RELATED EVENTS

The following is a listing of events happening in and around Toronto that may also be of interest to those who are interested in Tamil Studies.

Lecture - "The World in the Words : some challenges in translating modern Tamil literature"
Date: Thursday May 15, 2008
Time: 4:30pm - 6:00pm
Location: 208 N, North House, Munk Centre, University of Toronto

Speaker:
Lakshmi Holmström

Description:
The challenge and excitement of translation lies in the creative interplay between two languages: exploring what is sayable in one language and why; and whether it can be said in another. Tamil and English are languages with completely different grammatical structures, cultural assumptions and literary traditions. Moving from one to the other, the translator is driven to attend to the minute particulars of words and syntax, while keeping in mind the integrity of the text of which those words are part, as well as the wider cultural context they signal towards. With this in mind, I focus on specific problems in translating contemporary Tamil prose and poetry into English, with examples from my own practice.

Lakshmi Holmström is a writer and translator, who studied at Madras and Oxford Universities. She has translated short stories and novels by the major contemporary writers in Tamil: Mauni, Pudumaippittan, Ashokamitran, Sundara Ramaswamy, Ambai, Bama and Imayam. Her translations of modern Tamil poetry have been published recently in various journals. In 2000 she received the Crossword Book Award in India for her translation of Karukku by Bama; and in 2007 she shared the Crossword-Hutch Award for her translation of Ambai's short stories, In a Forest, a Deer. One of the Founder-Trustees of SALIDAA (South Asian Diaspora Literature and Arts Archive). Royal Literary Fund writing fellow, University of East Anglia, 2003-6. She has given papers and workshops extensively, in Britain, India, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands, Denmark and the USA. She is a co-editor of the Penguin book of Tamil poetry in translation (forthcoming).

website and event registration

Siddha as Rebel: Dissent and Complicity in the Tamil Siddha Tradition
Date: Thursday April 17, 2008
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location: Munk Centre, University of Toronto

Speaker:
Maithili Thayanithy
Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto

Description:
The Tamil Siddha tradition dates back to the tenth century, and maintains an uneven but continuous history. In the eyes of orthodox Hindus, Tamil Siddhas are religious panchamars (outcastes) challenging the very foundation of Hinduism. In the twentieth century the Siddha literature was used by socio-political movements in their anti-brahmanical campaigns. I would, however, argue for a more complex and ambivalent reading of the Siddha tradition. Focussing specifically on the Tamil tradition, I would argue that Tamil Siddhas, who hail mostly from the lower strata of the society and speak the idiom of the masses, incorporate in themselves both the rejection of orthodox religious values and practices, while drawing on the epistemology of orthodox traditions in order to assert their own.

Maithili Thayanithy is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto. She is currently working on the doctrine of living liberation embodied in the Medieval Tamil text Tirumantiram.

website and event registration

Tamil Studies Conference 2008
Date/Time: May 15-17, 2008
Location: Trinity College, University of Toronto

The Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Toronto and the University of Windsor jointly host "Being Human; Being Tamil: Personhood, Subjectivity and Identity," the third annual Tamil Studies Conference from May 15-17, 2008. This conference will bring together Tamil Studies scholars from North America, Europe, South Asia, and Australasia. Over 50 scholars, writers and artists from disciplines ranging from Anthropology, Dance Studies, Diaspora Studies, Environmental Studies, History, Literature, Psychology, Religion, and Sociology will present papers.

website and event registration

Please note: The Tamil Studies Coordinating Committee does not organize the Tamil Studies Conference. Money donated towards endowing classes for a Tamil Studies program does not directly go towards the Tamil Studies Conference, and vice versa.