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Exploring the Stories of India with Audrey Truschke

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Location: Roosevelt University, Schaumburg Campus: Zurich Alumni Hall

The left side is a headshot of Audrey Truschke, a fair skinned female with dark hair cut just around the chin. She is wearing a blue shirt under a suit jacket and does not appear to be smiling. The Right side is a cover of her latest book, India: 5000 Years of History on the Subcontinent is on the right.
Front cover of Ashley Truschke's newest book India: 5000 Years of History on the Subcontinent. This book is blu on top with the word India in bold and in large yellow letters. Bellow that appears to be a painted picture of minstrels playing various instruments.

Join us for an exciting book launch celebrating India: 5000 Years of History on the Subcontinent by Audrey Truschke, a magisterial history spanning five millennia of the Indian subcontinent—from the Indus Valley Civilization to the complexities of the twenty-first century. This richly textured narrative explores the region’s political, social, religious, and cultural evolution, spotlighting its astonishing diversity and the voices of women, religious minorities, and marginalized groups. The evening will feature a wide-ranging, historically informed and theological conversation on contemporary Hindu-Muslim relations, with Truschke joined by two leading scholars, delving into how India’s contested past continues to shape its present and future.

Roosevelt University Schaumburg Campus
Zurich Alumni Hall
1400 Roosevelt Blvd. Schaumburg, IL. 60173
 
Advanced registration is required for this free but ticketed event.

Registration Open

Speakers:

Headshot of Audrey Truschke, a fair skinned female with dark hair cut just around the chin. She is wearing a blue shirt under a suit jacket and does not appear to be smiling.

Audrey Truschke is Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Trained in Sanskrit and Persian, her research focuses on the cultural, imperial, and intellectual history of medieval and early modern India as well as the politics of history in modern times. She is the author of three books: Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court (Columbia University Press, 2016), Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King (Stanford University Press, 2017), and The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule (Columbia University Press, 2021). Her most recent book, India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent, will be published by Princeton University Press in June 2025.

 

Headshot of Anantanand Rambachan, a darker skinned male with brown hair cut short to his head. He is wearing a yellow top with what appears to be a scarf hanging down. The background looks to be wood.

Anantanand Rambachan is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Saint Olaf College, Minnesota, USA (1985-2021). He was also Forum Humanum Visiting Professor at the Academy for the Study of World Religions at the University of Hamburg in Germany (2013-2017). His books include Accomplishing the Accomplished: The Vedas as a Source of Valid Knowledge in Ṡaṅkara; The Limits of Scripture: Vivekananda's Reinterpretation of the Authority of the Vedas, The Advaita Worldview: God, World and Humanity, A Hindu Theology of Liberation: Not-Two is Not-One; Essays in Hindu Theology and Pathways to Hindu-Christian Dialogue. Prof. Rambachan has been involved in interreligious relations and dialogue for over 40 years, as a Hindu contributor and analyst. He is a Co-President of Religions for Peace.

Headshot of R. David Coolidge, a fair-skinned male who has a white and orange beard and dark hair. He is wearing a black collarless shirtt and the shot is taken from the side so that it appears he is talking to someone off screen.

R. David Coolidge is Research Faculty at Bayan Islamic Graduate School. He was previously the Associate University Chaplain for the Muslim Community at Brown University, the Muslim Advisor at Dartmouth College, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service at New York University. He received a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in 2023, and an MA in Religion from Princeton University in 2008. He has served on the boards of various American Muslim nonprofit organizations, including Zaytuna College, Taleef Collective, and Al-Kisa Foundation. As a preacher, he has given hundreds of sermons/talks and led prayers in dozens of Sunnī and Shīʿī masjids around the country. R. David Coolidge has produced numerous academic publications, as well as books and articles of relevance to the wider American Muslim community.

Moderator:

Headshot of Mahan Mirza - an adult male in his early 50s, wearing glasses. He has a henna-made red beard, a sweater, a turtleneck, and a keffiyeh over his shoulders.
Mahan Mirza is the Executive Director of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at the University of Notre Dame and a teaching Professor of Islam & Science in the Keough School of Global Affairs and . Mirza holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Texas Austin, MA from Hartford Seminary in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, and PhD in Religious Studies from Yale University. Dr. Mirza has edited two special issues of The Muslim World and served as assistant editor of the Princeton Encyclopaedia of Islamic Political Thought. For the 2024-2025 Academic Year, Dr. Mirza is also serving as the visiting Vice President for Academic Affairs at American Islamic College in Chicago.


Welcome:

Headshot of Timothy Gianotti, a fair skinned man with a beard and no hair. He is wearing a light blue collared shirt, no tie, and a gray jacket.
Timothy J. Gianotti is the President of American Islamic College and a scholar of classical Islamic theology, philosophy, and spirituality with strong interests in Islamic Psychology, Moral Theology, Ethics, Political Thought, comparative religion and spirituality, and interfaith relations; more specifically, he is a scholar of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.1111), one of the most important religious thinkers of the classical period. Dr. Gianotti is also recognized as a Muslim theologian, pastoral leader, and committed interfaith advocate with extensive experience promoting interfaith engagement around the globe. Dr.Gianotti is the author of Al-Ghazali’s Unspeakable Doctrine of the Soul (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2001) and In the Light of a Blessed Tree: Illuminations of Islamic Belief, Practice, and History (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2011).