Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph: In Memoriam

Scholars Extraordinaire

From very early on, they transcended the boundaries and limits of the discipline of Political Science, and integrated a truly trans/interdisciplinary framework of analysis in their writings. It not only equipped them well to dwell deeply and creatively into the sub-fields of Comparative Politics, Political Anthropology, Historical Sociology, Political Psychology and Post-colonialism but allowed them also to develop multidisciplinary methodological framework suited for comparative contextualism that marked most of their writings. One can clearly see this working in their seminal writings on caste, Gandhi, state formation, education and politics, federalism, political economy of development and the Amar Singh Diary among others.

The Rudolphs’ works were published by major world renowned presses and journals. The range and corpus of their writings is too large to mention here (Rudolph, 2008). ² Together, they wrote more than 20 books and about 200 articles including the iconic and all-time favourites, such as the Modernity of Tradition, In Pursuit of Lakshmi and Post-Modern Gandhi among others. ³ Destination India, published in 2014, is a sort of intellectual–biographical account of their combined academic journey revealing the analytical–historical trajectory of their writings (Sarangi, 2016). This journey continues even after their death. Just a month before Susanne’s death, Jenny Rudolph, their elder daughter, informed that Frank Hoeber, Susanne’s brother, was helping them with their three book-length projects for future publication. ⁴

A close reading of their writings reveals them as dedicated political ethnographers, as they emerged the first generation of ‘area specialists’ who returned to their subjects of inquiry regularly with a critical gaze and newer perspectives over the years. For them, the field of study became an intellectual habitus that they nurtured with great discipline, care, conscience and craft—the combination of which was a trademark of Rudolphian work and life. They were probably the only scholars who returned to India after every 3 years spending an entire year meticulously planned in Mussoorie and Jaipur for their new research. ⁵ Lloyd once told me how they had negotiated with the University of Chicago when they were hired that they would teach for 3 years consecutively with an additional course in their yearly teaching load but would like to have the fourth year of sabbatical leave to be spent in India. This kind of arrangement was not common during those days, and Lloyd and Susanne were the first one to break the rigid rules of the University. This is how they were able to take altogether 11 times year-long research trips to India before they retired in 2002. Even after retirement, they continued to visit for 3 months (January–March) each year until 2011. Unlike most of the academic stalwarts of their times, they never hankered much to go to different institutions on a fellowship or teaching assignment. They remained committed to their institution and to the field of their research. Susanne told me that she declined the prestigious post of a university president offered to her by another university very early in her academic career. She strongly felt that the administrative work required to do in this post would not have left any time for her intellectual pursuits.

Institution Builders

Lloyd and Susanne belonged to the early generation South Asianists at the University of Chicago. ⁶ Not only did they bring in focus on India and South Asia in their department of Political Science—very conservative department in nature at that time—but they were also able to make the Committee on Southern Asian Studies (COSAS) at the University of Chicago a world-renowned centre for research on modern India and South Asia. Susanne was able to inculcate life-time intellectual interests among hundreds of undergraduate students in the course on ‘Introduction to the South Asian Civilization’ that she taught passionately. The course was taught on the rotational principle by a large number of faculty specializing in South Asia. While she was the founding director of the Institute of Culture and Consciousness in South Asia, the Rockefeller-funded Residency programme for 4 years (1990–1999), Susanne had brought in several young and promising scholars working on South Asia at the University of Chicago. The South Asia and Middle East Workshop (SAME) chaired by Susanne invited a large number of established scholars to deliver lectures for the graduate students at the University of Chicago. ⁷

In addition, Susanne helped guide and shape several renowned US academic institutions including the Association of Asian Studies and the American Political Science Association in her role of a President of these two associations. They made major contributions to professional programmes and institutions at Chicago and in the US. In India too, they built up the Rajasthan Studies group with complete devotion and energetic enthusiasm to sustain the interests of future generation of scholars working on Rajasthan, the state they loved to write, work and live in.

The Exceptional Rudolphs

One felt comfortably at home being with them in their beautiful and spacious Victorian-style homes in Chicago, Vermont, Jaipur or Mussoorie. The warmth and affection with which they invited and hosted their students, colleagues and friends at their homes—some of them renowned academic celebrities—from different walks of life was something uncommon among their peers. The conversations and discussions during these meetings were lively, democratic and peppered with delicious food and drinks. Age or seniority held no bar and everyone felt at ease to express his/her views and counter-views. Their remarkable generosity and exceptional sociality created an amiable environment where one would meet fellow colleagues and friends and forge life-long friendships with them. The Rudolphs established communicative links by generously introducing their colleagues and friends—even the formidable renowned ones—to their students. They were great socializers in both India and US, and loved and cherished their friendships and bonds with people in both the countries. They had numerous friends and admirers among the elite Indian civil servants, policy makers, scholars, politicians, well-known writers and journalists—with whom they met and renewed their friendship over dinners and lunches. The colleagues in Pick Hall (where the Department of Political Science of the University of Chicago is located) often joked that Rudolphs would have personally known the next prime minister of India whenever there was a change of government in the centre. Their affable and charming style of conversing and engaging with people of the country they worked on, without a tinge of arrogance, left an indelible mark on many people.

