Internationally renowned author Bapsi Sidhwa is scheduled to lead two lectures at Mississippi State University starting Monday, Oct. 15. She will discuss some of her books, such as “Cracking India” and “Water,” and their themes, which include the partition of India and Pakistan and women’s issues of the area.This event will be co-sponsored by the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center and the Shackouls Honors College.
On Monday, Sidhwa will lead a lecture in the auditorium at Lee Hall from 6 to 8 p.m. The discussion will be followed by a book signing session outside of the auditorium. The next day, On Tuesday, Sidhwa will visit the Shackouls Honors College from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Honors Forum room in Griffis Hall. Sidhwa will lecture to a class of around 70 students, but the event is open to the public.
Sidhwa was born to Parsi Zoroastrian parents in Karachi, India in 1938. She was 9 years old at the time of the partitioning of India and the creation of the State of Pakistan. Sidhwa immigrated to the United States several years ago and has taught at schools around the country, including the University of Houston, Rice University and Brandeis University.
Nancy McCarley, director of the Shackouls Honors College, said the Honors College is excited to have the opportunity to present Sidhwa to the MSU community.
“We try to get an international speaker for the Honors College once or twice a semester,” McCarley said. “The biggest opportunity here for students is to learn about another culture that they wouldn’t normally be exposed to. They also can learn about the experience of someone who has lived through important historical events.”
Shaz Akram, international student program coordinator at the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, said MSU should continue to offer international viewpoints to students.
“I try to bring in people to campus that will educate people about other parts of the world,” Akram said. “I want to widen horizons and create curiosity among the student body. We need to continue to expose history to American students that they typically wouldn’t know about. We also need to continue our discussion about this history to explain how the modern world came to be.”
Akram said this is not the first time the student body has been exposed to Sidhwa or her work.
“I showed the film version of “Water” in March on International Women’s Day,” said Akram. “I always pick a movie that highlights the plight of women. There are important issues out there that we as a society are protected from. We just know what cruelties are out there in the world.”
Akram said a crowd of 150 students, a majority of them American, followed the movie very closely.
“I was not expecting such a large crowd,” Akram said. “They absolutely loved the movie. It was very encouraging to me. I can see the success of my program when there are more local American students out there than international students. It provides us an opportunity to show them what is really out there and to help answer their questions about the world.”
Wildlife and fisheries graduate student Jennifer Chastant said Sidhwa’s lectures should provide a new window into a different society for MSU students.
“This is a window into a world that most of us are not familiar with,” Chastant said. “It’s a valuable learning experience, especially for women. We need to remember that women in certain areas of the world go through a lot more adversity than we could ever imagine here in the United States. These lectures should be a great experience.”
For more information about Sidhwa’s lectures, contact the Shackouls Honors College or The Holmes Cultural Diversity Center.