Bernard Bate (1960 - 2016) was a linguistic anthropologist specializing in the Tamil language and the history of public speaking, and professor of anthropology at Yale University and at Yale-NUS College. His best known work was the book Tamil Oratory and Dravidian Aesthetic: Democratic Practice in South India which describes the emergence of a tradition of public speaking in the Tamil language during the Indian independence movement.[1][2] He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago. He taught at Yale for ten years before moving to the Yale-NUS College in Singapore, where he was instrumental in the development of the college's programs.[3] Bate died in his sleep on 11 March 2016.