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Fri, Oct 25, 2019 at 04:00pm
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Fri, Oct 25, 2019 at 05:30pm
Delusional States is the first in-depth study of state-making and social change in Gilgit-Baltistan, a Shia-majority region of Sunni-dominated Pakistan and a contested border area that forms part of disputed Kashmir. Ali will discuss how Gilgit-Baltistan’s image within Pakistan as an idyllic paradise overlooks how the region is governed as a suspect security zone and dispossessed through multiple processes of state-making, including representation, militarization, and sectarianized education.
Speakers:
Nosheen Ali, Karti Dharti, Institute for Ecological Studies, Pakistan
Ali Asani, Harvard University, will moderate the discussion
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Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 04:30pm
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Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 06:00pm
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is the most competent, lethal, and loyal proxy of the Pakistani state, operating in India, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in South Asia and beyond. In this presentation, C. Christine Fair will draw from a narrative analysis of a ten percent random sample of nearly 1,000 biographies of slain LeT fighters to delve into the battlefield motivation of the fighters. She will reveal the dark role that families play in a young man’s decision to fight in Pakistani terrorist organizations, deriving various forms of social capital from a male family member’s participation in so-called “jihad.”
Speaker:
C. Christine Fair, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
Moderator:
Kristin E. Fabbe, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
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Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 05:00pm
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Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 07:00pm
The panel will discuss the recent events in Jammu and Kashmir, including the lead-up to the dissolution of its special autonomous status, the current situation on the ground, and the greater geopolitical implications of the recent change in status. Speakers include:
Salil Shetty, Former Secretary General of Amnesty International and Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School
Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia, Brown University
Prerna Singh, Mahatma Gandhi Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, Brown University
Ashwaq Masoodi, Nieman Fellow, Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University
Beena Sarwar, Affiliated Faculty, Emerson University; Editor, Aman Ki Asha
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Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 05:00pm
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Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 07:00pm
Film Director Musa Syeed will join Professor Ali Asani for a screening of his film, Valley of Saints, followed by a question-and-answer session.
About the Film:
Dal Lake is a sprawling aquatic community in Kashmir where erupting political violence often distracts from the natural beauty. Gulzar, a young, working-class boatman, plans to skip town with his best friend in search of a better life, but a weeklong military curfew derails their departure. Forced to wait it out, Gulzar takes a job assisting a scientist named Asifa. As they navigate the floating landscape, an unlikely relationship blossoms between the two. When Asifa’s research reveals that the lake and an entire way of life face an alarming threat, everything in Gulzar’s own life begins to take on a new hue. Intricately weaving contemporary issues with traditional culture and ancient myths, VALLEY OF SAINTS is a vibrant, lyrical film about finding one’s path home in a changing world.
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Sun, May 5, 2019 at 07:00pm
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Sun, May 5, 2019 at 08:30pm
COST General public: $10
Students and Harvard ID holders: Free
Misaq-e-Ishq means The Covenant of Love and during this event Ali Asani ’77 (professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard); Pakistani pop star and author Ali Sethi ’06; and vocalist, guitarist and Grammy Award-winning producer Noah Georgeson will bring alive through musical performance, the poetic consciousness of several legendary South Asian mystic poets.
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Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 05:30pm
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Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 07:00pm
Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji is Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College. Her work examines the interplay of gender, race, religion, and power in transnational contexts, particularly in relation to Muslim populations.
Dr. Khoja-Moolji is the author of Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia. She combines historical and cultural analyses with ethnography to examine the meaning of the “educated girl” figure in colonial India and postcolonial Pakistan. Through her work, she has deepened the scholarship on the evolving politics of educational reform and development campaigns. Dr. Khoja-Moolji argues that advocacy for women’s and girl’s education is not simply about access, but more concerned with producing ideal Muslim women and girls with specific relationships to patriarchy, paid work, Islam, and the nation-state. As such, the discourse on girl’s and women’s education also encompasses issues in class relations, religion, and the nation.
Chair: Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Harvard University
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Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 04:30pm
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Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 06:30pm
The show features two artists from Pakistan and India who reflect on the impact of The 1947 Partition of British India in their works. Mahboob Jokhio and Krupa Makhija explore the interplay between culture, language and identity through a deeply personal lens.
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Fri, May 3, 2019 at 05:00pm
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Fri, May 3, 2019 at 07:00pm
In this demonstration, Pakistani musical sensation Ali Sethi and Harvard Professor Ali Asani will take you into the lyrical world of ghazals. The ghazal originated in Arabia in the 7th century and developed into a significant literary genre in Persian, Urdu, and other South Asian languages. It may be understood as a poetic expression of loss and romantic love, often associated with traditions of spirituality in South Asia.
Experience the emotional journey of Sufi music through performance and demonstration as Sethi and Asani trace the history, evolution, and form of popular Urdu ghazals to date. All texts will be translated into English so everyone can be fully immersed in the art of the ghazal.
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Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 04:30pm
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Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 06:00pm
Dr. Moeed Yusuf will present his research on US role in India-Pakistan crisis management, captured in his latest book Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments: U.S. Crisis Management in South Asia. The book proposes an original theory to study regional nuclear crises and specifically US role in crisis management.
