Indian lecture set to discuss murder, women's concerns
Josh Ray

Diversions Editor

A famous murder and Indian women will be the topics of two upcoming Indian Semester events.

Dr. Geraldine Forbes, chairperson of the department of history at State University of New York College at Oswego, will be presenting two lectures. The first, titled  Colonialism in Context: Tarakeswar Murder Case of 1873,  will be about how a man who murdered his wife because she had an affair with the chief priest in a temple. The man and the priest were both tried. The husband was tried for murder, while the priest was tried for adultery. Both were convicted and put in prison. The incident set off more than 50 plays, numerous newspaper articles, and many paintings. It has been called the O.J. Simpson case of 19th century Bengal.

 It s about tradition, legal system and Indian women,  said Dr. Karl Schmidt, associate professor of history and international studies.

The second seminar will be about customs women have participated in. The event is called  Displacing Manstrocities: Indian Women on Their Own Terms.  Forbes said  manstrocities  is a play on words used to describe the horrible customs women have endured over the years. She said the seminar will consist of her comparing how  Westerners  see Indian women and the actual way women are treated.

 What I m going to do is juxtapose these things side-by-side,  Forbes said.

Schmidt played a part in bringing her to Missouri Southern. He said Forbes is knowledgeable in her field and is an interesting speaker.

 She s done a lot of research in this and spent a lot of time in this,  Schmidt said.  I thought she was an ideal candidate to come and talk about this. She s a really good speaker. 

Each seminar will be followed by a question and answer session. Forbes would like the audience to ask her questions on her topics. She hopes that through her lectures she can change students  ideas and refute some of the stereotypes about Indian culture.

 It s an opportunity to counterbalance what is a part of our general knowledge,  Forbes said.

The  Colonialism  seminar will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7 in Webster Hall Auditorium. The  Manstrocities  lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. on the same day. It will also be in Webster Hall Auditorium. Both events are free to the public.