Anuradha Bhagwati + Dr. Jennifer Chan

The rigid hierarchies of the military demand absolute obedience to authority. How do these power structures, and the culture that surrounds them, affect the men and women who serve? Anuradha Bhagwati, a Marine Corps veteran and the author of Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience, meets with neuroscientist Dr. Jennifer Chan to discuss how our experiences make our brains resilient and how meditation might benefit military personnel and their partners.

After a lifetime of buckling to the demands of her strict Indian parents, Bhagwati abandoned her grad school career in the Ivy League to join the Marines— which she describes as the fiercest, most violent, most masculine branch of the military—determined to prove herself there in ways she couldn’t at home. Once her service concluded in 2004, Anuradha courageously vowed to take to task the very leaders and traditions that fostered misogyny, racism, and astonishing injustice in the military. Her efforts have resulted in historic change, including the lifting of the ban on women from pursuing combat roles in the military.

Presented with the India Center and The New York Women’s Foundation.

About the Speakers

Anuradha Bhagwati is a writer, activist, yoga and meditation teacher, and Marine Corps veteran. She founded the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), which brought national attention to sexual violence in the military and affected dozens of historic policy reforms within the Department of Defense and Department of Veteran Affairs, including overturning the ban on women in combat. Anuradha is a regular media commentator on issues related to national security, women’s rights, and civil rights, and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Foreign Affairs, and The New Republic. She lives in New York City with her service dog Duke.

Dr. Jennifer Chan holds a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania and is the first of her family to complete college. Her work has been highlighted in numerous media outlets including The Economist, The Guardian, and Scientific American. Her research explores how life experiences can produce vulnerability or resilience to brain disorders later in life, and how one’s sex and gender can impact these effects. Dr. Chan is a neuroscientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.