Dattani will read from his plays Seven Steps Around The Fire and Dance Like A Man An Friday, June 15, from 1 to 3pm, at 280A 91亚色 Lanes, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Winner of India鈥檚 prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998 from India鈥檚 National Academy of Letters, Dattani is one of the country鈥檚 best-known playwrights.

Mahesh Dattani

He is also known for his directing work in the cinema, including films such as Mango Souffle, which won Best Motion Picture in 2003 at the Barcelona Film Festival, and Morning Raga, which took Best Artistic Contribution in 2004 at the Cairo Film Festival.

His plays are crafted gestures of dissent. His oeuvre has forged wide-ranging critiques of Indian heteronormativity, social institutions such as the family, as well as cultural rituals, including marriage, are interrogated and found wanting.

The event is hosted by the 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research, 91亚色鈥檚 departments of English and Theatre, and the Sexuality Studies Program at 91亚色.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The annual prize, inaugurated in 1994 by the Association of Friends of the National Museum of Roman Art (Museo Nacional de Arte Romano),聽recognizes聽the contributions of individuals, academics and researchers聽who have expanded the knowledge of the historical, cultural and archeological heritage of the Roman world, in particular of the city of M茅rida in Spain. It was presented to Edmondson聽at the museum's 25th-anniversary celebrations in September.

Above: Holding the award 鈥� a copy of聽a Roman bust of the Genius (Protective Spirit) of Augusta Emerita 鈥� are, from left, winner Jonathan Edmondson; Mar铆a Angeles Albert Le贸n, Spain's director general of fine arts and cultural property; Trinidad Nogales Basarrate,聽 education and culture minister for聽Extremadura region;聽and a representative for Extremadura president Jos茅 Antonio Monago Terraza.

Edmondson received the聽award for his research on the colony of Augusta Emerita and Roman Spain over the years while at 91亚色 and for the fundamental contributions he made toward the study of Emeritan society and the structure of the former colony. He was聽also recognized for his 鈥渨ork in disseminating knowledge about the archeological heritage of Emerita across the world.鈥�

Left: The awards ceremony inside the National Museum of Roman Art

鈥淚t鈥檚 really international recognition for my scholarship,鈥� says Edmondson. 鈥淚鈥檓 the first English-speaking scholar who has won it.鈥�

Through his research on Roman Spain, Edmondson has been instrumental in bringing the history, culture and archeology of the colony of Augusta Emerita聽in the region of Extremadura, one of聽17 autonomous regions in Spain, to a world audience. When Edmondson first started studying Roman Spain, he was one of the few international scholars to do so. There had been much research on Roman Italy, France and Britain聽among others, but not Roman Spain, and not written in English.

Right: Jonathan Edmondson delivering his acceptance speech for the international prize, Protective Spirit of the Colony of Augusta Emerita, at the National Museum of Roman Art

It was the Roman province of Lusitania, overlapping both Portugal and Spain of which Augusta Emerita聽(modern M茅rida) was the capital, that really piqued Edmondson鈥檚 attention as it had been mostly overlooked until then. He continues to be interested in the social, economic and cultural history of M茅rida, from the military veterans who settled there and the city鈥檚 military importance to the study of family structures, marriage patterns, slavery聽and immigration.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very rich city in terms of surviving evidence,鈥� he says. "There are Roman houses, burial grounds, aqueducts and Roman roads 鈥� all of which were found聽while digging聽the foundations of聽the museum."

One of the things in his research that surprised him is that M茅rida was a major centre for medical training. This Edmondson learned through聽a series of inscriptions about doctors, one of which told of a slave from another city (Olisipo, modern Lisbon) being sent to M茅rida to be medically trained and another which detailed the slave鈥檚 journey back to Lisbon and his聽later聽importance there聽as a doctor.

Left: Rafael Mesa Hurtado, president of the Friends of the National Museum of Roman Art (and the first cousin of Toronto Raptor Jos茅 Calder贸n) presents Jonathan Edmondson with a commemorative plaque

Edmondson has often been the first to publish Roman inscriptions from M茅rida, of which there are more than 1,000 and still more being discovered. He began interpreting the inscriptions on tombstones and moved to study the style of funerary monuments and how they changed over time. He is now researching indigenous religion in Lusitania and the extent to which the Roman authorities allowed indigenous聽divinities to be worshipped.

Edmondson聽is the editor of Augustus (Edinburgh University Press, 2009), co-editor of Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture (University of Toronto Press, 2008) and Flavius Jospephus and Flavian Rome (Oxford University Press, 2005), among others.聽His monograph, Granite Funerary Stelae from Augusta Emerita, appeared in 2007. In 2002, he was聽elected a corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Historia聽of Spain and, in 2009, was made聽a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London.

As winner of the Protective Spirit prize, Edmondson is in good company. Previous winners have included Walter Trillmich, former director of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin; Jos茅 Mar铆a聽Bl谩zquez, former professor of Roman archaeology at the Complutense University of Madrid; Pierre Gros, former professor of Roman archaeology at the Universit茅 d'Aix-en-Provence; and Rafael Moneo Vall茅s, a world-renowned architect who designed聽the National Museum of Roman Art.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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