Ruth Vanita

Ruth Vanita is an Indian academic, activist and author who specialises[1] in British and Indian literary history with a focus on gender and sexuality studies. She also teaches and writes on Hindu philosophy.

Early life and education

Vanita earned her BA, MA and PhD in English at Delhi University.[2]

Career

From 1994 to 1997 Vanita was Reader in the Department of English at Delhi University.[1] She is now a professor of English and World Cultures at the University of Montana, where she directs the program in South & South-East Asian Studies.[3]

While living in Delhi in 1978, Vanita co-founded Manushi: A Journal about Women and Society, a journal that combined academic research and grassroots activism. She served as the journal's unpaid, volunteer co-editor from 1979 to 1991.[1]

Major publications

Books

• 1994: A Play of Light: Selected Poems[4]
• 1996: Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination[5]
• 2005: Love's Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West[6]
• 2005: Gandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Culture
• 2012: Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870[7]
• 2017: Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans in Bombay Cinema[8]
• 2020: Memory of Light (a novel)[9]
• 2022: The Dharma of Justice: Debates on Gender Varna and Species[10]
• 2023: The Broken Rainbow: Poems and Translations[11]
• 2024: A Slight Angle (a novel)[12]

Edited volumes

• 1991 (ed. with Madhu Kishwar): In Search of Answers: Indian Women's Voices from Manushi[13]
• 2000 (ed. with Saleem Kidwai): Same-Sex love in India: Readings from Literature and History[14]
• 2002 (ed.): Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society[15]
• 2014 (ed.): India and the World: Postcolonialism, Translation and Indian Literature – Essays in Honour of Professor Harish Trivedi[16]

Translations

• 1994: Yadav, Rajendra: Strangers on the Roof, translated by Ruth Vanita, Penguin India, 1994 (updated edition with a new introduction 2014)
• 1997: Detha, Vijay Dan. Dilemma and Other Stories
• 2003: Bhandari, Mannu: The Great Feast (Mahabhoj)
• 2006: Sharma, Pandey Bechan ("Ugra"): Chocolate and Other Stories on Male-Male Desire[17]
• 2007: About Me (Apni Khabar) (autobiography of Pande Bechan Sharma Ugra)
• 2008: The Co-Wife and Other Stories by Premchand
• 2013: Alone Together: Selected Stories of Mannu Bhandari, Rajee Seth and Archana Varma
• 2021: My Family by Mahadevi Varma[18]

