WENDY F. SINGER

CURRENT POSITION

Kenyon College:

Associate Professor of South Asian History
Director of International Studies

Teaching Responsibilities: India, Cross-cultural Women's History, Asian Comparative History, International Studies.

 
EDUCATION

PhD, University of Virginia, History of South Asia (Modern and Medieval) with Minor concentration in Modern Mexico, 1991.

Fellow, A. N. Sinha Institute, Bihar, India, 1986-7.

Visiting Student, Department of Sociology Delhi School of Economics, 1984-5

MA, University of Virginia, South Asian History, 1984.

Hindi Language Fellow, American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi, 1984.

BA, University of Virginia, Echols Scholar of Liberal Arts, 1982.

SELECTED COURSES TAUGHT AND INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECTS

South Asia: Modern India (Also with Hindi Language Discussion Sections), Introduction to South Asian History, Muslim Experience in South Asia, Comparative South Asian Politics.

Approaches to the Study of History: Colonizer and Colonized:

Approaches to British Imperialism, Oral History Methodology

Advanced Seminars: Great Islamic Empires: Mughals, Saffavids, and Ottomans, Historiography and the Study of Women, Civil Disobedience

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS

Fulbright Faculty Research Abroad, 1995-6.

Center for Study and Preservation of Records of Modern History,

Moscow, Visiting Researcher, 1994

PEW Grant, Applying Computer Technology for Teaching, 1994.

CIEE Program for Study in Russia, 1994.

NEH Travel to Collections Grant, 1993

Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grant, American Historical Association for Election Monograph, 1992.

Smithsonian Grant: India's Tenth General Elections, 1991.

Kenyon College, Faculty Development Grant, 1991.

Smithsonian Grant: India's Ninth General Elections, 1989.

Ford Foundation Grant, Chicago Meeting on Election Project, 1989.

American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship, 1987-8.

American Institute of Indian Studies Junior Fellowship, 1986-7.

BOOKS

Creating History: Oral Narrative and Political Resistance, Oxford University Press, 1997.

A Constituency Suitable for Ladies: Women and India's Elections, Oxford University Press, (forthcoming, 1999).

ARTICLES, CHAPTERS

"When Peasants Were Men," in Anand Yang, ed., Peasant Studies Retrospective (forthcoming)

"Indian Peasants and the Communist International" in Timothy Rees and Andrew Thorpe, eds., International Communism and the Communist International, Manchester University Press, 1997.

"In Pursuit of Dignity," Review article of recent women's publications in India, Journal of Women's History,(Winter, 1996)

"'Spices' and History," Review of the Film, "Mirch Masala," American Historical Review, October 1992.

"Gendered Politics: Definitions of Gender and Politics in the 1991 Election," in Harold Gould and Sumit Ganguly, eds., India

Votes: Alliance Politics and Minority Governments, Boulder: Westview Press, 1992, 380-402.

"Women and Landcontrol in an Indian Election," in Gould and Ganguly, eds., India Votes, Boulder: Westview, 1991, 180-207.

"India's Parliamentary Elections of 1989," Center for South Asian Studies Bulletin, University of Virginia, Vol. III:2, 1990.

"Folk Art of Mithila: Women Painters of North India," in Kenyon College Alumnae Bulletin, Summer 1989.

"Telling Revolution: Oral History and Political Change in India, 1900-1939," Essays in History, (Vol 31) 1988.

"The Democratic Rite:  Celebration and Participation in the Indian Elections," Asian Survey, Vol. XXVI:10, 1986, 941-958, (with Walter Hauser).

REVIEWS

Review of Eldrid Mageli, Organizing Women's Protest; A Study of Political Styles in Two South Indian Activist Groups, London: Curzon Press, 1997.

Review of Vinita Damodaran, Broken Promises: Congress and Peasant Politics in India, Oxford, 1992, in Journal of Asian Studies, (Winter 1993), 198-9.

Review of Rakesh Gupta, Bihar Peasantry and the Kisan Sabha. Delhi: Peoples' Publishing House, 1983, in South Asia in Review, Vol. 8: 2, 1983.

INVITED SCHOLARLY PAPERS AND LECTURES

"When Peasants were Men: Gender and the Historiography of Peasant Studies," Symposium in Honor of Professor Emeritus Walter Hauser, University of Virginia, May 19-22,1997.

"Women, Nationalism, and India's Elections" and "Contested Histories of the Taj Mahal: Mughal Women and Hindu Communalism," NEH Lectures, Fulbright College of Humanities, University of Arkansas, May 1997.

