8:30 – 9:00 am Breakfast & Registration
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9:00 – 10:15 am
Rasa: The Possibility of Poetry
Lawrence J. McCrea, Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Classics, Cornell University
Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy, Chair of the Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
Parimal and Lawrence will lead an ‘opinionated mini lesson’ on the theory of aestheticized emotion in classic Indian literature.
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10:30 – 11:45 am
Social Entrepreneurship and the Arts
Hitesh Hathi, Producer, WBUR/NPR’s Here and Now
Samir Patil, CEO, Scroll Media Network
Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Moderator: Mukti Khaire, Marvin Bower Fellow, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
Since the demise of the patronage model, cultural production and distribution had been facilitated largely by firms. This has resulted in situating the production and consumption of culture in markets, with varying consequences in different contexts. South Asia is one of the fastest growing markets for cultural industries and also has a long tradition of diversity, free exchange and evolution in these fields. Yet while the ‘quantity’ metrics may be growing there is a widely recognized gap in the quality (e.g., growth of paid news, continued neglect of public infrastructure for the arts, limited influence of professional, independent critics). What are the changes required to support the cultural industries in a way that better serves the public interest? How are entrepreneurs and artists responding? What does this mean for social, cultural, and economic change in South Asia? These and other related questions will be explored.
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11:45 – 12:15 pm Boxed Lunch
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12:15 – 1:30 pm
Constitutionalism and Development in South Asia
Mahendra Lawoti, Professor, Department of Political Science; Western Michigan University; Associate Fellow, the Asia Society
Sujit Choudhry, Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Madhav Khosla, PhD. Candidate, Political Theory, Harvard University
Moderator: Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Constitutions develop with the particular economic and political changes that a nation faces. Comparing and contrasting constitutional law in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this panel looks at how these developments have occurred differently in these different countries, and asks how we might think about designing constitutions in such a way that they can effectively respond to and accommodate the market economy and democratic tensions.
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1:30 – 3:00 pm
Harvard without Borders: Mapping the Kumbh Mela
Diana Eck, Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society; Master of Lowell House; Harvard College Professor; Member of the Faculty of Divinity
Gregg Greenough, Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health
Rahul Mehrotra, Professor of Urban Design and Planning; Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design
Shri Jawed Usmani, Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Government-India
Moderator: Tarun Khanna, Director of the South Asia Institute and Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School
In January, 50 Harvard faculty, staff and student researchers traveled to Allahabad, India to document and analyze the processes involved in the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest human gathering. This religious festival is held every twelve years, lasts 55 days, and draws millions of visitors to a temporary, purpose-built tent city on the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna. Team leaders share insights and outcomes that have come from this massive interdisciplinary project, and speak with the Chief Minister and Urban Development Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
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3:00 – 3:15 pm
Closing Remarks
Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy, Chair of the Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University