The Franklin Humanities Institute and Duke University Libraries were pleased to announce a Bookwatch event in honor of Sumathi Ramaswamy's Terrestrial Lessons: The Conquest of the World as Globe (Chicago University Press, 2017). Since the sixteenth century, the globe has circulated as a worldly symbol, a scientific instrument, and not least an educational tool for inculcating planetary consciousness. In Terrestrial Lessons, Ramaswamy provides the first in-depth analysis of the globe's history in and impact on the Indian subcontinent during the colonial era and its aftermath. Prof. Ramaswamy also serves as chair of Duke University's History Department and is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of History. She describes herself as a cultural historian of South Asia and the British Empire with her research over the last few years being largely focused on visual studies, the history of cartography, and gender.

Faculty Bookwatch celebrates and promotes interdisciplinary conversations on major recent books by Duke humanities or interpretative social sciences faculty. Each Bookwatch program brings together a panel of distinguished colleagues giving brief comments on the significance and impact of the featured book.

Panelists:

Gauri Viswanathan, Class of 1933 Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

Benjamin Schmidt, Professor of History, University of Washington

David Gilmartin, Distinguished Professor of History, North Carolina State University

Walter Mignolo, Professor of Romance Studies, Duke University