Influential historian to give talk at ASU

Ramachandra Guha, named one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine, will give two free lectures on back-to-back evenings this month in Armstrong Hall’s Great Hall on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University.

The first lecture, at 7:30 p.m. April 19, is titled “Wilderness and Democracy.” The second, at 7:30 p.m. April 20, is titled “India After Gandhi: Non-violence and Violence in the World’s Largest Democracy.”

Both lectures are sponsored by ASU's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict.

Guha is widely recognized as a leading authority on the global dimensions of the environmental movement. His books include “The Use and Abuse of Nature” (2005) and “How Much Should a Person Consume? Environmentalism in India and the United States” (2006).

He also is known as a historian, political observer, biographer, journalist – and a leading historian of the game of cricket. His books in this area include “Savaging the Civilized” (2009), “India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy” (2007-08) and “The Last Liberal” (2004).

Guha has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal for his work on the dynamics of Hindu-Muslim relations in India. He is based in Bangalore and is currently working on a two-volume biography of Gandhi.

For more information about the lectures, call (480) 727-6736 or go to www.asu.eldu/csrc.

The lectures also are sponsored by the Institute for Humanities Research, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, School of Community Resources & Development and the Global Institute of Sustainability.