Learn more about Gandhi at free public lecture

Southern Cross University is hosting a free public lecture on the topic of Gandhi at the Byron Bay Community Centre on Wednesday, December 8, featuring prestigious international guest speaker Professor Vinay Lal.

Entitled ‘Gandhi's West: the West's Gandhi: The Limits of Intercultural Dialogue,’ the lecture is part of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia's Annual conference, which is this year being hosted by Southern Cross University’s School of Arts and Social Sciences and Centre for Peace and Social Justice from December 7 to 9 and is expected to attract around 200 academics on cultural studies from all over the world.

Vinay Lal, who is on extended leave from the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently Professor of History, University of Delhi, is a well-known writer on the topic of Indian politics, history and culture.

Professor Lal grew up in Delhi, Tokyo, Jakarta, and Washington DC and his views on American foreign policy and the totalitarianism of American democracy have earned him a place in David Horowitz’s book on the 101 ‘most dangerous’ professors in America today. He writes a blog, maintains a website on all aspects of Indian civilization called MANAS, and is the author of numerous books.

Professor Lal said his lecture would discuss the contribution made by Gandhi and how his work had been perceived in the west.

“The 'citizen of the world' takes the entire world as the canvas of his or her action, and this is how we are to understand Gandhi's implicit injunction to 'think locally, act globally,” said Professor Lal.

“Sixty years after his assassination, it can scarcely be doubted that Mohandas Gandhi was the most singular figure anywhere in the world during the twentieth century.

“One of the many reasons why Gandhi remains immensely interesting is that he uniquely and persistently brought theory and practice into dialogue with each other.”

Professor Lal will be the keynote international speaker at the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia's Annual conference, hosted by Southern Cross University. The conference theme this year will be ‘A Scholarly Affair’ and will focus on the contribution the discipline of cultural studies makes in providing research for the development of higher education, teaching and social justice.

Professor Baden Offord of the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University is currently Chair of Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo, but will travel to Byron Bay to convene the conference.

“We are privileged to welcome a guest speaker of the calibre of Professor Lal to Byron Bay and to the conference,” said Professor Offord.

“He represents the academic tide as the world turns towards other ways of thinking that are not just Western.

“Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how knowledge and meaning are made - they see the cultural arena as the foundation of community and society.

“While the field of cultural studies in Australia respects traditional knowledge, it also considerably extends our knowledge in communications and in the humanities, helping us to interpret and respond to the complexity of everyday life and the world we live in.”

The free public lecture from Professor Vinay Lal entitled ‘Gandhi's West: the West's Gandhi: The Limits of Intercultural Dialogue,’ will take place at the Byron Bay Community and Cultural Centre, 69 Jonson Street, Byron Bay next Wednesday 8th December 2010 from 6.45pm to 8pm. No bookings are required.

Photo: Professor Vinay Lal (high resolution image available on request)