The Rajasthan Studies Group is an informal group of scholars and others interested in Rajasthan.  We are interdisciplinary, bringing together interests in Rajasthan history, culture, economy, politics, religion, ecology, art, performance, and other related areas.

The RSG is affiliated with the Association for Asian Studies and is also linked to the Institute of Rajasthan Studies in Jaipur.  We hold an annual business meeting in conjunction with the South Asia Conference in Madison, Wisconsin in October.  U.S.-based members are requested to pay dues of $20 in October of every second year. 

The RSG supports panels at the Madison South Asia Conference as well as the Association for Asian Studies meetings.  Past activities have included organization of the publication of The Idea of Rajasthan (South Asia Publications, 1994), edited by RSG members Karine Schomer, Joan Erdman, Deryck Lodrick, and Lloyd Rudolph; the broad scope of the contents reflects the wide-ranging interests represented by the RSG.  A first international seminar on Rajasthan sponsored by the RSG in Jaipur in 1987 has been followed by subsequent conferences, in Udaipur in 1991, Jaipur in 1994, Jaipur in 2001, and Jaipur in 2005, organized by the Institute of Rajasthan Studies under the leadership of Prof. Rajendra Joshi and subsequently Dr. Surjit Singh.  Papers from these conferences have been published by Rawat Publications, Jaipur, in four volumes: Folk, Faith and Feudalism (1995), Religion, Ritual and Royalty (1999), Desert, Drought & Development (1999), and Institutions and Social Change (2003).  There is an RSG web site at www.rajstudies.org. 

The RSG is completely member-supported and driven by member initiatives.  What we can accomplish depends entirely on the interest and participation of our membership.  If you would like to become a member, send an e-mail to rsg@rajstudies.org  giving your name, e-mail address, mailing address, institutional affiliation (if any), area of study or interest, and other information that would be of interest of other RSG members.  If you have questions or would like further information, contact Frances Taft, the current president of the RSG, at maya.wdc@verizon.net.

RSG members may post a message to other members by addressing an e-mail to rsg-list@rajstudies.org.  Only members may post messages; if a non-member attempts to circulate a message it will bounce.  Members are requested to bear in mind the RSG’s rules for messages:

·        No commercial messages;

·        No social networking messages;

·        Before you post a reply, please consider whether you want to send your reply to the entire membership or only to the originator of the posting.