CONTRIBUTORS
K.C. Abraham
Dr. K.C. Abraham, a presbyter of the Church of South India was formerly
the Direcotr of South Asia Theological Research Institute, a Doctoral
Programme of the Serampore University. Born in Kerala, Dr.
Abraham has been educated in Bangalore and USA. He took hi Ph.D
from Princeton Theological Seminary, USA. As President of
Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, and member of many
committees of Christian Conference of Asia and World Council of
Churches, Dr. Abraham has made his contribution to the ecumenical
movement. A theologian and writer he has written numerous books
and articles on issues like Christian Ethics, Church and Society,
Ecology, Mission, Ecumenism, Pluralism and other contemporary issues.
Flavia Agnes
Flavia Agnes is a feminist legal activist and has been a
practising lawyer for nearly two decades specialising in women's
rights. Among the leading cases she has won are the striking down
of discriminatory provisions under the Christian law of divorce,
securing safety of sexually abused young girls in government rescue
homes securing women the right to reside in their matrimonial home and
securing injunctions restraining domestic violence.
Her other concerns are secularism and minority rights and she has
worked consistently in developing an interface between gender and
identity and has written some incisive articles probing the communal
bias beneath the demand for a Uniform Civil Code. Her
book, Law and Gender Inequality which examines the political under
currents within personal laws in India has recently been republished as
an omnibus by Oxford University Press by the title, Women and Law
(2004).
She is a founder member and currently a Secretary of Majlis, a legal
and cultural resource centre. The legal centre of Majlis provides legal
advocacy and litigation help to women in distress, initiates public
interest litigations in defence of women's rights and intervenes at
policy level reforms for gender based law reforms.
Durre A. Ahmed
Dr. Durre Ahmed is Director, Graduate Program in Cultural Studies and
Professor of Psychology at the National College of Arts, Lahore,
Pakistan. She is the author of Masculinity, Rationality and Religion
(ASR, 1992) and a contributing editor of Gendering the Spirit: Women,
Religion and the Post-Colonial Response (ZED. 2002).
Jasodhara Bagchi
Jasodhara Bagchi is an academic activist committed to Women's Studies
as part of women's movement. A left democratic feminist deeply opposed
to the current phase of Imperialist Globalisation. Currently, Ms.
Bagchi is a Chairperson of the Women’s Commission in the West Bengal
State.
Kamla Bhasin
Kamla Bhasin was born and educated in Rajasthan. With her
experience as a lecturer and research assistant in Germany, she worked
in India in various capacities as Development Secretary of the Seva
Mandir in Udaipur, Programme Officer of the FAO as the UN International
staff, as a freelance journalist, feminist, writer etc. She is
noted for her books, reports etc. especially on women’s development,
justice, gender equality, as well as her engagement in both
international and national organisations on justice issue.
Mary Schaller Blaufuss
Mary Schaller Blaufuss teaches in the Department of Mission and
Ecumenics at the United Theological College, Bangalore, focusing on
Christian mission history in relation to women. She is an
ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, USA, having
previously served as pastor of local congregations in Iowa and
Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. from Princeton Theological
Seminary.
Uma Chakravarti
Uma Chakravarti is a feminist historian who has been associated with
the movement for democratic right and women’s right since 1970s.
She is the author of the Social Dimension of Early Buddhism (1987), and
Re-writing History. She has been actively engaged in both
people’s movement as well as in creating awareness of social justice
through writing.
Chhaya Datar
Prof. Chhaya Datar after her initial studies at Pune (BA) and the Hague
(MA in Women & Development) completed her Ph.D in Sociology from
Bombay. From the 1970s, she is fully involved in various
voluntary organisations as a journalist, trainer of tribal women,
founder member of Forum Against Rape, Stree Mukhti Sanghatana
etc. She has presented and published several papers and books, as
well as brought out slide shows. From 1999 to 2001, she taught at
Chatham College under the Fullbright scholarship. At present, she
is Professor and head of the Unit of Women’s Studies at the Tata
Institute of Social Studies, Bombay.
Glory E. Dharmaraj
Glory E. Dharmaraj, Ph.D is Executive Secretary for Justice Education
for the Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries of the
United Methodist Church in New York. She also directs the Seminar
Program on National and International Affairs at the Church Center for
the United Nations, New York.
She received her B.A. degree from Madras University, and B.Ed., and M.A
in Madurai University. She has taught in Sarah Tucker College,
Tamil Nadu and Queen Mary, Mumbai. She did her Ph.D in Loyola
University of Chicago.
