Dear Council Members,
Welcome to another eventful year of activities sponsored by the South Asian Studies Council. I am delighted to give you an overview of the many talks, discussions, and special events planned for this term, which we very much hope you will attend and enjoy.
I hope especially that you can join us at our Welcome Reception, which will take place Wednesday, September 13 at 4:30pm in Luce Hall. Also, our weekly Wednesday Chai gatherings begin September 20th at 4:00 in Luce Hall. All are welcome!
The Council is particularly excited to welcome visiting scholars and our new postdoctoral associate. In addition to teaching courses for South Asian Studies, we look forward to the energy, perspective, and depth they will lend to our conversations. Our new postdoctoral associate Ashish Kaul, a historian from Vanderbilt, will be teaching a course on Islam and gender. Her course is titled “Islam and Gender in South Asia (SAST 321)”
The inter-disciplinary South Asian Studies Colloquium meets on Wednesdays at 4:30 in Luce 203. This semester the colloquium features discussions of emancipation, modernization, and development in South Asia. Speakers include Jon Wilson, with whom we have organized a discussion of his new book The Chaos of Empire: The Rise and Fall of British Power in India. Ronald Herring, a specialist on agrarian political economy, ethnicity, and conflict will speak on India’s contribution to resolving the Global GMO Puzzle. Tariq Omar Ali will speak about on rural modernization in East Pakistan, between 1960-1970. Dean Spears from the Univ. of Texas and Delhi School of Economics will talk about the causes and consequences of open defecation in India.
This year we welcome a large and diverse cohort of new graduates students specializing in South Asia and joining programs in Anthropology, Political Science, Religion, History, and Forestry. The South Asia Brown Bag Series showcases the work of our graduate students and meets on Thursdays at 12:30 in Luce 203.
In addition, please make note of these special events and lectures:
On September 17th, the South Asian Studies Council will host a table at the multicultural block party to welcome all international students and visitors to Yale University. The event will be held at the Divinity School Courtyard from 12pm to 4pm. Feel free to stop by our table and bring your family as well.
The Annual Gandhi lecture will be given by Pheroze Nowrojee on October 2nd and the event will be moderated by Rohit De.
Prof. Kaivan Munshi from Cambridge University will deliver the Annual Indu Bhatt for the Council on November 9th on the economics and sociology of caste in India, to be followed by a reception.
Additionally, we will keep you attuned to talks of interest hosted by the Society for Asian Religions, and the Yale Himalaya Initiative.
Please join us for as many events as possible and visit our website for regular updates.
Our best,
Mushfiq, Harry, and Kasturi