Annual Report 2016/17 B
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4 Co4 Col l PMSPMS 485 485 A 4 Co4 Col l Annual Report 2016/17 B Our logo is a leaf from the Ficus religiosa (Sacred Fig), a tree found across the countries of South Asia. It symbolises social, cultural, religious and ecological benevolence, embodying a shared geography. This intrinsic commonality, cutting across political boundaries and identitarian constructions, provokes intriguing curiosity about the ties that bind this complex region. In amplifying this our logo ties the Centre to LSE’s motto: Rerum cognoscere causas, ‘to know the causes of things’. The height and breadth of the Ficus, along with its dry season-deciduous nature, gives it its innate popularity in South Asia — as provider of shade from the scorching sun in the summers, and warm, filtered sunshine in its cold winters. Its density and strength make it a nesting paradise for several kinds of birds, and its leaves provide fodder for two of South Asia’s most important pack animals, the camel and the elephant. The bark, leaves and figs of the Ficus have several medicinal attributes, and are used in Ayurvedic, Yunani and other alternative medical knowledge-systems, helping to treat open wounds, inflammations, ulcers, asthma, and digestive and heart ailments. Its popular names include arani, ashvattha, bo, bodhi, bodhidruma, beepul, esathu, pimpal, pipal, ragi, and shuchidruma, amongst many others. The logo has been designed by Oroon Das. 1 INTRODUCTION Dr Mukulika Banerjee, Director The first two years of the LSE South Asia Centre has seen consolidation and greater engagement in the region through conferences, visits, alumni and research. 2016/17 marked 70 years of India’s in South Asia by providing a platform and Pakistan’s independence. The for open and informed debate and Centre commemorated this milestone discussion and we have started to through a variety of programmes. establish a reputation for this through We held our first-ever LSE Pakistan our Summits. We have developed links Summit in Karachi which was a unique with a wide variety of institutions and event in Pakistan, bringing together individuals that we would not have internationally recognised academics otherwise known who attended our with colleagues in universities, meetings and we intend to build on media, business and the social these further. By making Working Papers sector in Pakistan in full and frank available free, we have been able to dialogue alongside lively audience disseminate and impact conversations participation. The event was free for beyond the Summits themselves. Our anyone to attend and marked the next challenge is to generate research Centre’s commitment to continuing programmes and publications on the engagement in creating a fresh new basis of the outcomes of the Summits narrative about Pakistan. and Working Papers. In India, we were delighted to hold In the UK, we have continued to build the second annual Summit, this time relationships with a wide range of in the capital which also is home to institutions. The High Commissions exceptional social science research of all South Asia countries in London and a robust media. The two summits have recognised the work of the Centre marked the significant anniversary year and stepped up their engagement and attracted wide ranging coverage through visits, student receptions and across various platforms. In Nepal, Sri public events. This has resulted in a Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and full calendar of events in which we Myanmar, we have made considerable have collaborated with the Missions/ progress in building links with alumni Embassies, and plan to co-host and interested stake-holders for future exhibitions and lectures at LSE in the collaborations leading to similar LSE coming year. Reaching out to LSE Summits in each country. alumni groups in the UK has also borne fruit as we have attracted a network Our commitment from the beginning of South Asian professionals to curate has been to make LSE a significant part activities with us. of the conversations and challenges 2 We have also built relationships with Asia Society’ by Masters students significant British public institutions at LSE which went on to win the such as the British Library, British ‘Best New Society’ of 2016/17. Our Film Institute, Courtauld Institute, relationship with LSE Enterprise and the British Council, Inner Temple and Advancement Office continues to grow, Supreme Court to co-host events. as do collaborations with other research My membership as Patron of the centres and departments. Working Group for the UK-India Year of Culture 2017 provided the Centre Our aim in the coming year is to expand further exposure and involvement our research activities through LSE-based in the commemorative events to workshops, and securing funding for an mark the 70th anniversary of India’s ambitious new research programme. independence. At LSE we are also running a lecture series over twelve months entitled ‘Colony as Empire: Histories from Whitehall’ to mark the 70th anniversary year. We