BellEggers2 at 20:18, 25 February 2026

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{{short description|Indian-born US anthropologist & writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
'''Kirin Narayan''' (born November 1959) is an [[India]]n-born American [[anthropologist]], folklorist and writer.

==Early life, education, and career==
Narayan is the daughter of Narayan Ramji Contractor, a civil engineer from [[Nashik]], and [[Didi Contractor|Didi Kinzinger]], a German-American "artist, decorator, and builder of sustainable housing".<ref name=Sharma/>
Narayan was born in [[Mumbai|Bombay]], attended school in [[India]] and came to the United States in 1976.<ref>{{cite web|title=Professor Kirin Narayan|url=https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/narayan-k|website=ANU Researchers - Research Services Division|publisher=Australian National University|access-date=30 August 2017}}</ref>

Narayan received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in creative writing from [[Sarah Lawrence College]] and went on to post-graduate studies in anthropology at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], receiving her [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in 1987. She taught anthropology and South Asian studies at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]].<ref name=Sharma>{{cite book |chapter=Kirin Narayan |title=Asian American Novelists: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook |page=[https://archive.org/details/asianamericannov00nels_0/page/257 257] |last=Sharma |first=Maya |editor=Emmanuel Sampath Nelson |year=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=0313309116 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/asianamericannov00nels_0/page/257 }}</ref><ref name=sanga>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qlpKOzsOc-IC&pg=PA186 |title=South Asian Novelists in English: An A-to-Z Guide |page=186 |last=Sanga |first=Jaina C |year=2003 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=0313318859}}</ref><ref name=encyclo/> In 1993 she was named a [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim Fellow]] in the field of anthropology and cultural studies.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/kirin-narayan/ |title=Kirin Narayan |publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation}}</ref> She is a professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the [[Australian National University]].<ref name=anu>{{cite web |url=https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/narayan-k |title=Professor Kirin Narayan |publisher=Australian National University}}</ref>

==Books==
In 1989, Narayan published ''Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels: Folk Narrative in Hindu Religious Teaching''.<ref>Reviews of ''Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels'':
*{{cite journal|last=Champion|first=Catherine|date=January–March 1991|issue=117|journal=L'Homme|jstor=40589866|pages=163–164|title=none|volume=31}}
*{{cite journal|last=Flueckiger|first=Joyce Burkhalter|date=Spring 1991|doi=10.2307/541251|issue=412|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|jstor=541251|pages=239–241|title=none|volume=104}}
*{{cite journal|last=Zarrilli|first=Phillip B.|date=Spring 1991|doi=10.2307/1124168|issue=1|journal=Asian Theatre Journal|jstor=1124168|pages=91–92|title=none|volume=8}}
*{{cite journal|last=Gold|first=Ann Grodzins |author-link=Ann Grodzins Gold|date=August 1991|issue=3|journal=American Ethnologist|jstor=645615|pages=621–622|title=none|volume=18|doi=10.1525/ae.1991.18.3.02a00290}}
*{{cite journal|last=Pechilis|first=Karen|date=October 1991|issue=4|journal=The Journal of Religion|jstor=1203997|page=616|title=none|volume=71|doi=10.1086/488755}}
*{{cite journal|last=Handelman|first=Don|doi=10.2307/1178211|issue=1|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|jstor=1178211|pages=262–263|title=none|volume=50|year=1991}}</ref> It received the [[Victor Turner#Victor Turner Prize|Victor Turner Prize]] from the Society for Humanistic Anthropology<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sha.americananthro.org/sha-prize-winners/ |title=SHA Prize Winners |publisher=Society for Humanistic Anthropology}}</ref> and was co-winner of the Elsie Clews Prize for Folklore from the [[American Folklore Society]].<ref name=anu/>

