A new conversation series by Kāliverse.
KĀLIS
OF OUR TIME
Nine women.
Nine worlds.
Nine conversations about the work that shaped them and the questions that still occupy them.
WHO IS A KĀLI OF OUR TIME?
“A Kāli of our time has earned a point of view.”
She may be a scientist, musician, historian, physician, athlete, entrepreneur, diplomat, craft practitioner or something for which no useful category exists.
Her work has substance.
Her thinking is her own.
She has stayed with a question long enough to alter something beyond herself.
Recognition may have followed. It is not the reason she is here.
Kālis of Our Time is interested in the life of the mind, the discipline behind a body of work and the decisions that are rarely visible from the outside.
THE SEARCH
THE FIRST NINE.
The nine women have not yet been selected.
We are documenting the search publicly through Kāliverse and inviting researchers, institutions, colleagues, students, families and attentive strangers to help us find them.
01
Culture
02
Science
03
Medicine
04
Enterprise
05
Public Life
06
Material World
07
Living Knowledge
08
Physical Mastery
09
The Unclassifiable
Music, literature, cinema, art, performance
Physics, chemistry, mathematics, space, research
Medicine, public health, psychology, neuroscience
Business, capital, manufacturing, technology
Law, economics, diplomacy, governance, institutions
Architecture, engineering, agriculture, ecology
Philosophy, education, language, classical systems
Sport, aviation, exploration, defence
A life and body of work that refuses the limits of one field
THE SEARCH
THE FIRST NINE.
The nine women have not yet been selected.
We are documenting the search publicly through Kāliverse and inviting researchers, institutions, colleagues, students, families and attentive strangers to help us find them.
01
Culture
Music, literature, cinema, art, performance
Physics, chemistry, mathematics, space, research
Science
01
Medicine, public health, psychology, neuroscience
Medicine
03
Business, capital, manufacturing, technology
Enterprise
04
Law, economics, diplomacy, governance, institutions
Public Life
05
Architecture, engineering, agriculture, ecology
Material World
06
Philosophy, education, language, classical systems
Living Knowledge
07
Sport, aviation, exploration, defence
Physical Mastery
08
A life and body of work that refuses the limits of one field
The Unclassifiable
09
02
THE CONVERSATIONS
These will not be conventional profiles of successful women.
Biography will provide context, but it will not determine the conversation.
Each episode will begin with the guest’s work and move towards a question that remains unresolved:
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What does mastery reveal after decades of practice?
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What must an institution unlearn before it can serve people properly?
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What can a material remember that written history cannot?
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What happens when knowledge passes from one generation to another?
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What does the body know that the mind cannot explain?
The conversation will follow the question wherever it leads.
To retain what matters.
To make room for what comes next.
WHY KĀLI?
Kāli is commonly encountered as an image of destruction. She also represents time, discernment and the force that removes what has ceased to be useful.
Here, Kāli is a way of recognising a particular kind of person: one who can examine inherited structures, retain what holds value and make room for another way of thinking or working.
This quality is not confined to one profession, generation or public identity.
THE SEARCH
We are looking for women across India and the Indian diaspora whose work deserves sustained attention.
A large public following is not sufficient. A small following is not a disadvantage.
We are considering:
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The consequence of her work
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The originality of her thinking
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The depth of her practice
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The questions her work opens
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Her ability to speak beyond the language of her profession
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The possibility of a rigorous and unexpected conversation
Every nomination will be researched before an invitation is made.
NOMINATE A KĀLI
Who should be part of the first nine?
You may nominate someone widely known, someone known mainly within her field or someone whose work has not travelled as far as it should.
Tell us who she is, what she has done and the question you would want to ask her.
NOMINATE A KĀLI
Who should be part of the first nine?
You may nominate someone widely known, someone known mainly within her field or someone whose work has not travelled as far as it should.
Tell us who she is, what she has done and the question you would want to ask her.
Are you one of The Nine?
If you recognise your work within one of these worlds, you may introduce yourself.
This is not an awards programme and there is no application fee. We are looking for a body of work, a distinctive point of view and the possibility of a substantial conversation.
The question that will end every conversation.
What deserves to outlive us?
A method. A memory. A dissenting idea.
A practice. An institution. A way of making.