April 25, 2024

‘Great Lives’ Lecture Series Continues with Gandhi

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The William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series continues on Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. with nonviolent resistance leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, presented by Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Digital Studies Anand Rao. The Synergy Periodontics and Implants Lecture.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Because of restrictions on public gatherings on campus, the entire series of 18 lectures will be pre-recorded and delivered electronically, through Zoom Webinars, with closed captioning available. Although the presentations will be taped in advance, there will still be a live Q&A session following the online debut of each lecture, in which the speaker will be available to answer questions submitted by audience members.

Once called a ‘half-naked fakir’ by Winston Churchill, Mohandas K. Gandhi was more widely known as Mahatma Gandhi, the man who led India to independence in 1947. Gandhi is typically remembered as he was in his later years, in sandals and dhoti leading protests and engaging in hunger strikes as he took on the British Empire. As with all great lives, Gandhi’s is a study in contrasts, and any study of his life, and his success as a leader of India, must include an understanding of his formative years as a boy in India, as a law student in London, and as a lawyer in South Africa. It is through this analysis that we can see how he became so instrumental to both Indian independence and our own Civil Rights movement.

Other upcoming lectures include Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi, presented by Professor of Art History Marjorie Och; and playwright Lillian Hellman, presented by Professor of Theatre Gregg Stull. To learn more about Great Lives and view past and upcoming lectures, please visit https://www.umw.edu/greatlives/.