Narasingha Sil

Narasingha Prosad Sil (born in Kolkata in the reputed Sil family of Bowbazar, in December 1937) goes by the nickname "Ram" and was professor of European and English history at Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Oregon.^[1]

Biography

Ram is primarily trained in the history of Tudor England and has published eleven books, seventy-four refereed journal articles, five review essays, six articles in anthologies, fifty-two encyclopedia articles in British, European, African, Chinese, and Indian history. Additionally, he published sixty-five book-reviews, forty of them for The Statesman, Kolkata by invitation during 1992–99). Notably, Sil was invited to contribute articles to the Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd edition), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (New DNB), and "Oxford Bibliography Online" (OBE): Hinduism. Sil has received campus recognition for scholarship twice (1992 and 2004. He retired as professor emeritus in July 2011. Prior to joining Western in January 1987, Sil served University of Benin, Nigeria as associate professor of history from March 1980 to December 1986, University of Oregon as assistant professor from fall 1978 to winter 1980. During 1967–71 he also taught in Comprehensive Higher Secondary Schools in Dessie and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He worked in Vidyasagar College, Kolkata and Chandernagore Government College, West Bengal, India as lecturer in history during 1962–64.

Works

Books

• Rabindra Miscellany: Critical Essays on Rabindranath Tagore’s Thoughts on Love, Life, Gender, God, and Patriotism. Studia Orientalia Monograpica No. 5. Bratislava, Slovakia: Slovak Academy of Science, 2015.
• Problem Child of Renascent Bengal: The Babu of Colonial Calcutta. Kolkata: K.P. Bagchi & Company (in press).
• The Life of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay: Drifter and Dreamer. Madison/Lanham: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.
• Crazy in Love of God: Ramakrishna’s Caritas Divina. Selinsgrove/Cranbury: Susquehanna University Press/Associated University Presses, 2009.
• Divine Dowager: Life and Teachings of Saradamani the Holy Mother. Selinsgrove/Cranbury: Susquehanna University Press/Associated University Presses, 2003.
• Tudor Placemen and Statesmen: Select Case Histories. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/Associated University Presses, 2001.
• Ramakrishna Revisited: A New Biography. Lanham: University Press of America, 1998.
• Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press/Cranbury: Associated Universities Presses, 1997.
• William Lord Herbert of Pembroke (c. 1507–1570): Politique and Patriot. 1988. Revised second ed. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.
• Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṁsa: A Psychological Profile. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991.
• Kauṭilya’s Arthaśastra: A Comparative Study. 1985. Revised second ed. New York/Berne: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1989.

Research Papers in Refereed Journals

“The ‘Fallen’ Females of Rabindranath Tagore’s Broken Nest and Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay’s Blazing Home Revisited.” Journal of South Asia Women Studies, Asiatica Association, Milan (Italy), XV, 1 (2016).

"Ramakrishna's samadhi revisited." The South Asianist, IV, 2 (2016).

“Count Dracula versus Abraham Van Helsing through the Looking Glass: A Tour de Force.” The Indian Review of World Literature, Indian Institute of English Studies, Tamil Nadu, India, X, 2 (2014). (July 2014).

“Niccoló Machiavelli’s Political Thought Amoral or Ultra Moral? Some Reflections.” Journal of Political Science, DAV College, Jalandhar, India, XI, 1 (April 2015).

“Tewodros and Tipu as Warrior Kings against Imperialist Britain: A Comparative Study.” Asian and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava, Slovakia, XXIV, 1 ( 2015).

“Sharatchandra’s Caste and Gender Consciousness: A Reassessment.” Sage Open (January–March 2015).

“Jeremy Bentham and Marsilius of Padua: In Search of a Medieval Parallel of the Utilitarian State.” Journal of Political Science, DAV College, Jalandhar (India), X, 2 (November 2014).

“Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay on Love and Sex: A Tour de Force.” Sage Open (January–March 2014).

“Rabindranath Tagore’s Aesthetics Revisited.” Visva Bharati Quarterly (July 2014).

“A.W. N. Pugin: Restless Genius,” Studies in History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, XXIX, 2 (2013).

“The Odyssey of the Ananda Marga: A Comparatist Study,” The Journal of Asian and African Studies, 48(2) 229–241 (2013), doi:10.1177/0021909612449127.

“Tipu Sultan in History: Revisionism Revised,” Sage Open (April–June 2013).

“Rabindranath’s Nationalist Thought: A Retrospect,” Alternatives:Turkish Journal of International Relations (Yalova University, Turkey), XXI, 1 (Spring 2012). [A slightly modified version of the chapter in Quayum, ed. The Poet and His World: Critical Essays on Rabindranath Tagore. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2011].