She has written books on Concepts of Mission and a Study Guide on
Creating Interfaith Communities, and Study books on Christmas People in
a Terrorist Crisis and From Imperial Temptations to Easter
Invitation. She has co-authored three books with her husband,
Jacob Dharmaraj, Christianity and Islam: A Missiological Encounter
(ISPCK), Mutuality in Mission, and Christianity, Judaism and Islam: A
Missiological Encounter (ISPCK).
Stella Faria
Stella is an active member of the church. She is a trained
journalist and has served as the Boards of Several Leading
Organizations in the Corporate and Voluntary Sectors. For 11
years she was a Member/Treasurer of the Karnataka State Social Welfare
Advisory Board, Executive member of the Indian Council of Social
Welfare, Council of Catholic Women of India, Ecumenical Christian
Centre, EATWOT etc.
Author/Editor of numerous articles and some books. Stella has a
master degree in Political Science and has done post graduate work in
Philosophy. She is a founder member of WINA (Women’s Institute
for New Awakening) and AWRC (Asian Women Resource Centre). At
present she is the President of WINA.
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenze is an outstanding academician, feminist,
theologian and biblical scholar. She is a member of many
professional societies, consultant on many advisory academic boards,
editor of several journals (Concilium, CBQ, Semeia, Journal of Feminist
Studies in Religion, JBL, Journal of Law and Religion etc.). She
has published several books, and also edited many including
papers on women’s stories and issues, Religion, Feminist Spirituality
and Biblical Interpretation.
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza taught at Harvard Divinity School,
Cambridge, US. She also taught courses and held seminars on
Synoptic Gospels, Pauline literature, Johannie literature, New
Testament theology, New Testament Ethics, Gospel Stories of Women,
Images of Jesus, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, Multicultural
Biblical Contrasm, Feminist historical reconstruction, Lukan exegesis,
Ethic & Rhetoric, New Testament Christology, Feminist Theory and
Theology.
Mary Grey
Mary Grey is an ecofeminist liberation theologian, currently D.J.James
Professor of Pastoral theology at the University of Wales, Lampeter and
formerly Professor of Feminism and Christianity at the Catholic
University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her recent writing includes
Introducing Feminist Images of God, (London: Continuum 2001), Sacred
Longings: Ecofeminist Theology and Globalisation, (London: SCM 2003),
and The Unheard Scream: The Lives and Struggles of Dalit Women in
India, (New Delhi 2004). What continues to inspire her work is a long
involvement in the lives of rural women in Rajasthan, NW India, as part
of an NGO, Wells for India, that works with Gandhian partners in
sustainable water projects and related social issues.
Caroline Mackenzie
Caroline Mackenzie is an artist. After graduating from St
Martin’s School of Art, London, she traveled to India. For six years
she lived in a village near Bangalore and for six years in a Sri
Vaishnava temple town. After returning to Europe in 1988 she has
been involved in various types of psychotherapy, particularly
Jungian. She has worked for the Church both in India and
U.K. Her work has been exhibited in Chennai, London and Brussels.
Monica Melanchthon
Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon teaches Old Testament at the Gurukul
Lutheran Theological College, Chennai.
Ritu Menon
Ritu Menon is a publisher and writer. She is co-author of Borders and
Boundaries: Women in India’s Partition, and of Inequality and Community
Disadvantage: A Study of Muslim Women in India (forthcoming); and
editor, Unmaking the Nation: A Three Country Perspective on the
Partition of India (forthcoming).
Nalini Nayak
Nalini Nayak is a social activist cum researcher. Based in Trivandrum,
Kerala, she has worked for several decades with the coastal
communities, and is a founder member of the International Collective in
Support of Fishworkers. She is also one of the founder members of
SEWA - Kerala and is presently its honorary Secretary.
Lalrinawmi Ralte
Lalrinawmi Ralte, who is also known as ‘Rini’ is born and brought up in
Mizoram. She was the first Secretary of Mizoram YWCA and engaged
herself in social-political and religious sphere. She did her
theological studies of BD from UTC Bangalore, and later she completed
STM from Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, USA and Doctor
of Ministry in Feminist Liberation Theology and Ministry from the
Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Boston. Since 1994, she has
been teaching at the United Theological College, Bangalore, in the
department of ‘Women’s Studies.’ She is a Coordinator of a newly
formed INDIAN WOMEN IN THEOLOGY, a publication unit of WINA (Women’s
Institute for New Awakening). She wrote several books and articles both
in English and in Mizo. She is a member of EATWOT and CATS, also
a member of the Advisory Editorial Committee of In God’s Image, the
Asian Feminist Theological Journal. Currently, Rini is doing a
doctoral research on Tribal Ecofeminist theology.
