Spotlight South Asia

Threat from India-Pakistan Nuclear War is the subject of research by Owen Toon and Jerry Peterson

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 19:06:15 +0000

Threat from India-Pakistan Nuclear War is the subject of research by Owen Toon and Jerry Peterson Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/04/2019 - 12:06

A new study about the outcome of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan was released recently. An article in CU Boulder Today interviews Owen Toon, who works at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics.

Toon first presented his research on the subject at the Center for Asian Studies Catastrophic Asia symposium and it was subsequently published in the Journal of Asian Studies.

In Daniel Strain's article, Toon talks about his research:

“An India-Pakistan war could double the normal death rate in the world,” said Toon, a professor in the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). “This is a war that would have no precedent in human experience.”

“They’re rapidly building up their arsenals,” Toon said. “They have huge populations, so lots of people are threatened by these arsenals, and then there’s the unresolved conflict over Kashmir.”

In his latest study, he and his colleagues wanted to find out just how bad such a conflict could get. To do that, the team drew on a wide range of evidence, from computer simulations of Earth’s atmosphere to accounts of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945.

Based on their analysis, the devastation would come in several stages. In the first week of the conflict, the group reports that India and Pakistan combined could successfully detonate about 250 nuclear warheads over each other’s cities.

There’s no way to know how powerful these weapons would be—neither nation has conducted nuclear tests in decades—but the researchers estimated that each one could kill as many as 700,000 people.

Read the full article here.

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CAS Event Friday: Dare Dara disturb the Universe?: Dara Shikoh’s translations as ‘trance-lessons’

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 15:21:04 +0000

CAS Event Friday: Dare Dara disturb the Universe?: Dara Shikoh’s translations as ‘trance-lessons’ Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/31/2019 - 09:21

Friday, November 1 at 3pm
Eaton Humanities 1B80
free and open to the public

Dara Shikoh, the Mughal poet-prince, comes to limelight at intermittent intervals. This time it is because Dalhousie Road in Delhi has been renamed as Dara Shikoh Road; and also because Audrey Trusche has written a book titled Aurangzeb: The Man and The Myth. Trusche’s illuminating work contextualizes the life of Aurangzeb and attempts to free him from the label of “bigot.” In doing so, however, she plays into the binary of Dara/Aurangzeb : Dreamy poet/ Statesman King all over again in the section that she deals with the conflict of the brothers. Dara is still caught in a moment of “What if?” where counterfactual history starts indulging in a freeplay of imagination.
This paper shall look at Dara’s intellectual trajectory, as also briefly dwell on his political journey. Dara’s intellectual journey mostly involves translation of Sanskrit spiritual texts into Persian and vice versa; as also his Sufi annotation of these texts. Through grounding Dara’s intellectual and poetic engagements, this paper shall broadly look at the following points:
a)   Is Dara Shikoh caught in an inescapable moment of “What If”? Does this infantalise his location within Sufic history, and Sufic history itself? Is the category of poet-king unacceptable to counterfactual conjecture?
b)   The impact on posterity - of translations undertaken by Dara – globally; as also understanding ideologies of translations undertaken by him.
c)   Dara’s vision: Secular, syncretic, or religious cosmopolitanism? What were his motives in undertaking the task of mapping Indic philosophy onto Islamic theology?

Amit Ranjan is Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Florida International University (FIU) currently. In India, Ranjan teaches literature at RIE, NCERT, Bhubaneswar. He has a PhD and an MPhil, both from JNU. His doctoral research about John Lang, a 19th century Australian writer, lawyer and journalist engages with rich primary archival material; and it throws new light at mid-19th century British empire vis-à-vis characters of “interlopers” like Lang.
He was a Fulbright scholar previously as well, in 2015-16, also at FIU. He has also been a recipient of Endeavour Fellowship of Australia, as also the Inlaks Research Grant, courtesy of which he was a Visiting Fellow at UNSW, Sydney. He was also delegate at Australia India Youth Dialogue, 2015, and a writer-in-residence at Sangam House Writers’ residency, 2010. He also holds the honorary position of Australia Awards Ambassador. He has taught literature at institutions like St. Stephen’s, Miranda House, JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia, and FIU.
Amit’s poems, short stories, and essays have been published in various journals like La Zaporogue, Anti Serious, Cold Noon, Muse India, The Equator Line etc. Amit also has written four plays. His poetry collection Find Me Leonard Cohen, I am Almost Thirty, published last year has received very good reviews. Upcoming publications include a book on John Lang, a non-fiction work on Dara Shikoh, and a translation of Mridula Garg’s Miljul Mann.

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Zee JLF Colorado coming to Boulder in September

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:29:33 +0000

Zee JLF Colorado coming to Boulder in September Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/10/2019 - 13:29

This September, the "greatest literary show on Earth" returns for the fifth time to Colorado.

A festival of literature from all over the world, ZEE JLF at Colorado promises to be an event unlike any other. Free and accessible to everyone, the Festival invites you to join us in examining the human experience through the reflections and imaginations of distinguished contemporary authors from across the globe.

