Paula Richman | |
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Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Thesis | Religious Rhetoric in Maṇimēkalai (1983) |
Academic advisors | Edward C. Dimock |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Religious studies scholar |
Sub-discipline | |
Institutions |
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Paula Richman is an Emerita William H. Danforth Professor of South Asian Religions at Oberlin College. [1] [2] She is an expert in the Tamil language and has edited a series of books about the Ramayana ,including Many Ramayanas,Questioning Ramayana,Ramayana Stories in Modern South India and Performing the Ramayana Tradition. [3]
Richman completed her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College in 1974,an MA at Princeton University and the University of Chicago,followed by a PhD at the University of Chicago and a research affiliation with the Tamil Department at the American College in Madurai,India. [4] She began her study of the Ramayana and the Tamil language during her education. [3] She studied Tamil for two years in Coimbatore and Madurai. [5]
Richman was faculty at Swarthmore College,Western Washington University,and Colby College before becoming a member of the faculty at Oberlin College in 1985. [4] In 1997,she was named to the Irvin E. Houck professorship in Humanities for a period of five years. [4] During her career,she traveled to conduct lectures,including to India and Copenhagen. [4] [5]
Richman and her co-editor Rustom Bharucha spent eight years developing the book Performing the Ramayana Tradition:Enactments,Interpretations and Arguments,which includes essays,photographs,interviews,and scripts for theatrical productions,and was published in 2021. [6]