Speaker
Dr. M. D. Muthukumaraswamy
Folklorist | Writer | Scholar
Dr. M. D. Muthukumaraswamy is a leading folklorist and the Director of the National Folklore Support Centre (NFSC), Chennai, a role he has held since its founding in 1997. Under his leadership, NFSC has spearheaded major folklore projects, including the documentation of India’s oral epics, visual art traditions, and indigenous community archives, supported by the Ford Foundation and Tata Trusts.
A distinguished academic, he has lectured at universities in India and abroad, holding visiting professorships at the University of Würzburg (Germany) and the University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). His publications include Folklore as Discourse, One Nation Many Voices, and Seraikella Chhau. He also edits the Indian Folklore Research Journal and has curated exhibitions on Tamil cultural history in Germany.
Beyond scholarship, he is an acclaimed poet, playwright, and translator, with works in Tamil and English, including translations of Basho, Mahmoud Darwish, and Jorge Luis Borges. His current projects include a semiotic analysis of Kurunthogai and an English translation of the ancient Tamil text.
Sessions
Day 2 - 15th March, Saturday @ The Nilgiri Library Outdoor
04:00 PM – 05:00 PM
Dr. M. D. Muthukumaraswamy delves into the power of folklore—how oral traditions shape cultural identity and continue to evolve in the modern world, preserving the soul of a community.