The South Asia Center, in collaboration with the Literacy, Culture and Int’l Education Program at PennGSE will be hosting Dr. Mathangi Subramanian on March 25 and 26th, 2019.
Mathangi Subramanian, EdD is an award winning writer, author, and educator. A former public school teacher, senior policy analyst for the New York City Council, and assistant vice president at Sesame Workshop, Mathangi Subramanian's work has appeared in The Washington Post.com, Al Jazeera America, Quartz, The Hindu, The Wire, The Indian Express, Skipping Stones, Thinkling, and the Seal Press anthology Click! When We Knew We Were Feminists, among others.The events at Penn will be centered around her first literary novel, “A people’s history of heaven”, which is based on her research with students accords India, including two and half years of ethnographic work in a Bangalore slum.
From Nylon’s “14 Books to read this March” review:
Heaven, it turns out, is a place on earth: It's a long-established slum in Bangalore, tucked in-between fancy high-rise apartment buildings, and filled with a community of people who don't have much in terms of money but do support one another in a way unique to their own circumstances. Subramanian's novel centers around five young girls living in Heaven, who support one another through the travails of school, life, and love, all in an effort to maintain their own little piece of Heaven, even as other forces (namely, real estate developers) try and tear it all down. Subramanian writes with empathy and exuberance, offering a much-needed glimpse into a world that too many of us don't even know exists. This is a book to give your little sister, your mother, your best friend, yourself, so together you can celebrate the strength of women and girls, the tenacity it takes to survive in a world that would rather have you disappear.
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March 25:
Booktalk and Workshop on Ethnographic Writing led by Mathangi Subramanian
Noon to 1:30pm (Location on registration)
To register, please email Mollie Laffin Rose: molliel@sas.upenn.edu
Co-sponsored by the South Asia Center, LCIE @PennGSE, and Center for Experimental Ethnography at Penn
Book Reading and Discussion
Mathangi Subramanian in conversation with Amy Stornaiuolo
Penn Book Center, 5:30pm
Co-sponsored by the South Asia Center and LCIE @PennGSE
March 26:
Panel on Ethnography, Art, Activism
With Mathangi Subramanian, Maura Finkelstein, & Amit Das. Moderated by Fayyaz Villani.
Silverstein Forum, 12-2pm.
Co-sponsored by the South Asia Center, LCIE @PennGSE, and the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI)