Wednesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. — RUTLAND — UVM history professor Abby McGowan will consider how major political changes in India affect that country’s prospects in a talk at Rutland Free Library on March 4 at 7 p.m. Her talk, “India Rising,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public.
With its sweeping victory in the 2014 elections, India’s right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party is promising to revitalize the economy. But critics warn that the BJP has often advanced its policies through authoritarianism and religious violence. McGowan will consider the challenges and opportunities facing the new government.
McGowan joined the UVM faculty in the fall of 2004. A specialist in modern South Asian history, she teaches courses on early and modern South Asia, Gandhi and his legacy for resistance movements around the world, and the peoples, cultures, and politics of the Himalayas.
The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May in nine communities statewide, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in Rutland are held at Rutland Free Library unless otherwise noted. All First Wednesdays talks are free and open to the public.
Upcoming talks in Rutland include “The Buildings of Rutland” with architectural historian Curtis B. Johnson on May 6. The April talk, “The Argentine Pope” with author Martin Weinstein, has been cancelled and a rescheduled date is pending.
For more information, call the Rutland Free Library at 802-773-1860, or contact the Vermont Humanities Council at 802-262-2626, or visit www.vermonthumanities.org.