“Clio at Bay: A Historian’s Article of Faith under Postmodernist Challenge,” Quarterly Review of Historical Studies, Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta, L, 1 & 2 (2013). (Henceforth QRHS).

“The Professor and the Paramahamsa: Martin Luther and Ramakrishna Compared,” Asian Social Science, VII, 5 (May 2011).

“India-Pakistan Conflict: An Overview,” Education About Asia, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Winter 2010).

“Hites Ranjan Sanyal’s History of Bangla Kirtan,” The Journal of Vaishnava Studies (New York), XVII, 2 (Spring 2009).

“Kali’s Child and Krishna’s Lover: An Anatomy of Ramakrishna’s Caritas Divina,” Religion, (Elsevier Corporation, Amsterdam & London), XXX, 3 (2009). Electronic version in Science Direct: doi:10.1016/j.religion.200812.002.

“Tipu Sultan in History: A Re-Vision,” The Calcutta Historical Journal (University of Calcutta), XXVII, 1 (2008).

“Postcolonialism and Postcoloniality: A Premortem Prognosis,” QRHS, XLVI, 3 & 4 (2006–2007). Also published in Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations (Al Fatih University, Istanbul), VII, 4 (Winter 2008).

“Bankim Redivivus: An Appraisal,” The Calcutta Historical Journal (University of Calcutta), XXVII, 1 (January–June 2007).

“Rabindranath and World-Life.” English translation of Niharranjan Ray, ‘Rabindranath O Bishwa-Jiban,’ Parabaas, Webzine For the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Bengal, New Jersey (August 2007).

“Wisdom of the Lands of Mount Olympus and Mount Kailas: A Coda for Thomas McEvilley’s Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies,” International Journal of Hindu Studies, James Madison University, IX, 1-3 (2005). (Henceforth IJHS).

“Devotio Humana: Rabindranath’s Love Poems Revisited,” Parabaas (Webzine For the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Bengal) (February 2005).

“An Anatomy of Colonial Penetration and Resistance in the Eighteenth Century: The Odyssey of Nawab Sirajuddaula and Tipu Sultan,” Journal of Asian History (Indiana University), XXXIX, 1 (2005).

“The Sage and the Saint: Vivekananda and Bankimchandra as Patriots and Nationalists,” East-West Connections: Review of Asian Studies (Belmont University), IV, 1 (2004).

“The Swami and the Sister,” International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter (University of Leiden), XXXII (November 2003).

“Vivekananda and Nietzsche as Critics of Western Bourgeois Civilization,” Virginia Review of Asian Studies (Virginia Consortium of Asian Studies), V (Fall 2003).

“Bande Mataram: Bankimchandra Chattopdhyay’s Nationalist Thought Revisited,” South Asia (New South Wales, Australia), XXV, 1 (2002).

“Patriarchy and Male Seduction: Satyajit Ray’s Devi Revisited,” Asian Cinema (Temple University), XII, 2 (2001).

“Satyajit Ray’s Alien: Agantuk,” Asian Cinema (Temple University), XII, 1 (2001).

“Tagore’s Broken Nest vs. Ray’s Charulata: A Critique,” Asian Cinema (Temple University), X, 2 (Spring/Summer, 1999).

“Saradamani’s Holy Motherhood: A Reappraisal,” Asian Journal of Women’s Studies (Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea), IV, 1 (1998).

“Saradamani’s Missed Motherhood vs. Holy Motherhood,” The Journal of Religious Studies, (Punjabi University, Patiala, India), XXVII, 1 (spring 1997).

“Is Ramakrishna a Vedantin, a Tantrika, or a Vaishnava? An Examination,” Asian Studies Review (Clayton, Victoria, Australia), XXI, 2-3 (November 1997).

“Asceticism and Misogyny: Vivekananda’s Concept of Woman,” Asian Culture Quarterly (Asian-Pacific Cultural Center, Taipei, Taiwan), XXV, 2 (Summer 1997).

“Swami Vivekananda in the West: The Legend Reinterpreted,” South Asia (University of New South Wales, Australia), XVIII, 1 (June 1995).

“House of Cards: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia,” India Quarterly: A Journal; of International Affairs (Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi), L,1& 2 (January–June, 1994).

“Saradamani the Holy Mother: The Making of a Madonna, “Asian Culture Quarterly (Asian-Pacific Cultural Center, Taipei), XXI, 2 (Summer 1993).

“Vivekananda’s Ramakrishna: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and Propaganda,” Numen (University of Bremen, Germany), XL (1993).

“An African Image of India,” Africa Quarterly (Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi), XXXIII (1993).

“Nigerian Intellectuals and Socialism: Retrospect and Prospect,” The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge University), XXXI, 3 (1993).

