The American Society for Aesthetics is providing $5,000 in partial support for the Rasa Fest and Rasa 101, to be held May 19-22, 2024, at the University of British Columbia. The Fest, co-directed by Dominic McIver Lopes and Cat Prueitt, will promote teaching and research in aesthetics on South Asian rasa theory.

conference web site 

Rasa Fest will be a traditional workshop-style conference, featuring presentations by five speakers over two days, with very generous time allocated to discussion. Speakers will include Nilanjan Das (Toronto) and Ram Prasad (Lancaster),  leading figures in South Asian philosophy. Sonam Kachru (Yale) works on South Asian Buddhist philosophy and literature. Maria Heim (Amherst) is in religious studies and specializes on Buddhist theories of emotion. Bihani Sarkar (Lancaster) is in literary studies and works on Sanskrit tragedy. 

Rasa 101, scheduled for two days immediately prior to Rasa Fest, will offer a crash course on rasa theory for anyone interested in getting up to speed on the topic, either with an eye to teaching it or to using it in their research. A set of readings will be assigned in advance, and the Rasa Fest and Rasa 101 curriculum will blend short and stimulating overview lectures with seminars.

The ASA funding will be used entirely to support ASA members who wish to travel to the event. Priority will be given to funding graduate students, junior faculty, philosophers from underrepresented groups, and those without institutional travel support. Applicants will be asked for a brief CV and a one-page narrative explaining how their participation will enhance their teaching or research. Information on how to apply will be available this fall.

Applications for travel funding will be accepted January 1 - February 14, 2024. For more information, see the conference web site, travel tab