Susan Visvanathan (born 1957) is an Indian
sociologist,
social anthropologist
Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
and a fiction writer. She is well known for her writings on religious dialogue and
sociology of religion
Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of quantitative methods (surveys, ...
. Her first book ''Christians of Kerala: History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba'' (Oxford University Press) is a pathbreaking work in the field of sociology of religion.
She is a Professor of Sociology and former chairperson at Centre for the Study of Social Systems at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...
(JNU).
Early life and background
Susan Visvanathan studied at
Delhi University
Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...
and
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...
. After finished M.A in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, she did her M.Phil. and PhD in sociology at the Department of Sociology,
Delhi School of Economics
Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...
, University of Delhi. Susan completed her PhD under the supervision of the eminent Sociologist and Social Anthropologist,
Veena Das
Veena Das, FBA (born 1945) is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University. Her areas of theoretical specialisation include the anthropology of violence, social suffering, and the state. Das has received multi ...
.
Career
Susan started her career as senior lecturer in sociology,
Hindu College, University of Delhi
Hindu College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi in New Delhi, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in sciences, humanities, social sciences and commerce.
In 2022, it is ranked 2nd nationally by Nationa ...
in 1983. She was head of the Department of Sociology there from 1989 to 1997. She joined the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 1997, where she is now a professor. She teaches Sociology of Religion,
Historical Anthropology
Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...
, Classical Social Theory and
gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
. She was chairperson of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University from 2010 to 2012.
[
She was Honorary Fellow, ]Indian Institute of Advanced Study
The Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is a research institute located in Shimla, India. It was set up by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 1964 and started functioning from 20 October 1965.
History and establishment
The ...
, Shimla 1990–1995, and Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed within the Teen Murti House complex, it is an autonomous inst ...
, New Delhi 1989–92. She was a Charles Wallace Fellow in Social Anthropology to Queen's University Belfast
, mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back?
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1997. She has been a visiting professor to Maison des Sciences de L'Hommes, Paris (2004), Paris 13 University
Sorbonne Paris North University (french: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) is a public university based in Paris, France. It is one of the thirteen universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1968. It is a multidisciplinary university l ...
(2011). She has been guest faculty at Freie University, Berlin and at University of California at Santa Cruz and at San Diego, South Asia Network at Lund University, Sweden and at University of Jamaica at Mona campus. She has been an honorary consultant to the World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...
, Geneva 1987–89, consultant to the Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, New Delhi 1994 to 1999 and from 2009 onwards and consultant to Freie University, Berlin, 2011. She was the Research Excellence Fellow at the Central European University (CEU), Budapest (2018-2019).
She also writes fiction during winter and summer breaks from the university, extending sociological and theoretical concerns in the more vivid prose of literary fiction including short stories and novels.
Books
* The Christians of Kerala: History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba (Oxford University Press, 1993. Reprinted 7th time as paperback from OUP Delhi in 2010)
* Missionary Styles and the Problem of Dialogue (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 1993).
* An Ethnography of Mysticism: The Journeys of a French Monk in India (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla 1998).
* Structure and Transformation: Theory and Society in India (Oxford University Press. Delhi, 2000).
* Friendship, Interiority and Mysticism: Essays in Dialogue (Orient Longman/ Orient BlackSwan, 2007).
* Children of Nature: The Life and Legacy of Ramana Maharshi (Roli Books, 2010).
* Reading Marx, Weber and Durkheim Today (Palm Leaf Publications,2012).
* Culture and Society (Readings in Indian sociology, Vol. IX), (Sage, 2014).
* Art, Politics, Symbols and Religion: A Reader for Humanities and Design (Winshield Press, 2019).
* Structure, Innovation and Adaptation: Concepts and Empirical Puzzles in a Postmodern Milieu (Winshield, 2019).
* Chronology and Events: The Sociological Landscape of Changing Concepts (Winshield, 2019).
* Wisdom of Community: Essays on History, Social Transformation and Culture ( Bloomsbury, 2022).
* Work, Word and the World: Essays on Habitat, Culture and Environment ( Bloomsbury, 2022).
Fiction
* Something Barely Remembered (Flamingo 2000 and Roli IndiaInk, 2000)
* The Visiting Moon (Roli IndiaInk 2002)
* Phosphorus and Stone (Penguin and Zubaan,2007)
* The Seine at Noon (Roli IndiaInk,2007)
* Nelycinda and Other Stories (Roli Books,2012)
* Adi Sankara and Other Stories (Papyrus Scrolls, 2017)
Selected Articles (Journals)
* Reconstructions of the Past Among the Syrian Christians of Kerala, Contributions to Indian Sociology (Sage), July 1986
* Marriage, Birth and Death: Property Rights and Domestic Relationships of the Orthodox/Jacobite Syrian Christians of Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXIV No. 24, 17 June 1989
* Women and Work – From Housewifization to Androgyny, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXI Nos 45 and 46 November 9–16, 1996.
* The Homogeneity of Fundamentalism: British Colonialism and Mission in India in the 19th Century, Studies in History(Sage),16 (2)2000
* S.K. Rudra, C.F Andrews and M.K. Gandhi: Friendship, Dialogue and Interiority in the Question of Indian Nationalism, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XXXVII, No. 34, 24 August 2002
* Medieval Music and Shakespeare's Sonnets, Think India Quarterly,12(2),2009
*
Selected Articles (Edited Books)
* "Interpretations of the City", in 'Structure and Transformation: Theory and Society in India', edited by Susan Visvanathan, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001
* "The Eucharist in a Syrian Christian Church", in 'India's Religions:Perspectives from Sociology and History', edited by T.N Madan, New Delhi: Oxford University Press,2004
* "Ringeltaube in the Midst of the Natives-1813 and the Narratives of Distress", in 'Halle and the beginning of Protestant Christianity in India : Vol 2- Christian mission in the Indian context', edited by Andreas Gross et al., Halle: Franckesche Stiftungen,2006
* "Reconstructions of the Past", in 'Historical Anthropology', edited by Saurabh Dube, New Delhi: Oxford University Press,2007
* "The Status of Christian Women in Kerala", in 'World Christianity:Critical Concepts in Religious Studies', edited by Elizabeth Koepping, London:Routledge,2010
* "A Cast of Characters," in 'Remembered Childhood:Essays in Honour of Andre Beteille', edited by Malvika Karlekar, New Delhi: Oxford University Press,2010
Bruce King on Susan Visvanathan's Fiction Writing
Literary Critic Bruce King's book Rewriting India:Eight Authors (Oxford University Press, 2014), has a chapter on the literary and fictional writings of Susan Visvanathan. He writes,"Susan Visvanathan's fiction is purposefully anti-autobiographical and is based on her sociological studies, stories she has been told, other fiction, and what she imagined during her travels. Refraining from formulae of consciously Indian literature, her fiction avoids predictability; and that is part of its message, that life is an unpredictable process of change".
King writes,"The unpredictable quality and structure of Visvanathan's fiction, even its fluctuating tone, is in keeping with her vision and can be attractive. She is an interesting writer".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Visvanathan, Susan
1957 births
Indian women novelists
Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni
Delhi School of Economics alumni
Living people
Indian sociologists
Indian women sociologists
Social anthropologists
Sociologists of religion
Ethnographers
20th-century Indian novelists
20th-century Indian women writers
20th-century Indian historians
Indian anthropologists
Indian women anthropologists
20th-century Indian women scientists
20th-century Indian scientists
Indian social sciences writers
Women educators from Delhi
Educators from Delhi
Novelists from Delhi
Women writers from Delhi
Women historians