India faculty share religious dilemma at brown bag

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After co-leading 27 members of Colgate’s faculty around India for two weeks, Professor Padma Kaimal was all the more convinced that the enterprise would have lasting impact on Colgate.

“It was important to bring this group to India, and let them be in India, because nobody can forecast what is going to surprise you most about that new environment,” she said in a video interview. “And it is in those moments of surprise that everybody does the most learning.”

At a well-attended brown bag event with students — The Monotheist’s Dilemma? — five faculty travelers from across the disciplines explored one of the surprises they struggled with on the trip: whether or not it is appropriate to participate in another’s rituals.

Brown bag panelists included professors David Dudrick, philosophy; trip co-leader Eliza Kent, religion; Navine Murshid, political science; Alice Nakhimovsky, Russian studies and Jewish studies; and Jenna Reinbold, religion.

These and other professors continue to record their impressions on Colgate’s Reflections from India blog.

Did you attend the brown bag? Tell us what you thought.