Paula Richman

Paula Richman
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisReligious Rhetoric in Maṇimēkalai (1983)
Academic advisorsEdward C. Dimock
Academic work
DisciplineReligious studies scholar
Sub-discipline
Institutions

Paula Richman is an Emerita William H. Danforth Professor of South Asian Religions at Oberlin College.[1][2] She is an expert in the Tamil language and has edited a series of books about the Ramayana, including Many Ramayanas, Questioning Ramayana, Ramayana Stories in Modern South India and Performing the Ramayana Tradition.[3]

Education

Richman completed her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College in 1974, an MA at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, followed by a PhD at the University of Chicago and a research affiliation with the Tamil Department at the American College in Madurai, India.[4] She began her study of the Ramayana and the Tamil language during her education.[3] She studied Tamil for two years in Coimbatore and Madurai.[5]

Career

Richman was faculty at Swarthmore College, Western Washington University, and Colby College before becoming a member of the faculty at Oberlin College in 1985.[4] In 1997, she was named to the Irvin E. Houck professorship in Humanities for a period of five years.[4] During her career, she traveled to conduct lectures, including to India and Copenhagen.[4][5]

Richman and her co-editor Rustom Bharucha spent eight years developing the book Performing the Ramayana Tradition: Enactments, Interpretations and Arguments, which includes essays, photographs, interviews, and scripts for theatrical productions, and was published in 2021.[6]

Works

  • Bynum, Caroline Walker; Harrell, Stevan; Richman, Paula, eds. (1986). Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols. Boston: Beacon Press.[7][8]
  • Richman, Paula (1988). Women, Branch Stories, and Religious Rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist Text. Syracuse: Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.[9][10][11]
  • Richman, Paula, ed. (1991). Many Rāmāyanas. Berkeley: University of California Press.[12][13][14][15]
  • Cutler, Norman; Richman, Paula, eds. (1992). A Gift of Tamil: Translations from Tamil Literature. In Honor of K. Paramasivam. Manohar: American Institute of Indian Studies.[16]
  • Richman, Paula (1997). Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Indian Devotional Genre. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.[17]
  • Richman, Paula, ed. (2001). Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press.[18][19][20]
  • Richman, Paula, ed. (2008). Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An Anthology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21953-4.[21][22]
  • Richman, Paula; Bharucha, Rustom, eds. (2021). Performing the Ramayana Tradition: Enactments, Interpretations, and Arguments. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197552506.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Religion Emeriti Faculty". Oberlin College. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  2. ^ Krislov, Marvin (September 25, 2014). "Understanding Different Worldviews". Oberlin College. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Paula Richman and her 'Ramayana' journey". The New Indian Express. May 16, 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "Lisa Crawford, Paula Richman, and Robert Shannon Are Honored with Endowed Professorships". Oberlin Observer. February 14, 1997. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  5. ^ a b Vishnoi, Anubhuti; Delhi, Teena Thackernew (January 20, 2015). "'Different cultures have derived different morals from Ramayana'". The Indian Express. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  6. ^ Sattar, Arshia (October 21, 2021). "Exploring the diverse performance traditions of the Ramayana". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  7. ^ Tom, Winnie (October 1991). "Reviewed Work: Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols by Caroline Walker Bynum, Stevan Harrell, Paula Richman". Philosophy East and West. 41 (4): 594–598. doi:10.2307/1399660. JSTOR 1399660. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  8. ^ Paulsell, Stephanie (October 1991). "Reviewed Work: Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols by Caroline Walker Bynum, Stevan Harrell, Paula Richman". The Journal of Religion. 71 (4): 596. doi:10.1086/488739. JSTOR 1203981. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  9. ^ Hallisey, Charles (February 1994). "Women, Branch Stories, and Religious Rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist Text. By Paula Richman". The Journal of Asian Studies. 53 (1): 267–268. doi:10.2307/2059620. JSTOR 2059620. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  10. ^ Cutler, Norman (June 1, 1990). "Book Reviews : Paula Richman, Women, Branch Stories, and Religious Rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist Text". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 27 (2): 254–256. doi:10.1177/001946469002700211. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  11. ^ Strong, John S. (February 1991). "A Text without a Community". History of Religions. 30 (3). doi:10.1086/463235. S2CID 162427720. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  12. ^ Thapar, Romila (August 1, 1994). "Book Reviews : PAULA RICHMAN, ed., Many Rāmāyanas; K.S. SINGH and BIRENDRANATH DATTA, eds., Rama-katha in Tribal and Folk Traditions of India, Anthropological Survey of India". Studies in History. 10 (2): 294–299. doi:10.1177/025764309401000209. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  13. ^ Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (May 1992). "Reviewed Work: Many Rāmāyaṇas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia. by Paula Richman". The Journal of Asian Studies. 51 (2): 437–439. doi:10.2307/2058084. JSTOR 2058084. S2CID 165176392. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  14. ^ Shahed, Syed Mohammad (1993). "Reviewed Work: Many Rāmāyaṇas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia by Paula Richman". Asian Folklore Studies. 52 (1): 234–235. doi:10.2307/1178471. JSTOR 1178471. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  15. ^ Goldman, Robert P. (October 1993). "Reviewed Works: Many Rāmāyaṇas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia by Paula Richman; Rāmāyaṇa and Rāmāyaṇas by Monika Thiel-Horstmann". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 113 (4): 605–609. doi:10.2307/605799. JSTOR 605799. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  16. ^ Peterson, Indira Viswanathan (February 1994). "Reviewed Work: A Gift of Tamil: Translations from Tamil Literature. In Honor of K. Paramasivam. by Norman Cutler, Paula Richman". The Journal of Asian Studies. 53 (1): 247–248. doi:10.2307/2059606. JSTOR 2059606. S2CID 162037065. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  17. ^ Monius, Anne E. (August 1998). "Reviewed Work: Extraordinary Child: Poems from a South Indian Devotional Genre by Paula Richman". International Journal of Hindu Studies. 2 (2): 299–300. JSTOR 20106600. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  18. ^ Niklas, Ulrike (March 2003). "Review: Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 71 (1): 244–248. doi:10.1093/jaar/71.1.244. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  19. ^ Blank, Jonah (December 2002). "Reviewed Works: Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition by Paula Richman; Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Indentities of the Hindu Great Goddess by Tracy Pintchman". American Anthropologist. 104 (4): 1228–1230. doi:10.1525/aa.2002.104.4.1228. JSTOR 3567113. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  20. ^ Bhattacharya, Pradip (January 2005). "Reviewed Work: Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition by Paula Richman". International Journal of Hindu Studies. 9 (1): 191–194. JSTOR 20106939. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  21. ^ Shankar, S. (2009). "Reviewed Work: Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An Anthology by Paula Richman". Marvels & Tales. 23 (2). Wayne State University Press: 406–408. JSTOR 41388936. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  22. ^ Sathaye, Adheesh (August 2011). "Review of Paula Richman. Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An Anthology". H-Net Reviews. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  23. ^ Chaudhuri, Rosinka (January 21, 2022). "That which endures". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 10 July 2022.