Susan Visvanathan (born 1957) is an Indian sociologist, social anthropologist and a fiction writer. She is well known for her writings on religious dialogue and sociology of religion. Her first book Christians of Kerala: History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba (Oxford University Press) is a pathbreaking work in the field of sociology of religion.
She is a Professor of Sociology and former chairperson at Centre for the Study of Social Systems at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Early life and background
Susan Visvanathan studied at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. After finished M.A in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, she did her M.Phil. and PhD in sociology at the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Susan completed her PhD under the supervision of the eminent Sociologist and Social Anthropologist, Veena Das.
Career
Susan started her career as senior lecturer in sociology, Hindu College, University of Delhi in 1983. She was head of the Department of Sociology there from 1989 to 1997. She joined the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 1997, where she is now a professor. She teaches Sociology of Religion, Historical Anthropology, Classical Social Theory and gender studies. She was chairperson of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University from 2010 to 2012.
She was Honorary Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla 1990–1995, and Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi 1989–92. She was a Charles Wallace Fellow in Social Anthropology to Queen's University Belfast 1997. She has been a visiting professor to Maison des Sciences de L'Hommes, Paris (2004), Paris 13 University (2011). She has been guest faculty at Freie University, Berlin and at University of California at Santa Cruz and at San Diego, South Asia Network at Lund University, Sweden and at University of Jamaica at Mona campus. She has been an honorary consultant to the World Council of Churches, Geneva 1987–89, consultant to the Oxford University Press, New Delhi 1994 to 1999 and from 2009 onwards and consultant to Freie University, Berlin, 2011. She was the Research Excellence Fellow at the Central European University (CEU), Budapest (2018-2019).
She also writes fiction during winter and summer breaks from the university, extending sociological and theoretical concerns in the more vivid prose of literary fiction including short stories and novels.
Books
The Christians of Kerala: History, Belief and Ritual among the Yakoba (Oxford University Press, 1993. Reprinted 7th time as paperback from OUP Delhi in 2010) Missionary Styles and the Problem of Dialogue (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 1993). An Ethnography of Mysticism: The Journeys of a French Monk in India (Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla 1998). Structure and Transformation: Theory and Society in India (Oxford University Press. Delhi, 2000). Friendship, Interiority and Mysticism: Essays in Dialogue (Orient Longman/ Orient BlackSwan, 2007). Children of Nature: The Life and Legacy of Ramana Maharshi (Roli Books, 2010). Reading Marx, Weber and Durkheim Today (Palm Leaf Publications,2012). Culture and Society (Readings in Indian sociology, Vol. IX), (Sage, 2014). Art, Politics, Symbols and Religion: A Reader for Humanities and Design (Winshield Press, 2019). Structure, Innovation and Adaptation: Concepts and Empirical Puzzles in a Postmodern Milieu (Winshield, 2019). Chronology and Events: The Sociological Landscape of Changing Concepts (Winshield, 2019). Wisdom of Community: Essays on History, Social Transformation and Culture ( Bloomsbury, 2022). Work, Word and the World: Essays on Habitat, Culture and Environment ( Bloomsbury, 2022).
Fiction
Something Barely Remembered (Flamingo 2000 and Roli IndiaInk, 2000) The Visiting Moon (Roli IndiaInk 2002) Phosphorus and Stone (Penguin and Zubaan,2007) The Seine at Noon (Roli IndiaInk,2007) Nelycinda and Other Stories (Roli Books,2012) Adi Sankara and Other Stories (Papyrus Scrolls, 2017)
Selected Articles (Journals)