References

1. Miller, Jane Eldridge, ed. (2002), "Vanita, Ruth", Who's who in Contemporary Women's Writing, The Routledge who's who series, Psychology Press, p. 333, ISBN 9780415159814
2. Global Feminisms Project (23 April 2004), Interview with Ruth Vanita, hdl:2027.42/55715
3. "Ruth Vanita". University of Montana. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
4. Review of A Play of Light:
   • Manjari, N. Pranava (November–December 1998), Indian Literature, 42 (6): 174–177, JSTOR 23342361
5. Reviews of Sappho and the Virgin Mary:
   • Marcus, Sharon (Spring 1998), Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 17 (1): 146–150, doi:10.2307/464330, JSTOR 464330
   • Smith, Patricia Juliana (Summer 1998), Victorian Studies, 41 (4): 635–637, JSTOR 3829029
   • Oxindine, Annette (Winter 1998), Modern Fiction Studies, 44 (4): 1032–1034, doi:10.1353/mfs.1998.0101, JSTOR 26285344, S2CID 161210681
   • Traub, Valerie (Summer 1999), "The Rewards of Lesbian History", Feminist Studies, 25 (2): 363–394, doi:10.2307/3178684, JSTOR 3178684
   • Edinger, Harry G. (Fall 1999), International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 6 (2): 319–321, JSTOR 30222574
   • Leonardi, Susan J. (Winter 2000), Signs, 25 (2): 549–552, doi:10.1086/495452, JSTOR 3175567
   • Altman, Meryl (January 2001), Nineteenth-Century Contexts, 23 (2): 309–313, doi:10.1080/08905490108583544, S2CID 220349351
6. Reviews of Love's Rite:
   • Choudhury, Sonya Dutta (19 December 2005), "Moving through mythology and popular culture, this book celebrates the forbidden love that is at the centre of a raging debate", India Today
   • Wilhelm, Amara Das (16 October 2006), Review, White Crane Institute
   • Banerjee, Sikata (November 2007), Women's History Review, 16 (5): 798–800, doi:10.1080/09612020701447863, S2CID 219611286
   • Dave, Naisargi N. (Spring 2011), "Abundance and Loss: Queer Intimacies in South Asia", Feminist Studies, 37 (1): 14–27, doi:10.1353/fem.2011.0012, JSTOR 23069881, S2CID 245656522
7. Reviews of Gender, Sex, and the City:
   • Dasgupta, Rohit K. (December 2012), "Review", Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, 31
   • Tomas, Lora (16 November 2013), "The laughter of women, the sparkle of Urdu poetry", Sunday Guardian
   • Taneja, Anand Vivek (April 2014), The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 51 (2): 279–282, doi:10.1177/0019464614527537, S2CID 144368758
8. Reviews of Dancing with the Nation:
   • Sahani, Alaka (23 January 2018), "Courtesans brought older aesthetic traditions to the new nation", The Indian Express
   • Menon, Krishna, "Through the Lens of Gender and Sexuality", The Book Review India
   • Chintamani, Gautam (10 March 2018), "Power women of Bombay cinema: This richly detailed encyclopaedic account presents the changing role of the courtesan in Hindi films across eight decades", The New Indian Express
   • FPJ Bureau, "Review", The Free Press Journal
9. Vanita, Ruth (15 April 2020). Memory of Light. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-349766-0.
10. The Dharma of Justice in the Sanskrit Epics: Debates on Gender, Varna, and Species. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 31 October 2022. ISBN 978-0-19-285982-2.
11. "Three Poems By Ruth Vanita". Outlook India. 29 April 2023.
12. Gordon, Nicholas (14 November 2024). "Podcast with Ruth Vanita, author of "A Slight Angle"". Retrieved 14 November 2024.
13. Reviews of In Search Of Answers:
    • douglas, carol anne (January 1985), Off Our Backs, 15 (1): 8–20, JSTOR 25775289
    • Banerji, Sumanta (June 1985), "Reporting to Each Other", Economic and Political Weekly, 20 (23): 997–998, JSTOR 4374493
    • Mohanty, Chandra Talpade (September 1985), "Voices from "Manushi"", The Women's Review of Books, 2 (12): 6–7, doi:10.2307/4019724, JSTOR 4019724
    • Nag, Moni (December 1985), Population and Development Review, 11 (4): 784, doi:10.2307/1973476, JSTOR 1973476
    • Lewis, Linda S. (Spring 1987), Signs, 12 (3): 582–586, doi:10.1086/494349, JSTOR 3174342
14. Reviews of Same-Sex Love in India:
    • George, Annie (Spring–Fall 2002), International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 30 (1/2): 89–90, JSTOR 23028779
    • Burkhart, Geoffrey (February 2003), The Journal of Asian Studies, 62 (1): 322–323, doi:10.2307/3096220, JSTOR 3096220
    • De, Esha Niyogi (Summer 2004), Signs, 29 (4): 1170–1175, doi:10.1086/380623, JSTOR 10.1086/380623, S2CID 225086502
    • Kent, Eliza F. (January 2005), International Journal of Hindu Studies, 9 (1/3): 220–221, JSTOR 20106958
    • Rishi, Jaydeep (Fall 2009), "Review", Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 1 (2)
    • D'Souza, Dilip (13 December 2013), "Love and Gender, According to the Hindu Epics", The New York Times
15. Review of Queering India:
    • Segal, Alan (October 2003), Gender and Society, 17 (5): 801–803, doi:10.1177/08912432030175016, JSTOR 3594718, S2CID 220475442
16. Reviews of India and the World:
    • Ghai, T. C., "Review", Fortell
    • Gautam, Nishtha (5 September 2015), "The Many Crimes Of Professor Harish Trivedi", Huffington Post
    • Dasthakur, Saurav (2016), "Review", IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 10 (1): 279–284
17. Review of Ugra:
    • Knight, Lisa I. (December 2010), International Journal of Hindu Studies, 14 (2/3): 343–345, JSTOR 41476628
18. Varma, Mahadevi (16 August 2021). My Family. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5492-158-2.

External links

• Ayyar, Raj. (2001-03-05). "Reclaiming Gay India with Ruth Vanita". GayToday. Retrieved on 2007-07-11.
• "Gay historians: Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai," QueerIndia, 5 March 2005