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion
and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
Rosemary Radford Ruether has been a pioneer Christian feminist
theologian for over three decades and is among the most widely read
theologians in the world. Her book, Sexism and God-Talk, a classic in
the field of theology, remains the only systematic feminist treatment
of the Christian symbols to date. With wide-ranging scholarship, Dr.
Ruether has written and edited over thirty books and hundreds of
articles and reviews.
Dr. Ruether's primary research and teaching interest is women and
social justice in theological history. Her work explores how Christian
theology has been biased by the exclusion of women's experience and
seeks to shape an inclusive theology. "The integration of women into
theological education and ministry offers a unique period in the
history of the Christian church, "she writes," when the contributions
of women to the life of the church can be recovered." She has a
continuing interest in addressing justice issues, particularly in
Palestine and Latin America.
Letty M. Russell
Letty M. Russell is Professor Emerita of Theology at Yale Divinity
School in the United States. Ordained as a Presbyterian minister
in 1958, she was a pastor in the East Harlem Protestant Parish in New
York City for many years. She is a member of the Yale Divinity
School Women’s Initiative on Gender, Faith, and Responses to HIV/AIDS
in Africa, and is Co-coordinator of the International Feminist DMin.
Program at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Jyoti Sahi
Born in 1944, in Pune. Studied art first under the guidance of Suddhir
Khastigir, one of the first group of students under Nandalal Bose, at
the Kala Bhavan of Shantiniketan, which was founded by Rabindranath
Tagore. Studied art in London, at the Camberwell School of Arts
and Crafts, from 1959-1963.
Met Dom Bede Griffiths in 1963, and later lived in his experimental
Christian Ashram both at Kurisumala in Kerala, and Shantivanam in
Tamilnad. Came to Bangalore in 1970, with his wife Jane, soon
after Fr. Bede married them in Shantivanam Ashram. Worked at the
National Biblical Liturgical and Catechetical Centre in Bangalore which
was founded by Fr. Amalorpavadas. Subsequently they have worked
on various Church commissions both in India and abroad. Concerned with
the place of the visual arts in the life of the Church.
Tanika Sarkar
Tanika Sarkar is a Professor of Momodern History, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Author of -
(1) Bengal 1928-1934 : The Politics of Protest, Oxford University
Press, Delhi, 1987.
(2) Words to Win: A Modern Autobiography, Kali for Women, Delhi, 1999
(3) Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation: Religion, Community, Cultural
Nationalism, Delhi, Indiana and London, 2000 (30 co-authored with Basu
et al, Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags : A Critique of the Hindu Right,
Delhi, 1993
(4) Co-edited with Urvashi Butalia, Women of the Hindu Right, Delhi,
1995. Has also written extensively in Indian and international acadamic
journals on 19th century social and cultural histories, subaltern
movements in 2oth century Bengal, Hindu militarism in contemporary
India. Involved with Delhi-based womens' and secular organisations.
Aleyamma Vijayan
Aleyamma Vijayan has a Master degree in Social Work (MSW). She
started working with the destitute children and the aged in
institutional settings. From 1978 to 1995 she worked with the Fishing
Communities at various levels and capacities. She was a staff of an NGO
called Programme for Community Organization and was the coordinator and
secretary of this organization for 8 years. She was also closely
associated with the fish-workers movement, which was very active in
1980s. During this period, she gained experience as a community worker,
trainer, in mobilization and advocacy. She has published a training
manual on gender in Malayalam and has written several articles.
She was associated with many organisations including the SEWA (Self
Employed Women’s Association), ICSF (International Collective in
Support of Fish Workers), Streevedi and Sakhi.
Lalrinawmi Ralte
Lalrinawmi Ralte, who is also known as ‘Rini’ is born and brought up in
Mizoram. belongs to the Presbyterian Church. She did her
theological studies of BD from UTC Bangalore, and later she completed
STM from Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, USA and Doctor
of Ministry in Feminist Liberation Theology and Ministry from the
Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Boston. Since 1994, she has
been teaching at the United Theological College, Bangalore, in the
department of ‘Women’s Studies.’ She is a Coordinator of a newly
formed INDIAN WOMEN IN THEOLOGY, a publication unit of WINA (Women’s
Institute for New Awakening). She wrote several books and articles both
in English and in Mizo. She is a member of EATWOT and CATS, also
a member of the Advisory Editorial Committee of In God’s Image, the
Asian Feminist Theological Journal. Currently, Rini is doing a
doctoral research on Tribal Ecofeminist theology.
Rini is actively involved in the social, political and religious life
of women in particular. She was the first Secretary of Mizoram YWCA.