Tapati Guha-Thakurta

Tapati Guha-Thakurta
Born (1957-09-27) 27 September 1957 (age 67)
Calcutta, India
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Cultural historian, academic
Known forArt history, visual studies, cultural history of India
SpouseHari Vasudevan (d. 2020)
RelativesParanjoy Guha Thakurta (brother)[1]
Academic background
EducationPresidency College, Kolkata
University of Oxford
Academic work
Notable worksMonuments, Objects, Histories: Art in Colonial and Post–Colonial India
Making of a New 'Indian' Art: Artists, Aesthetics and Nationalism in Bengal

Tapati Guha-Thakurta (born 27 September 1957) is an Indian historian who has written about the cultural history and art of India. She is a director and professor in history at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, and was previously a professor at Presidency College, Kolkata. Her extensive research work on Kolkata's Durga Puja led to its inclusion in UNESCOs Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Biography

Guha-Thakurta was born in Calcutta and obtained a bachelor's and a master's degree in history from the Presidency College and Calcutta University. She finished her DPhil. at the University of Oxford.[2] Guha-Thakurta was married to historian Hari Vasudevan, who died in May 2020 after contracting the Covid-19 virus.[3]

Career

In 1995, she was awarded the Charles Wallace Visiting Fellowship at Wolfson College, Cambridge.[4] In 2011, she was a visiting fellow at the Yale Center for British Art.[5] In 2018, she was a visiting professor at Brown University.[6] She has written exhibition monographs and curated many art exhibitions.[7] In 2019, she was assigned by the Indian Ministry of Culture to prepare a dossier proposing the inclusion of Durga Puja in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[8]

Books

  • Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (2007). The Making of a New 'Indian' Art: Artists, Aesthetics and Nationalism in Bengal, c.1850–1920. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521052733.
  • Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (2004). Monuments, Objects, Histories: Art in Colonial and Post–Colonial India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231129985.
  • Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (2015). In the Name of the Goddess: The Durga Pujas of Contemporary Kolkata. Primus Books. ISBN 978-9384082468.

References

  1. ^ "Dangerous untruth: Vasudevan's wife; Shock at misinformation about cause". Telegraph India. 10 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Tapati Guha-Thakurta | University of Chicago Global". global.uchicago.edu.
  3. ^ "Coronavirus: Historian Hari Vasudevan no more". www.telegraphindia.com.
  4. ^ Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (5 August 2004). Monuments, Objects, Histories: Institutions of Art in Colonial and Post-Colonial India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231503518 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (1 March 2013). "The Production and Reproduction of a Monument: The Many Lives of the Sanchi Stupa". South Asian Studies. 29 (1): 77–109. doi:10.1080/02666030.2013.772801. S2CID 154610286.
  6. ^ "Tapati Guha-Thakurta | Cogut Institute for the Humanities | Brown University". www.brown.edu.
  7. ^ "FROM KALIGHAT TO THE NEW WOMAN". www.telegraphindia.com.
  8. ^ Singh, Shiv Sahay (12 January 2019). "I-T notices to Durga Pujas even as festival seeks UNESCO status". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.