"Telling Revolution: Oral Narrative and Political Resistance in the 1930s" Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences, Calcutta, January 1996.

"Retelling Peasant Politics, 1996-1936: Oral Histories and Political Change" Jawaharlal Nehru University, March 1996

"The Indian Paradigm: Peasants in the Communist International at the Time of Baku," Medlicott Symposium on the Comintern and International Communism (1916-20,) Exeter England, July 1995.

"Saini Musahar: The Written Word in the Autobiography of a Jailed Saint," Midwest Association of Asian Studies, Oct 1993.

"Men in Saris and Women Soldiers: Gender and Politics in Colonial India," Exeter University Women's Studies, May 1993.

"Social History and Grassroots Women's Politics in India," A One Day Seminar on Women's Studies, Exeter University, 1993.

"Of Maharajas and Men: British Authority and a Colonial Landlord," Association of Asian Studies, April 1992.

"Gendered Politics: Women's Movements and the Tenth General Election in India," Conference in South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, November 1991.

"Behind the Veil: Women's Politics in India," Keynote Address: Indian Subcontinent Week, Wooster College, April 1991.

"Women's Folk Art and Economic Development in North India" Traveling art exhibit (Dayton, Gambier, Ohio) Winter, 1990.

"Elections as a Window into India's Political Past," Association of Asian Studies, April 1990.

"Telling Revolution: Rhetoric of Peasant Politics in 1930s India," University of Michigan, Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, October 1989.

"Folksongs of a Freedom Movement: Women as Workers and Messengers in India's Nationalist Movement," National Women's Studies Association, June 15, 1989.

"Designs of Social Change: Art of Mithila," American Association of University Women, Virginia Chapters, 1988.

"Narrative and Revolution: Language and Peasant Politics in 1930s India," Center for South Asian Studies Lecture Series, April, 1987.

"Food Symbolism and Political Expression in Bihar, 1930-1936" International Conference on Semiotics, Mysore, January, 1985.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROJECTS AND PRESENTATIONS

"Asia, Africa and Latin America in International Studies at Kenyon," Presentation at Connecticut College Conference on International Studies and the Future of the Liberal Arts, June 1997.

NPR, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Interviewed by Ray Swarez on "Talk of the Nation," about Gandhi and Gandhian politics, September 1994.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, NEH SEMINAR: Lecturing on Indian History as faculty for NEH Seminar to Internationalize the Humanities curriculum, Summer 1995.

WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Reviewer for Fellowship Applicants in South Asian Field, Washington, DC, 1994.

GREAT LAKES COLLEGES ASSOCIATION:

--Member of Academic Council, supporting International Programs and Women's Studies, 1992.

--Conference on Internationalizing the Curriculum, Speaker, "Comparative Studies a Future Direction of International and Area Studies," October 1990.

--Planning Committee Member for Women's Studies Conference, "Feminism, Ethnocentrism and the Production of Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Women's Studies," November 5-7, 1990.

KENYON COLLEGE:

--Director of International Studies Major, 1996-

--McGregor Committee for Summer Fellowships in the Humanities,1996.

--Member of the International Education Committee, 1993-

--Orientation for International Studies, "Kenyon Culture," annual, 1992-.

--Founding Member Asian Studies Advisory Committee, 1989-.

--Coordinated Annual International Film Series, with discussion on Asian, African and Latin American cinema, 1988-92.

--Faculty Advisor to Worldly Wisdom, a student newspaper on world events, 1989-95.

--Orientation to Off-Campus Studies Students, "Being the Guest Abroad" annual, 1989-.

--Member of Multi-Cultural Affairs Committee, 1989--

COMMUNITY RADIO: Periodic guest on local radio program, "Coffee Cup," to discuss Indian affairs.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: Participant in Project to promote East Asian and South Asian History in primary and secondary Schools, 1989.

CURRY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Member of Faculty in Symposium on "Teaching about South Asia for Secondary School Teachers" June 1988.

STATE COUNCIL ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA: Conference on International Education, Presentation on "Incorporating International Education into a Liberal Arts Curriculum" February 18-20, 1986.

NATIONAL COMMITTEES AND ORGANIZATIONS

Association of Asian Studies, 1980--.

American Association of University Women, 1988--.

Oral History Association, 1989--.

American Historical Association, 1988--.

National Women's Studies Association, 1989--.

LANGUAGES USED IN RESEARCH

Hindi/Urdu, Maithili, some Farsi, Russian, and Spanish, studying Telegu.