EMPIRE, NATION, FEDERATION: SOUTH ASIA’S FREEDOM IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
HARVARD-TUFTS CONFERENCE on the 75th ANNIVERSARY of INDEPENDENCE and PARTITION
Jointly sponsored by the Weatherhead Center and Asia Center of Harvard University and the Center of South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, Tufts University
Convened by Sugata Bose, Harvard University, and Ayesha Jalal, Tufts University
Part 2: April 7-9, 2023
Friday, April 7, 2023, ASEAN Auditorium, Cabot Building, Tufts University
4 pm: Welcome and Introduction by Ayesha Jalal, Tufts University
4.30 pm – 6.30 pm: Session 1 Despairs and Hopes of Democracy
Chair: Ayesha Jalal, Tufts University
“Prospects of Restraining Indian Authoritarianism at the Local Level” by Pranab Bardhan, University of California, Berkeley
“Hindutva 2.0: Explaining the Success of Modi’s BJP” by Sumantra Bose, London School of Economics and Political Science
Discussant: David Ludden, New York University
7.30 pm: Conference Dinner for Invited Participants hosted by Tufts University
Saturday, April 8, 2023, Belfer Case Study Room, CGIS South 020, Harvard University
9.30 Breakfast and Coffee
10 am: Welcome and Introduction by Sugata Bose
10.30 am-12 pm: Session 2 Imperial and Anti-Colonial Ideas of Federation and Separation
Chair: Sugata Bose, Harvard University
“From Religious Universalisms towards Religious Majoritarianism: The Trajectory of Asian Anti-Colonialism in Burma” by Sana Aiyar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Discussant: Aniket De, Harvard University
12.30 pm-2 pm Lunch
2 pm – 4 pm: Session 3 Rethinking Partition and its Aftermath
Chair: Ayesha Jalal, Tufts University
“Dialogue and Silence in Partition’s Shadow: The Muslim Question in Asghar Wajahat’s Fiction” by Neeti Nair
“Dialogue and Silence in Partition’s Shadow: The Muslim Question in West Bengal’s Public Discourse” by Semanti Ghosh, Ananda Bazaar Patrika
Discussant: Sana Aiyar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6.30-7.20 pm Holden Chapel, Harvard Yard
“GULDASTA: SONGS from SOUTH ASIA and BEYOND
An Hour of Music presented by Ria Modak (guitar), Angela Varo (violin), and Bahar Badeitar (oud)”
7.30 pm Conference Dinner for Invited Participants hosted by Harvard University
Sunday, April 9, 2023, Cabot Building 7th Floor, Tufts University
10.30 am-12 noon: Session 4 Regional Identities Reconsidered
Chair: Kris Manjapra, Tufts University
“Kashmiri Self-determination: Past and the Present.” by Shahla Hussain, St. John’s College, City University of New York
“Vernacular Solidarities: Women’s Ethics Against Patriarchal Order in Sindh” by Shayan Rajani, Lahore University of Management Sciences
Discussant: Fahd Humayun, Tufts University
12 noon – 1. 30 pm Lunch for Invited Participants
2 pm – 3.30 pm A Roundtable on “Centralized State Power and Regional Resistance: The Post-Colonial Predicament” chaired by Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal
