“The Paradox of Desire”
A talk by Dr. Simona Sarma, an independent scholar of Women’s Studies.
Between College and Town: Designing the Indian MIT or the IIT (1951) in Kharagpur, India
A talk by Dr. Priya Jain from the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M.
“Beyond Hooking Up: Tales from Grindr in Pakistan”
A talk by Dr. Ahmed Afzal, exploring an underexplored area of scholarship on smartphone-based social networking apps in the non-West. Drawing on participant observation, qualitative interviews, and oral life histories, this paper explores the uses of Grindr, a social networking app, among men who have sex with men in Pakistan.
Screening of Joyland (2022)
Screening of the 2022 film Joyland, directed by Pakistani screenwriter and director Saim Sadiq. The screening will be followed by Q&A with Dr. Ayesha Khurshid from Florida State University.
“They Will Chase Me Away from Classroom or Ask Me to Sit on Floor”: Belonging Dissonance Among Marginalized Adolescent Girls
A talk by Dr. Ananya Tiwari (Educational Psychology, Texas A&M) investigating several themes around sense of belonging to school among historically marginalized adolescent girls in rural India.
“The Missing Stories: South Asian American Histories from the 1800’s to Now”
A talk by Dr. Samip Mallick, Executive Director of South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA).
“The Origins of Air Conditioning in India (1920s-1960s): Race, Class, and Technoscience”
A talk by Dr. Priya Jain from the department of Architecture at Texas A&M.
Screening of Haider
South Asia Working Group sponsored the screening of Haider (Dir. Vishal Bhardwaj, 2014), the award-winning Bollywood adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The screening will be followed by discussion, led by Dr, Nandini Bhattarcharya, English and Film Studies.
A reading by Usha Akelle
USHA AKELLA is an internationally known poet who was selected as a cultural ambassador for Austin in 2014-15.
THE ROSARY OF LATITUDES is a collection of prose and poetry inspired by travel.
Dark Matter Spoken Word Performance
A spoken word performance including Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian.
This event was cosponsored with the student group, Shades of Queer.
Sceening of "The Lunchbox”
This film offers a lyrical and poignant insight on intimacies and gender relations in contemporary, post-development India
Sceening of "Yun Hota To Kya Hota?" ("What If?")
Yun Hota To Kya Hota (English: What If?) is a 2006 Hindi drama film. The film directed by Naseeruddin Shah stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Ayesha Takia, Jimmy Shergill, Paresh Rawal,Boman Irani, Saroj Khan and Irfan Khan. The film explores four stories which eventually become intertwined with 9/11. The stories revolves around a group of people who were not connected to each other in any way other than by ill fate.
Suman Mukhopadyay presents: Shesher Kabita
Suman Mukhopadyay himself presents Shesher Kabita (The Last Poem, 2013).
Suman is the Indian National Award-winning director of King Lear, Herbert, Chaturanga, and Mahanagar at Kolkata.
Film Songs in the Era of the Multiplex and Youtube
A talk delivered by Dr. Jayson Beaster-Jones, professor of performance studies at Texas A&M.
Film Screening: Anhe Ghode da Daan
Screening of prize-winning film, Anhe Ghode da Daan, followed by dinner and discussion.
Vanita Seth Visit
The South Asia Working Group will co-sponsor the visit of Dr. Vanita Seth, Associate Professor of Politics and UC Santa Cruz and author of Europe’s Indians: Producing Racial Difference, 1500-1900 (Duke University Press, 2010), which will happen in the context of the English Department’s Annual Symposium titled “The Presents of the Past.”
Postmodern Nostalgia in Contemporary Bengali Cinema
This is a work in progress presented by Dhrubaa Mukherjee. Dhrubaa is a second year doctoral student in the Department of English at Texas A&M University whose research emphasis is on Contemporary South Asian Literature and Culture, Indian Cinema, and Postcolonial, Transnational, and Feminist Discourses. Dhrubaa is particularly interested in the recent trends in contemporary Bengali cinema.
Cows, Cars and Cycle-rickshaws: The Politics of Nature on the Streets of Delhi, India
A talk by Dr. Baviskar, sponsored by the Melbern G. Glasscock Center.
"“Water and Empowerment: The Practical Aspects of Strategic Needs”
A talk by Richa Dhanju, a graduate student at Texas A&M.