“Ideology, Intellectuals, and Development in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects,” Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell’ Instituto Italo-Africano (Instituto Italo-Africano, Rome), XLVIII, 1 (1993).

“The Opening of the Young American Mind: A Plea for Crosscultural Consciousness in Higher Education,” Oregon Council for the Social Studies Journal (Portland) (August 1993).

“Ravi Batra’s Philosophy of History,” Presidency College Alumni Association Autumn Annual (Calcutta), XXI (1992–93).

“Ramakrishna Redivivus: A Psychobiography,” The Psychohistory Review (Sangamon State University), XX, 3 (1992).

“Caesaropopulism in Action: US Military Intervention in Panama and the Persian Gulf,” India Quarterly: Journal of International Affairs (Indian Council of World Affairs), XLVII, 1-2 (1991).

“Tyranny of Total History: Some Observations on Braudel’s Capitaliam and Material Life,” QRHS, XXX, 3 & 4 (1990–91).

“Sir Thomas Heneage of Hainton: A Henrician Gentleman,” Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association (Brigham Young University), X (1989).

“The Troubled World of the Ananda Marga: An Examination,” QRHS, XXVII, 4 (1988–89).

“The Earl of Pembroke in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558–1570,” Renaissance and Reformation (Canadian Council for Renaissance Studies, University of Toronto), XXIV, 2 (1988).

“Anatomy of the Ananda Marga: Hindu Anabaptists,” Asian Culture Quarterly (Asian-Pacific Cultural Center, Teipei, Taiwan), XVI, 2 (Summer 1988).

“Rhetoric and Reality of Socialism in the Third World: African Experience,” Africa Quarterly (Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi), XXVII, 1-2 (1987).

“Henry VIII’s Privy Council: Elton’s Thesis Considered,” QRHS, XXVI, 3 (1986–87).

“The Earl of Pembroke and the Crisis in Queen Mary’s Reign, 1553-58,” Renaissance and Reformation (Canadian Council for Renaissance Studies, University of Toronto), XXII, 2 (1986).

“Historians as Defaulters,” QRHS, XXVI, 1 (1986–87).

“The Principle of Utility and Utilitarianism: Bentham’s Jurisprudence Revisited,” Modern Age: A Quarterly Review (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Bryn Mawr), XXX, 3-4 (1986).

“Political Morality vs. Political Necessity: Kautilya and Machiavelli Revisited,” Journal of Asian History (Indiana University), XIX, 2 (1985).

“Kautilya, Plato, and Aristotle: A Comparative Study of the Arthashastra,” Asian Culture Quarterly (Asian-Pacific Cultural Center, Teipei, Taiwan), XIII, 1 (Spring 1985).

“‘Jentell Mr. Heneage’: A Forgotten Tudor Servant,” Notes & Queries (Oxford University), new series, XXXI, 2 (1984).

“Marsilius of Padua and Popular Sovereignty,” Indian Political Science Review (University of Delhi), XVIII, 1 (1984).

“Sir Anthony Denny: A Tudor Servant in Office,” Renaissance and Reformation (Canadian Council for Renaissance Studies, University of Toronto), XX, 3 (1984).

“Kautilya’s Arthasastra and Machiavellism: A Reevaluation,” QRHS, XXIII, 2 (1983–84).

“A Critical Assessment of John Stuart Mill’s Ideas on Liberty and Democracy,” Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought (Pittsburg State University), XXIV, 2 (1983).

“The Liberalism of Thomas Hill Green: A Reassessment,” Leviathan (Colorado College), IX, 4 (1983).

“The Liberalism of Thomas Hill Green,” The Indian Journal of Political Science, XLIII, 1 (January–March 1982).

“Sir William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke (c. 1507-70): In Search of a Personality,” Welsh History Review (University of Swansea), XI, 1 (1982).

“Sir William Herbert in Tudor Politics, 1547-53,” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly (University of Hawaii), V, 4 (1982).

“The Rise and Fall of Sir John Gates,” Historical Journal (Cambridge University), XXIV, 4 (1981).

“Paulo Freire: A Revolutionary Pedagogue,” Indian Educational Review (New Delhi) (January 1981).

“Understanding Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Dewey: An Essay,” Indian Educational Review (National Council of Educational Research & Training, New Delhi), XI, 1 (1976).

“Hitler and the Second World War,” QRHS, XIV, 4 (1974–75).

“The Influence of Methodism on the English Working Class 1740–1819,” QRHS, XIV, 1 (1974–75).

“A.W.N. Pugin: Avant-Garde Artist,” Visvabharati Quarterly (Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India), XXXIX, 1 & 2 (1973).

Notes