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Event Type : Talk

Voting for Strongmen: Nationalist and Populist Leadership in Brazil and India

WHEN
Mon, Sep 30, 2019 from 04:30pm — 06:00pm, ET

Around the world, numerous nations have witnessed a resurgence of strongman politics — and with it, many governments are bypassing democratic norms and embracing populist ideals. Focusing on President Bolsonaro of Brazil and Prime Minister Modi of India, the speakers on this panel will discuss what nationalist and populist leadership means for Brazil, India, and the global political system at large.

Speakers:

Rachel Brule, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy, Boston University
Bruno Carvalho, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University
Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and iNternational and Public Affairs, Brown University

This event is co-sponsored by the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

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The Fears Have Gone Away: Exploring the Roots of Insurgent Citizenship in India’s Bhil Heartland

WHEN
Tue, Sep 24, 2019 from 06:00pm — 07:30pm, ET

In India, subaltern groups must resort to the universalizing vocabulary of citizenship in order to stake claims for redistribution and recognition. But on what basis do they do this — especially under severe coercion? Alf Nilsen, Professor of Sociology at the University of Pretoria, will explore this question by investigating movement patterns in the Bhil heartland of western India, where Adivasi communities have organized and mobilized against the tyranny of the local state.

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Crisis in Kashmir: Valley of Saints Film Screening

WHEN
Wed, Sep 18, 2019 from 05:00pm — 07:00pm, ET

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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Rethinking Mizo Nationalism in Contemporary India

WHEN
Wed, Jun 5, 2019 from 06:30pm — 08:00pm, ET

Poster image for Rethinking Mizo Nationalism in Contemporary India event.

In this talk, Roluahpuia, the Mittal Institute’s 2018-19 Raghunathan Family Fellow, will explore how and why politics among the Mizos continue to remain nationalistic in India and how to understand this phenomenon in contemporary India. This discussion will be moderated by Virginius Xaxa, Visiting Professor at the Institute for Human Development.

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Engaging with India: Engaging with Feminism

WHEN
Wed, Apr 24, 2019 from 06:00pm — 07:30pm, ET

COST   Free

Engaging with India: Engaging with Feminism and the Passion of “The Before Midnight’s Children”

Speaker: Devaki Jain, Economist, Writer, and Recipient of the Padma Bhushan Award

The Harish C. Mahindra Lecture Series is given in honor of the late Harish C. Mahindra, a distinguished alumnus of Harvard College and a visionary leader of business and industry in India. The lecture is an important component in continuing the education and understanding of the challenges facing South Asia, and provides an ideal forum for the next generation of global leadership.

This year, Devaki Jain will be giving the Mahindra Lecture. Devaki Jain is an Indian economist and writer who has made significant contributions to feminist economics, social justice, and women’s empowerment in India. In 2006, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan — the third-highest civilian honor from the Government of India — for her contributions to society. In this lecture, she will weave her own personal story into the political story of India and discuss her engagement with public life, activism, and her current work in feminist economics.

A reception will follow the lecture. This event is free and open to the public. 

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Film Screening: Amar Kanwar — Such a Morning

WHEN
Fri, Apr 19, 2019 from 07:00pm — 09:00pm, ET

COST   $12

Amar Kanwar (b. 1964) is a New Delhi-based filmmaker and artist whose work has powerfully mined the potential of a slower, drifting method of moving image to forge a politically charged and engaged mode of gently expanded cinema. Kanwar’s critically acclaimed yet fiercely debated Such a Morning hovers on the border between magical realist allegory and slow cinema trance film with an almost Calvino-like fable of a renowned mathematician impulsively abandoning his university post, without explanation, to hibernate in a train car abandoned deep in a lush forest.

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Book Talk: Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia

WHEN
Wed, Apr 17, 2019 from 05:30pm — 07:00pm, ET

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. […]

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Invisible Boundaries: Taxation and Enchantment in Late-Mughal Gujarat

WHEN
Fri, Apr 5, 2019 at 04:00pm, ET

As part of the Asia Center’s Borders in Modern Asia Seminar Series, Samira Sheikh will join us to discuss the late-Mughal era in Gujarat. 

Speaker:
Samira Sheikh, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

Chairs:
Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of History, Harvard University
Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University

This event is hosted by the Harvard University Asia Center and co-sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Mittal Institute, and the Weatherhead Initiative on Global History.

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India’s Upcoming Elections: What’s at Stake?

WHEN
Tue, Apr 2, 2019 from 06:15pm — 07:30pm, ET

In this event, Professor Ashu Varshney, Ronak Desai, and Hasit Shah will discuss the pressure points of the upcoming Indian election.

Speakers:
Ashu Varshney, Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia and Sol Goldman Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Ronak Desai, Vice Chair of the Indian Practice at Steptoe and Law & Security Fellow at New America
Hasit Shah, Journalist and Expert on Digital Media and Internet Access in India

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Production of City Space in India: Class, Caste, and Grayness

WHEN
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 from 06:00pm — 07:30pm, ET

Sripad Motiram, Associate Professor of Economics and Affiliated Faculty, Asian Studies Department, University of Massachusetts Boston Vamsi Vakulabharanam, Co-Director, Asian Political Economy Program (Political Economy Research Institute) and Associate Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst Sripad Motiram and Vamsi Vakulabharanam will discuss how space is structured in two Indian cities, Hyderabad and Mumbai, along […]

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Partition in Literature, Film and History: Screening of Nandita Das’s New Film “Manto”

WHEN
Tue, Mar 12, 2019 from 04:00pm — 06:00pm, ET

Saadat Hasan Manto was the great Urdu short-story writer who captured the human tragedy of the partition of India. Join us for a screening of the film Manto, followed by a conversation with the film’s Director, Nandita Das. Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of History, and Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Chair […]

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