The Ursula Graham Bower Lectures
An Annual Lecture Series in Honour of a Pioneering Anthropologist
About the Lecture Series
The Ursula Graham Bower Lectures are the Highland Institute's most prestigious annual academic event, established to honour the legacy of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable ethnographers and wartime leaders. Known for her deep and sustained engagement with the Zeme Nagas of Northeast India, Ursula Graham Bower produced a formidable body of ethnographic writing, photography, and film during the 1930s and 1940s.
During World War II, she led a guerrilla force of Naga scouts—famously known as Bower Force—in resistance to the Japanese advance into India. Her life and work exemplify fearless inquiry, deep cultural empathy, and a commitment to ethical engagement in politically charged and often dangerous contexts.
The lecture series traces its origins to 2013, when it was inaugurated as the Hutton Lectures. In 2021, responding to the evolving mission of the Institute and global debates on decolonising knowledge, the series was reconstituted as the Highlander Lectures. Finally, in 2025, the event was renamed the Ursula Graham Bower Lectures, anchoring the series in the legacy of a woman whose anthropological vision, wartime courage, and cross-cultural solidarity embody the values the Institute holds most dear.
Purpose and Format
Held annually in December in Kohima, Nagaland, the Bower Lectures form the centrepiece of the Institute's academic calendar. Each year, a distinguished scholar is invited to deliver the keynote lecture.
Leading-edge research in anthropology, indigenous studies, environmental humanities, and history
Urgent challenges affecting highland and borderland communities across Asia and globally
Integration with Winter Research Colloquium and PGCertR programme
Critical conversations on decolonisation, representation, and plural ways of knowing
The Lecture Symposium
While the keynote lecture remains the centrepiece, the event is typically accompanied by a Lecture Symposium, a multi-day academic gathering. From its earliest days as the Hutton Lectures, the vision behind the series included a symposium component—an open forum for researchers working across the region to present ongoing work, share insights, and collectively reflect on the year's research activities.
From 2025 onward, the symposium is formally integrated into the Postgraduate Certificate in Research (PGCertR) programme. PGCertR students present their preliminary research findings in the Winter Research Colloquium, contributing to a dynamic academic space where senior scholars, mentors, and community partners offer feedback and support.
The Symposium Features:
- British Academy Writing Workshops (2021–2022)
- Project Conferences, such as the Ekologos: Global Environmental Humanities Conference (2023)
- Film screenings, artist talks, roundtables, and archival showcases
Distinguished Past Speakers
Since 2013, the lecture series has welcomed leading thinkers and practitioners from around the world:
Lecture topics have ranged widely—from indigenous theology, oral literature, and borderland politics, to climate change, religious nationalism, and museology.
Legacy of Ursula Graham Bower
Ursula Graham Bower (1914–1988) is remembered as a trailblazing anthropologist, documentarian, and wartime leader. Educated at Roedean School in England, she first travelled to Northeast India in 1937 and immersed herself in the lives of the Zeme Nagas.
Over nearly a decade, she produced a substantial ethnographic archive—photographs, films, notebooks, and the celebrated books Naga Path and The Hidden Land.
During World War II, Bower led Bower Force, a group of Naga scouts under V Force, in defence of India's eastern frontier. For her courage, she was awarded the MBE and the Lawrence of Arabia Medal. Her legacy—of intellectual rigour, deep humility, and extraordinary bravery—continues to shape the Institute's ethos and aspirations.
Publications and Recordings
Select lectures are recorded and archived in the Highland Institute Video Library. Written excerpts and curated reflections are periodically published via Highlander Press, and integrated into volumes such as Passing Things On: Ancestors and Genealogies in Northeast India (2014). A future collected edition of Bower Lectures is in development.
