The Significance of Tagore – Harvard Professor Sugata Bose (Video Interview Part II)

By Asia Pacific Memo on May 27, 2011

Memo #85

Sugata Bose

In April 2011, The University of British Columbia (UBC) celebrated the 150th birthday of Rabindranath Tagore. As part of this celebration, Dr. Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University spoke at the Institute of Asian Research on  “The Oceanic Voyages of Rabindranath Tagore.” The following week, UBC presented Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen with an honorary degree. On April 19, Asia Pacific Memo published Part I of Dr. Sugata Bose’s interview, “Tagore in Today’s World.” We also interviewed Dr. Amartya Sen who spoke about Tagore’s significance and distributed the full video recording of Dr. Sen’s honorary degree ceremony and speech.

Here we present Part II of Dr. Sugata Bose’s interview on the significance of Tagore. He addresses how Tagore influenced his childhood in Calcutta, Tagore’s peer group, and Tagore’s belief in transnational unity in Asia and the Indian Ocean world.

Part 1 – When did Rabindranath Tagore enter your life? (1:32 min)

Part 2 – Comparing Tagore to other great minds (1:43 min)

Part 3 – Learning from Tagore’s songs (2:18 min)

Part 4 – Tagore’s sense of humour (1:41 min)

Part 5 – Inter-regional arena of the Indian Ocean (2:19 min)

About the Interviewee:

Sugata Bose – Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University.

Related Memos:

  • Our other Memos about India