the multiple religious traditions of India. She teaches courses in Buddhism, Hinduism, emotion and the arousal of faith, gender and South Asian religious nationalisms at Reed College. She is currently co-producing a documentary film exploring Indian classical dance as a mode of Hindu cultural expression in Portland, Oregon.