have succeeded in establishing our commitment to the entire South “ At the completion of Asia region, rather than focus on one country over others. We have this initial period of started a number of initiatives such as training programmes for South Asian existence, the South government officials, collaborated Asia Centre has with multilateral agencies to curate conferences, customised student visits therefore managed to to LSE, and begun to welcome Visiting Research Fellows. The 100 Foot Journey make its mark both in Club between the Centre and the High Commission of India, UK in particular, the UK and in South has drawn attention in the Indian Asia, despite its small diaspora and beyond. team and limited In order to achieve this, we have also established working relationships with resources.” various departments and divisions of the School. Our Faculty Advisory Group consists of academics from various departments and we have excellent relationships with all relevant student societies. We were particularly proud of having inspired a new ‘South 3 BUILDING ACADEMIC NETWORKS The Centre is committed to initiate and develop academic networks with individuals and institutions concerned with South Asia across the world. This is a continuing exercise, and 2016/17 has been an especially rewarding year, underlining our success in establishing our presence at the global level in such short time. As part of this commitment to develop the Phalkey (KCL); Susheila Nasta (OU); Naomi Centre as a global hub on South Asia, the Centre Hossain (Sussex); David Arnold (Warwick); and has actively reached out to, and invited, several Hamid Hakimi (Chatham House). South Asia experts from the UK or indeed from farther afield, to participate in our events. In We also invited journalists, film-makers and doing this, our endeavour is as much to develop commentators to speak on their interests, the Centre as a place for debate and discussion, present their work, and participate alongside as it is to curate events meaningfully by inviting academics in discussions on topics of experts from across the spectrum, mine their contemporary interest in South Asia. These expertise, and make the Centre an animated hub included the filmmaker Gurinder Chadha, for issues concerning South Asia. journalists Shrabani Basu and Ashis Ray, and independent researcher Roy Moxham. Professor Javed Majeed (King’s College London), author of Muhammad Iqbal: Islam, Aesthetics The Centre has proactively reached out to other and Postcolonialism (2009), chaired an extremely institutions to consolidate its presence. Of well-attended talk by Bishop Nazir-Ali on Iqbal’s particular mention is our joint event with The philosophy and thought that we organised at LSE British Library — the first such collaboration (with Bloomsbury Pakistan) on 27 February 2017. between LSE and The British Library — for a Earlier, on 7 November 2016, a deep discussion panel discussion on ‘The Theft of History’ on took place between Salil Tripathi (Institute 21 May 2017 to a packed auditorium at The of Human Rights and Business, London, and British Library. Part of the events marking the author of The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: 70th anniversary of India’s independence, this The Bangladesh War and Its Unquiet Legacy discussion was also part of the ZEE-JLF Literary (2016) and Martin Woollacott, journalist for The Festival in London. Guardian who covered the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971 in Dacca (now Dhaka). Earlier, on 23 January 2017, Deputy Director Nilanjan Sarkar announced the LSE ‘India at 70’ These are only two of several events that saw Summit at the ZEE-Jaipur Literary Festival in Jaipur. experts of various hues come to LSE. Other LSE South Asia Centre’s announcement at the prominent academics who participated in the largest literary festival in India led to incredible Centre’s events include Amartya Sen (Harvard); press coverage and interest in the Summit event in Michael Hutt, Mushtaq Khan, Anna Larson and Delhi later in March; it was also the first time that Edward Simpson (SOAS); Sumit Guha (UT, Austin); LSE was profiled at their Press Conference. Ashutosh Varshney (Brown); Ashwini Deshpande (Delhi); Dilip Gaonkar (Northwestern); Jahnavi 4 AFGHANISTAN, BANGLADESH AND NEPAL The Centre has continued to develop and consolidate its links with Nepal and Bangladesh in 2016/17. We have also initiated a program to develop events and projects relating to Afghanistan. AFGHANISTAN On 2 March 2017, we hosted an animated round-table discussion on ‘Democracy and Legitimacy in Afghanistan’ with Martin Bayly (LSE), Hameed Hakimi (Chatham House) and Anna Larson (SOAS), moderated by Mukulika Banerjee. The different aspects of the complexities of institutionalising democracy in Afghanistan provide lessons for other democracies in war- ravaged polities struggling to rebuild structures of governance. Panelists spoke on a variety of issues based on primary research conducted by each of them, outlining the challenges and successes of re-establishing political processes in Afghanistan.