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Alumna Shares Art, Scholarship in Dance
International Conference on Indian Religions
Meets in Albion The international Conference on the Study of Indian Religions, which met last week for the first time on Albion's campus, also enjoyed the art and scholarship of an Albion alumna. Sunonda Samaddar, '98, attended the conference both as a performer of traditional Indian dance, and as a scholar herself; she is currently working on a doctorate in anthropology at Columbia University.
“Modern Constructions of the Miraculous and the Mysterious” was the conference topic, drawing approximately 40 scholars in the field from as far off as Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Belgium and Canada. “This conference is an intimate, very specialized group of individuals,” says Selva Raj, a religious studies professor at Albion who was also recently elected as the conference's chair. “This is a special group, where we can bring together young scholars and young faculty with some of our field’s best researchers.” During Raj's open-ended chairship of the conference, Albion will host the conference every third year, as well as be the central location for editing and publishing the conference proceedings. The 20-year old organization has published several conference volumes, which are used by Indian scholars worldwide. A volume on the Albion conference is expected within a year.
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Albion College ◦ Albion, Michigan
◦ 517/629-1000
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Sunonda Samaddar, '98, performed traditional Indian dances for the
international Conference on the Study of Indian Religions, during their
2005 meeting, held at Albion College.