[nyfoil-l] SAI Conference: ETHNOGRAPHIES OF THE POLITICAL IN SOUTH ASIA on Nov 12, 13

[southasia at columbia.edu]

ETHNOGRAPHIES OF THE POLITICAL IN SOUTH ASIA

Date: November 12-13, 2004
Venue: Dag Hammarskjöld Lounge, Sixth Floor of International Affairs
Building,
420 West 118 Street, New York NY 10027

Co-Sponsored by the Center for Comparative Literature and Society, Society
of Fellows in the Humanities, and Departments of Middle East and Asian
Languages and Cultures, and Anthropology, at Columbia University



The Southern Asian Institute is hosting a two-day conference, entitled
Ethnographies of the Political in South Asia, on 12-13 November 2004.  It
seeks to bring together scholars who have recently carried out ethnographic
work in South Asia on various aspects of the domain of the political.  This
includes studies of local politics, forms of mobilization, negotiations with
governmental agencies, building and breaking of community, and assertions of
identity and cultural politics.  The emphasis will be less on examples of
older practices or processes such as factions, vote banks, patron-client
relations, tradition vs. modernity, and state vs. community.  Rather, the
attempt will be to identify new practices, and perhaps new institutional
forms, through which the political is being articulated.  A large part of
the discussion is expected to deal with recent developments in Indian
democracy.  However, a specific attempt will be made to think of these new
practices in a comparative South Asian framework.

The tentative schedule is listed below.  A more detailed schedule, with the
titles for various presentations, will be distributed shortly.
Registration will begin tomorrow, Thursday the 4th.  To register please 
visit our website at 
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/regional/sai/welcome.html.


FRIDAY


9:30 – 10:00		Continental Breakfast

10:00 – 10:15		Introduction
Vidya Dehejia
Partha Chatterjee

10:15 – 12:15	I:
Speakers: Emma Tarlo, Lisa Mitchell
Discussant: Partha Chatterjee

12:15 – 1:30		Break for Lunch

1:30 – 3:30	II:
Speakers: Thomas Blom Hansen, Ruchi Chaturvedi
Discussant: Sudipta Kaviraj

3:30 – 4:00		Tea/Coffee

4:00 – 6:00		III:
Speakers: Mukulika Banerjee, Craig Jeffrey
Discussant: John Harriss

6:00 – 7:30		Reception



SATURDAY


9:30 – 10:00		Continental Breakfast

10:00 – 12:00		IV:
Speakers: Veena Das, Genevieve Lakier
Discussant: Stuart Corbridge

12:00 – 1:00		Break for Lunch

1:00 – 3:00	 	V:
Speakers: Lucia Michelutti, Saadia Toor
Discussant: Akhil Gupta

3:00 – 3:30		Tea/Coffee

3:30 – 5:00		VI:
Speaker: Sudipta Kaviraj
Discussants: Partha Chatterjee, Stuart Corbridge, Akhil Gupta