In 1994, she published the novel ''Love, Stars and All That''.<ref>Reviews of ''Love, Stars and All That'':
*{{cite journal|date=November 1993|journal=Kirkus Reviews|title=Review|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kirin-narayan/love-stars-and-all-that/}}
*{{cite journal|date=January 1994|doi=10.17953/amer.20.3.250625417277t57l|issue=3|journal=Amerasia Journal|pages=95–118|title=Book Reviews|volume=20|last1=Grewal|first1=Indepal|last2=Motooka|first2=Wendy|last3=Lee|first3=Jee Yeun|last4=So|first4=Christine|last5=Srikanth|first5=Rajini|last6=Young|first6=Morris|last7=Yoo|first7=David|last8=Ropp|first8=Steven Masami|last9=Fong|first9=Joe}}
*{{cite journal|last=Ruta|first=Suzanne|date=May 1994|doi=10.2307/4021845|issue=8|journal=The Women's Review of Books|jstor=4021845|page=12|title=A Time for Stories|volume=11}}
*{{cite news|last=Moraes|first=Dom|date=31 July 1994|newspaper=[[India Today]]|page=95|title=Coming of Age: A Fine, Funny Debut|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-and-the-arts/books/story/19940731-book-review-kirin-narayan-love-stars-and-all-that-809429-1994-07-30|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220093309/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-kirin-narayan-love-stars-and-all-that/1/293740.html|archive-date=20 February 2014}}
*{{cite journal|last=Muthyala|first=John|date=Summer 1998|doi=10.2307/468021|issue=2|journal=MELUS|jstor=468021|pages=205–206|title=none|volume=23}}</ref> Reviewing the novel, Indian poet and editor [[Dom Moraes]] praised the work, saying:<blockquote>"This is a novel well received and achieved: it is also intelligent, excellently written, and revelatory of what it is like to be an American born in India. It makes one feel Narayan is that very rare bird, a born writer, and that she may fly far."<ref>{{harvtxt|Moraes|1994}}</ref></blockquote>

Narayan published ''Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon: Himalayan Foothill Folktales'' in 1997.<ref>Reviews of ''Mondays on the Dark Night of the Moon'':
*{{cite journal|last=Blackburn|first=Stuart|date=February 1998|doi=10.2307/2659083|issue=1|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|jstor=2659083|pages=257–259|title=none|volume=57|s2cid=161514624 |doi-access=free}}
*{{cite journal|last=Goldberg|first=Christine|date=May–August 1998|issue=2|journal=Journal of Folklore Research|jstor=3814754|pages=157–160|title=none|volume=35}}
*{{cite journal|last=Chandola|first=Anoop|date=September 1999|issue=3|journal=American Anthropologist|jstor=683895|pages=683–684|title=none|volume=101|doi=10.1525/aa.1999.101.3.683}}
*{{cite journal|last=Bailly|first=Constantina Rhodes|date=April 2000|issue=1|journal=International Journal of Hindu Studies|jstor=20106693|pages=80–81|title=none|volume=4}}</ref> In 2002 a new edition of the first collection of Indian folk tales in English, [[Mary Frere]]'s ''Old Deccan Days'', was published with an introduction by Narayan.<ref>Review of ''Old Deccan Days'':
*{{cite journal|last=Haring|first=Lee|issue=2|journal=Marvels & Tales|jstor=41388715|pages=301–303|title=none|volume=18|year=2004|doi=10.1353/mat.2004.0036|s2cid=162163807}}</ref> In 2007, she published a memoir ''My Family and Other Saints''.<ref name=sanga/><ref name=encyclo>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5pbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT556 |title=Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature |pages=556–57 |year=2015 |isbn=978-1438140582|last1=Oh |first1=Seiwoong |publisher=Infobase Learning }}</ref><ref>Reviews of ''My Family and Other Saints'':
*{{cite news|last=Grimes|first=William|date=December 26, 2007|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|title=A Groovy Pad Full of Gods and Gurus|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/books/26grim.html}}
*{{cite magazine|first=Bhaichand|last=Patel|date=10 November 2008|magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|title=An Old Haunt: A tale of turbulent adolescence and life in a bicultural household, we visit '60s Bombay and a mystic's haven|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/an-old-haunt/238887}}
*{{cite journal|last=Kuortti|first=Joel|date=August 2009|department=Book reviews|doi=10.1080/09584930903109018|issue=3|journal=Contemporary South Asia|pages=347–348|title=none|volume=17|s2cid=218546357}}
*{{cite journal|last=Dhanani|first=Dimple|date=April 2013|issue=1|journal=International Journal of Hindu Studies|jstor=24713569|pages=110–112|title=none|volume=17}}</ref> An autobiographical work in which "Gods, gurus and eccentric relatives compete for primacy", ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the work as an "enchanting memoir".<ref>{{harvtxt|Grimes|2007}}</ref> Its title is a reference to [[Gerald Durrell]]'s ''[[My Family and Other Animals]]'', a childhood inspiration to Narayan.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Mint (newspaper)|Livemint]]|title=A family 'we-moir'|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/LoaqKJTknAdbGsS48JMaFL/A-family-8216wemoir8217.html|date=19 September 2008|first=Sanjukta|last=Sharma}}</ref>

In her 2012 work ''Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of Chekhov'',<ref>Reviews of ''Alive in the Writing'':
*{{cite journal|last=Staples|first=James|date=December 2012|issue=4|journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute|jstor=23321472|pages=903–905|title=none|volume=18|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9655.2012.01798_17.x}}
*{{citation|last=Ecke|first=Laurie|issue=42|journal=Qualitative Report|pages=1–3|publisher=Nova Southeastern University|title=Alive in the Reading: Nayaran and Chekhov|url=https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol18/iss42/3|volume=18|year=2013}}
* {{cite journal |last=Fine |first=Elizabeth |title=Book review |journal=Journal of Folklore Research |url=http://www.jfr.indiana.edu/review.php?id=1441 |date=March 2013 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}
*{{citation|last=Behar|first=Ruth|date=April 2013|doi=10.1086/669935|issue=2|journal=Current Anthropology|jstor=10.1086/669935|pages=244–245|title=Forgive Yourself, Dear Writer|volume=54|s2cid=142151214}}
* {{cite journal|last=Herzfeld |first=Michael |title=Book review |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=115 |number=3 |pages=528–529 |doi=10.1111/aman.12038_13|date=August 2013}}
*{{citation|last=Rivera|first=Francisco|doi=10.7202/1038653ar|issue=3|journal=Anthropologie et Sociétés|page=314|title=none|volume=40|year=2016|doi-access=free}}</ref> Narayan used [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''[[Sakhalin Island (book)|Sakhalin Island]]'' as inspiration for an exploration of ethnographic writing. [[James Wood (critic)|James Wood]], writing of his 'Books of the Year' in ''The New Yorker'', described it as a "brief and brilliant book" that he read "with huge pleasure".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/books-of-the-year#ixzz2FPktQirJ | last=Wood |first=James | title = Books of the Year | magazine = The New Yorker | date= 17 Dec 2012 }}</ref> In 2016 Narayan published ''Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills'', about women's traditions of singing in the [[Kangra Valley]].<ref>Reviews of ''Everyday Creativity'':
*{{cite news|title=Goddesses of song: the women singers of the Western Himalayas|newspaper=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)]]|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/goddesses-of-song-the-women-singers-of-the-western-himalayas-1.176733|date=14 December 2016|first=James|last=McNair}}
* {{cite journal|last=Davis |first=Coralynn V. |title=Book review |journal=Asian Ethnology |year=2017 |volume=76 |number=2 |pages=418–421 |url=https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/AsianEthnology-2064.pdf}}
* {{cite journal|last=Krishnan |first=Shweta |title=Book review |journal=Anthropological Quarterly |volume=91 |number=1 |year=2018 |pages=421–425 |doi=10.1353/anq.2018.0016|s2cid=149618364 }}
*{{cite journal|last1=Dellenbaugh|first1=Ginger|last2=Rahaim|first2=Matthew|date=April 2018|doi=10.1386/jivs.3.1.95_5|issue=1|journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies|pages=95–100|title=Reviews|volume=3}}
*{{cite journal|last=Stirr|first=Anna|date=May 2018|doi=10.1111/1467-9655.12845|issue=2|journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute|pages=413–414|title=none|volume=24}}
*{{cite journal|last=Manuel|first=Peter|date=July 2018|doi=10.1080/00856401.2018.1489759|issue=3|journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|pages=700–701|title=none|volume=41|s2cid=149992303}}
*{{cite journal|last=Dalzell|first=Victoria M.|doi=10.1353/not.2019.0046|issue=4|journal=Notes|pages=677–679|title=none|volume=75|year=2019|s2cid=198046726}}</ref>

In 2024, Narayan published ''Cave of My Ancestors: Vishwakarma and the Artisans of Ellora''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cave of My Ancestors: Vishwakarma and the Artisans of Ellora |publisher=University of Chicago Press|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo229867048.html}}</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Google Scholar id|L8fUjGwAAAAJ}}
*[https://pro.magnumphotos.com/image/PAR160497.html Photo of Narayan as an infant with her mother], part of a 1960 photo-essay "East-West wife" by [[Marilyn Silverstone]] in ''Coronet'' magazine

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayan, Kirin}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty]]
[[Category:American women writers of Indian descent]]
[[Category:American women anthropologists]]
[[Category:American novelists of Indian descent]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
[[Category:Women writers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Novelists from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:Indian people of German descent]]
[[Category:American expatriate academics]]
[[Category:20th-century American anthropologists]]
[[Category:21st-century American anthropologists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:Himalayan studies]]

Kirin Narayan - Revision history

BellEggers2 at 20:18, 25 February 2026