Recognition and Rewards

Together and singly, both Susanne and Lloyd received numerous awards throughout their illustrious academic career. There are far too many to list them here but suffice it to say that they continued to be recognized for their exemplary scholarship till the very end of their lives. They received the topmost grants and fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, The American Institute of Indian Studies, National Endowment for Humanities and the Fulbright fellowship. In the year 2001–2002, they were the Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecturers—a prestigious award recognizing their academic contributions at the University of Chicago. They also received the Colonel James Tod Award in 2007 as foreign nationals from the Maharana Mewar Foundation, Rajasthan. Both of them received recognition for their teaching excellence when in 1999, Lloyd received University of Chicago’s ‘Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching’, and Susanne the ‘Quantrell Award’ for undergraduate teaching in 1973, at the University of Chicago. They were together conferred ‘Padma Bhushan’, the third highest civilian award, by the Government of India, in March 2014 recognizing their individual contributions to the study of India.

Iconic Teachers

Both of them together served on more than 300 dissertation committees of the PhD students at the University of Chicago. They supervised theses on varied themes pertaining to different parts of the globe, which reflected their wide range of interest and knowledge. They guided and nurtured generations of scholars, several of whom have become established scholars in their own fields. As generous and encouraging towards their students that one can possibly be, Lloyd and Susanne went beyond the call of their profession and encouraged their students, particularly those from India, to apply for grants and fellowships and strongly endorsed their applications and wrote recommendations for them. Lloyd once remarked that their weekends were mostly spent on writing numerous recommendation letters for a large number of students they guided or supervised at various stages. A number of students had both of them as their thesis advisors, and Lloyd and Susanne would act like a team to give their individual comments and suggestions on their thesis. It was not surprising that they read the same chapter so very differently. They continued to provide much-needed guidance and encouragement to their students with regard to their publications, teaching and the personal obligations of family and children. Their own experiences of balancing the personal and professional responsibilities so well became worthy of emulation and instant adaptation.

Lloyd’s daily ritual of reading several newspapers in the morning was extremely beneficial for students since he cut the relevant news and editorials for them and generously gave them or saved and even sent by post to those who were in the field. With the arrival of internet and email, this became even more regular when Lloyd would send out an article, review or the link and information about a book published in your area of research and interest. They were not just great letter writers but equally prompt with their emails. For the last few years when Susanne did not send out emails due to her illness, it was Lloyd inquiring and informing about their work and life. It was a great new world of communicative public sphere that they created by adding and forwarding their contacts whenever there was any need. One never lost a moment of attention or discussion on a subject of importance whether walking, hiking or dinning with them. They were always so full of energy and exuberance.

Public Intellectuals

True to their calling, they informed the American public about India, South Asia and largely the non-western world through the National Public Radio (NPR) lectures particularly on Gandhi Jayanti, on 2 October every year, when they were invited to speak. I remember one such occasion when Susanne was asked as to how Gandhi would have reacted to the computer industry, and her response was that he would have liked it as a device to help in writing more efficiently. Rudolphs were often invited to Washington for informing and advising the US policy makers, particularly the ambassadors designate for India and other countries in South Asia to explain them the ethics of diversity and democracy of the country they were going to serve in. The Council on Foreign Relations and other think tanks would invite them for policy briefings. They were fully involved in giving shape to Delhi Centre of the University of Chicago for many years before it was finally inaugurated in April 2014. They continued to inform and educate Americans about the democratic roots and routes in non-Western countries, particularly India, through their several articles published in newspapers and popular magazines.

Contrapuntal Intellectual Couple

Students and colleagues often wondered who, between the two of them, thought of an idea first or expanded it further. The perfect intellectual and personal unison between them made it difficult to even know who wrote, revised or rewrote which parts of numerous articles and books that they co-authored. However, the academic understanding and intellectual harmony between them had its own unique individual style exhibited during seminar discussions or classroom teaching where they differed and expressed their views and counter-views pertaining to a particular subject of inquiry. They would complete each other’s sentences halfway through their conversations in lectures and seminars. If Lloyd went off tangent, which was often the case, Susanne was more in command and control of the argumentative discussion, and took it to its logical conclusion. Lloyd would gently nudge Susanne if she felt sleepy during the SAME workshop held on every Thursday night from 8 pm to 10 pm in the Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago. It was touching to see their deep mutual respect and care for each other. They both recounted their pleasures and hard work in fulfilling the parental duties towards their children when they were growing up. They were caring parents who adored their children and grandchildren. I always wondered and often asked them as to how they were able to balance the rigour and demands of their profession along with raising the three most talented children pursuing three distinctive creative fields.

Stricken with Parkinson’s disease, Susanne became physically fragile but never mentally. Over the last 5 years, whenever I met her, she looked weak and unwell but alert and involved with her life and work along with that of children, friends, colleagues and former students. She was imbued with a freshness of life even in the difficult times of her illness. Lloyd bravely but quietly faced his declining health after the onset of metastatic prostate cancer. The stoic gracefulness and equanimity with which both of them cared for each other during their time of ill health was simply adorable. While I said goodbye to them at the Delhi Airport in April 2014, Lloyd said that they were grateful and truly honoured to have received the Padma Bhushan award from the country they deeply loved and admired. But he said with teary eyes that it was their last visit to India. He was more worried about Susanne’s health, and said that he would try to do his best to take care of her till the end. Truly, that is what happened.

On 25 June 2016, their children—Jenny, Amelia and Matthew—organized the memorial service for their parents with friends and family members at the Rudolphs’ beautiful home situated on Silver Lake in Barnard, Vermont, where they spent every summer since 1960. The epitaph in the village cemetery at Barnard, Vermont, reads:

At Home in Barnard, Jaipur and Chicago

India Scholars, Caring Parents, Lovers of Silver Lake

This truly sums up the personae of Lloyd and Susanne who will always be remembered and celebrated for what they stood for in life and work.