Ralph W. Nicholas is the William Rainey Harper Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. He was President of the American Institute of Indian Studies and now is Chair of its Board of Trustees. Before his retirement he served as the Dean of the College, Deputy Provost, and Director of International House at the University of Chicago.

He began research on South Asian societies and cultures in 1960, when he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago.  He previously studied kinship, politics, and economics in rural West Bengal. The present work which forms the basis for this talk deals with the religious performances and rituals of ordinary people in a village in West Bengal.

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Sponsored by the Global Voices Lecture Series, the Department of Anthropology, Southern Asia at Chicago, the American Institute of Indian Studies, and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore.