Visiting lecturer explores physical, structural violence

Veena Das, a scholar internationally respected for both her academic research and her activist work on physical and structural violence in India, will be this year’s J. Jobe Soffa and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Distinguished International Visitor. The Soffa visitor fund provides a regular public lecture on contemporary issues of global significance. Das will speak Friday, Oct. 15, at 4:30 p.m. in the Pyle Center. The talk is free.

Das is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University and chair of the anthropology department. She is the author of several books, including “Social Suffering, Violence and Subjectivity” and “Remaking a World: Violence, Social Suffering and Recovery.” Her other works deal with feminist movements, gender studies, sectarian violence and everyday life. She is on the executive board of the Institute for Social and Economic Research in Development and Democracy in Delhi, India, and the International Center for Ethnic Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Das taught at the University of Delhi for 30 years.