Queer Theory and Translation Studies: Language, Politics, Desire

Abstract

Catherine Benton is Professor Emerita of Religion and Asian Studies at Lake Forest College. Her doctoral research at Columbia University focused on Indian religious story literature in Hindu and Buddhist Sanskrit texts. These texts and their stories continued to lead her back to India where she also studied present-day religious practices of contemporary Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim communities in South Asia. Her book, God of Desire: Tales of Kamadeva in Sanskrit Story Literature (2006), offers translations and analyses of the adventures of Kamadeva as expressions of Hindu and Buddhist teachings about desire. Benton has received research awards from the Freeman Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Huntington Research Library, and Associated Colleges of the Midwest.