In an uplifting celebration of the mind and heart, writers and thinkers from the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe will take part in provocative conversations about life and society, economics and the arts, equity, freedom, and the care of our planet. In these critical times, the penetrating, intercultural dialogue exchanged speaks deeply to individuals, and gives rise to the joy of community.

ZEE JLF Colorado is in association with Boulder Library Foundation, the City of Boulder and Boulder Public Library.

Learn more about the festival here.

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Event Tomorrow: Justifying Violence in a Buddhist World Colloquium with Michael Jerryson

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 17:26:43 +0000

Event Tomorrow: Justifying Violence in a Buddhist World Colloquium with Michael Jerryson Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/18/2019 - 11:26

Cas Event--Tuesday, March 19 at 2pm
CASE Building E422 at CU Boulder (above Euclid garage)

In many ways, Buddhist-inspired violence may seem like an oxymoron, yet there is a robust history of Buddhist revolts, just-war theory, and violence in Asia. Dr. Jerryson analyzes the patterns behind these historical examples and their relationship to the current violence on the Rohingya and Sri Lanka Muslims.

Michael Jerryson is Professor of Religious Studies at Youngstown State University. He is the author of If You Meet the Buddha on the Road: Buddhism, Politics, and Violence (2018) and Buddhist Fury: Religion and Violence in Southern Thailand (2011). Co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence (2013) and Buddhist Warfare (2010), he is working on a forthcoming edited volume, tentatively entitled: Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World.

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'A House for Every Daughter' photography exhibit by Professor Emeritus Dennis McGilvray

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:47:04 +0000

'A House for Every Daughter' photography exhibit by Professor Emeritus Dennis McGilvray Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/17/2017 - 10:47

CAS affiliated emeritus professor Dennis McGilvray's work in Sri Lanka is the culmination of nearly forty years of anthropologic research. Professor McGilvray's research interests focus on the Tamils and Muslims of south India and Sri Lanka. This exhibit of photography takes a look at dowry practices in the region and is the subject of Professor McGilvray's upcoming book, A House for Every Daughter: Matrilocal Marriage in Sri Lanka and South India.

From CU Boulder Today:

"Here, women are expected to receive a house from their parents before a man will agree to marry them. Although romantic love can sometimes outweigh this requirement, the "dowry house" is still a key issue in most arranged marriage negotiations between the families of the bride and groom.

This Sri Lankan marriage pattern is termed "matrilocal" by anthropologists. It is rare in most parts of South Asia, where couples typically reside in a "patrilocal" household with the family of the groom. Although it poses a hardship for daughters from poor families, the matrilocal dowry-house system remains popular with many Hindu and Muslim wives, because it gives them rights to property and greater influence in household affairs."

See more of McGilvray's work in Hale Science building on the second floor.

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South Asia Speaker Series Presents: An Evening with David Gilmartin on Tuesday, April 19

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 18:34:53 +0000

South Asia Speaker Series Presents: An Evening with David Gilmartin on Tuesday, April 19 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/14/2016 - 12:34

The South Asia Speaker Series is bringing Dr. David Gilmartin, Professor of Anthropology at North Carolina State University, on Tuesday, April 19, to speak on "Voting and Party Symbols in India: The Visual and the Law in Constituting the Sovereign People." Dr. Gilmartin's talk will begin at 5:00 p.m. and be held in Hellems 199.

The establishment and legal regulation of voting practices provides a critical window for analyzing the distinctive meanings attached to the people’s sovereignty as an operative force in electoral democracies. In India, this is evident in the controversies that have surrounded the use of officially-sanctioned party electoral symbols in election campaigns. Originally adopted after India’s independence to facilitate voting by a largely illiterate population, symbols have since come to play critical roles as party logos. But their practical use and “misuse” has sparked considerable controversy, raising questions both about the role of visual images in mobilizing Indian voters on the one hand, and in threatening the idealized self-discipline on which the theory of Indian democracy has been based, on the other.

David Gilmartin's research focuses on the intersections between the history of British imperialism in South Asia and the development of modern politics and forms of rule. His first book ("Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan") looked at the relationship between British imperial rule and the creation of Pakistan at the time of India's independence from Britain in 1947. More recent research projects have focused on the connections between irrigation-based environmental transformations (in the Indus basin) and modern politics, and on the legal history of India's electoral institutions as they have evolved from its colonial past. His latest book "Blood and Water: The Indus River Basin in Modern History" (University of California Press, 2015) is the first large-scale environmental history of the region.

Professor Gilmartin has served as associate editor of the Journal of Asian Studies and also Campus Director (for NC State) of Title VI South Asia Area Studies Center, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU (2003-2011).

Sponsored by the Department of History and the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities, University of Colorado Boulder.

For more information, contact Professor Mithi Mukherjee, Department of History, mithi.mukherjee@colorado.edu.

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DJ Spooky Will Present at Our Next Luncheon Series Event!

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 20:32:48 +0000

DJ Spooky Will Present at Our Next Luncheon Series Event! Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/07/2016 - 14:32

Next Tuesday, Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky, will present at our next Luncheon Series event on his work, "Exploring Water, Cities, Climate, and Music in India."

