Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Program
     
    Dr. Lakshmi Bandlamudi
        Dr. Lakshmi Bandlamudi     		Specialization : Cultural Studies
    Home Institution in US : City University of New York
    Long Island City, New York
    Host Institution in India : Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
    Delhi
    Start date/Month in India : August 2010
    Duration of grant : 6 months
    Brief Bio :  
    Dr. Lakshmi Bandlamudi is Professor of Psychology at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York. She grew up in India and immigrated to the United States of America in 1981. She studied at Columbia University and Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she earned her Master's and Doctoral degrees respectively. She teaches courses in Human Development and Women's Studies.

    Dr. Bandlamudi has published several papers in reputed journals and has presented papers at several international conferences in the areas connecting myths, culture, history and consciousness. Her research work is grounded on the theoretical foundations of two Russian thinkers: the Literary Critic, Mikhail Bakhtin and Socio-Historical Epistemologist Lev Vygotsky. She has compared the works of Mikhail Bakhtin with those of Sanskrit Grammarian and philosopher Bhartrhari, and with another philosopher of Aesthetics from India, Abhinavagupta. In all her varied works, her main focus and goal is to promote dialogic consciousness. Her latest book Dialogics of Self, The Mahabharata and Culture: The History of Understanding and Understanding of History, Anthem Press UK, 2010 is an interdisciplinary work. She will be coming to India on Fulbright-Nehru Research Award to extend this work. She has received several research grants and has been the recipient of Fulbright Award twice – once in 1996 to Bulgaria and Romania and the next time in 2004 to China.

    The proposed research in India is an extension of her book – Dialogics of Self, The Mahabharata and Culture: The History of Understanding and Understanding of History (2010, Anthem Press, UK). This interdisciplinary work is a comprehensive study designed to explore transactions between ‘life' and ‘literary text' – namely The Mahabharata, focusing on two central characters Karna and Draupadi. While this work focused on the psychological dimensions of interpretation, the proposed research in India will explore the myriad images of these two characters in the literary and cultural history. The archival research on the evolution of the epic text will be conducted at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, while the theoretical, methodological and philosophical dimensions of interpreting the past, particularly the ancient past, with particularities of Indian cultural and literary history will be done at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi.