ROCKLAND — "One in five of all women in the world live in India, yet our knowledge about them is misguided," says Dr. Stephen Huyler, who has conducted detailed field research in India for the past fifty years, specializing in women’s art and identity. The Camden resident will share his deep understanding of the cultures and subcultures of the world's most populous country in a Camden Conference lecture, “Women’s Identity in India: Old Views, New Views” on Sunday, Dec. 3, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., at Rockland's Strand Theatre.

"Most of us," says Huyler, believe that "the majority of women in India are victims of a social order that at worst threatens them or at least denies them basic civil liberties." But the reality, he says, is very different, according to the Strand, in a news release.

Through personal interviews with more than one thousand women in all parts of India he found the women to be adamant that they are not victims.

"They want to be known for their strengths and the many ways that they overcome adversity and assert their individuality," says Huyler. 

During the fifty years of having, as he says, "one foot firmly rooted in America, my homeland, and the other planted just as deeply in South Asia,"

Huyler's books, photographs, films, and museum exhibitions have opened the eyes of Western audiences to truths about India and its people, according to the Strand.. His lecture will be illustrated with photos from his unparalleled personal archive.

The Camden Conference, now planning for its 37th year, is a nonprofit, non-partisan, volunteer-driven citizens' forum with the mission of fostering informed discourse on world issues. Year-round public engagement through community events and student education programs culminates in a three-day Conference presented live on the stage of the Camden Opera House.

Tickets for “Women’s Identity in India: Old Views, New Views" are on sale now for a suggested donation of $20. Please visit www.camdenconference.org/events for more information.