DJ Spooky is an electronic and experimental hip hop musician. His work has included recordings in Antarctica, and his current project is based in India. He has also recently published a book with MIT Press, The Imaginary App. For a National Geographic article on his current work, click here.

DJ Spooky's talk will begin at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, and be held in the CAS Conference Room at 1424 Broadway (two doors north of Starbucks on University and Broadway).

Lunch will be provided for attendees.

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PhD Candidate Ashmi Desai to Present at Our Next Luncheon Series Event

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 19:32:27 +0000

PhD Candidate Ashmi Desai to Present at Our Next Luncheon Series Event Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/25/2016 - 12:32

Next Thursday, March 3, Ashmi Desai, PhD Candidate in Communication, will discuss her research on "Media Representations of Maoism in Central India."

For more than four decades, communist revolutionaries have been agitating for systemic change in India, leading to a loss of thousands of lives while highlighting pertinent issues of economic, caste and gender inequality, displacement and indigenous rights. In 2004, two large Maoist factions merged to form Communist Party of India-Maoist appointing their base in the Dandakaranya forest region of central India, home to around 21 million indigenous peoples, close to a fourth of the country's indigenous population. The Indian government has been combating the outlawed Maoist forces in this region for years now, calling them, "the gravest internal threat to India's security." This research attempts to understand how the print media as well as identified stakeholders co-construct two incidents of Maoist violence, and the symbolic consensuses that come forth in this discourse production. These questions are explored through an examination of themes and discursive practices employed in talk and text , arising from 30 interviews conducted with former Maoists, politicians, policemen, army officials, corporate officials and journalists, researcher reflections and press reportage.

The talk will begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be held in the CAS Conference Room, 1424 Broadway, two doors north of Starbucks on University and Broadway. Lunch will be served.

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Join Us for Our First Spring 2016 Luncheon Series Event!

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 21:14:33 +0000

Join Us for Our First Spring 2016 Luncheon Series Event! Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/19/2016 - 14:14

Join us on Thursday, January 21, as we listen to Sociology Associate Professor Jennifer Bair's presention of her research on "Labor Compliance in Bangladesh’s Garment Sector: Rana Plaza and the Conversation about Global Supply Chains." Dr. Bair's talk will begin at 12:00 p.m., and will be held in the CAS Conference Room at 1424 Broadway, two doors north of Starbucks on University and Broadway. Lunch will be provided for attendees!

On April 24, 2013, 1,129 garment workers in Bangladesh who were making clothes for foreign brands such as Benetton and Wal-Mart died when the building they were working in collapsed. Though it was hardly the first industrial accident in the country’s garment sector, Rana Plaza was by far the deadliest, and it brought increased urgency to an ongoing conversation about how to address the problem of workplace safety in the country’s 5,000+ export factories. More than two years after the Rana Plaza collapse, there are multiple large-scale factory safety and labor reform initiatives involving the Bangladesh government, foreign companies such as Gap and H&M, global trade union federations, and international institutions, including the International Labor Organization and the World Bank. Drawing from field research and interviews with government officials, factory owners, and labor leaders in Bangladesh, as well as with the U.S. and European brands and retailers that are purchasing the products made there, this talk answers three questions: 1. How do the initiatives implemented since Rana Plaza depart from previous efforts to address sweatshop conditions in global supply chains?; 2. How successful are these efforts proving in improving conditions for workers on the ground in Bangladesh?; and 3. How do they inform the long-running debate about working conditions in the global supply chains that brings us products as diverse as blue jeans and I-phones?

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Ph.D. Candidate Allison Shelton to Give the Next Luncheon Series Talk on Thursday, October 15

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 20:11:25 +0000

Ph.D. Candidate Allison Shelton to Give the Next Luncheon Series Talk on Thursday, October 15 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/12/2015 - 14:11

Join us on Thursday, October 15, for our next Luncheon Series event. Allison Shelton, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of English, will present her dissertation research on "Narratives of Environment and Radical Localism in Indian Anglophone Fiction." The talk will be held at 12:00 p.m. in the CAS Conference Room at 1424 Broadway (two doors north of Starbucks on University and Broadway). Lunch will be served for attendees.

A great variety of “environmental narratives,” often simplistic and always political, compete for ascendancy in the ways nations are performed and received by the global community. For some nations, "environmentalism" becomes a navigational act between various cultural, political, social, economic, and scientific narratives of what environmentalism is and how or what the environment should be. Literature is precisely a form that allows for a complex weaving of multiple representations and expressions of environmental relations at once. Literary narratives also allow for the consideration of identity and subjectivity, national or otherwise, as dynamic processes.

In India, the push and pull between national neoliberal development and local environmental subjects is a pressing concern, and Indian authors writing in English are in a unique position to explore local actors and their historical subjectivities while projecting these narratives into a transnational literary space. Just what do these literary narratives have to teach us about the sometimes clashing environmental relations between the local, national, and global spheres?

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