Louise Allison Cort

Louise Allison Cort is a craft historian. Her research has focused on ceramics—both historical and contemporary, both stoneware and earthenware—made in Japan, India, and Mainland Southeast Asia. Ceramic production still rooted in long-standing rural communities has been of special interest. In 1961, the American Field Service high school exchange program sent her to Japan and introduced her to Asian material culture. Fascination with the unfamiliar kitchen utensils that her host mother used led to a broad interest in craft traditions and eventually to graduate studies in Japanese art history at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University, 1966–1969. Read more …

Purna Chandra Mishra

Purna Chandra Mishra is a historian with a deep and broad knowledge of his native place, Odisha. He was born on 26 March 1947, on the auspicious full moon day of Dola Purnami, in Ganjam district, southern Orissa, as the eldest child of Chakradhara and Kamala Mishra. His family are Sasan Brahmins, and his great-grandfather and grandfather served as royal preceptors (rajaguru) to the Gajapati king of Khurdha. His father, however, pursued an English medium education and became a civil servant. Chakradhara moved his family to Puri for the sake of his young son’s education. Purna studied science at S.C.S. College, Puri, before receiving his BA (1967) and MA (1970) in philosophy from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. He briefly became a lecturer in philosophy, first at Government College Phulbani, then at Government College Berhampur. Read more …