SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

South sia Centre of South Asian Studies A ANNUAL REVIEW September 2009 - August 2010 ISSUE 741 6

SOAS STUDYING AT SOAS CONTENTS The international environment and cosmopolitan character of the School make student life a challenging, rewarding and 3 Letter from the Chair exciting experience. We welcome students 4 Centre Members from more than 100 countries, and more than 35% of them are from outside the UK. 6 Members News 12 Academic Events: Sept 09-Aug 10 The SOAS Library has more than 1.2 million items and extensive electronic resources. It 13 Event Reports is the national library the study of Africa, Asia 21 Charles Wallace Trust and the Middle East and attracts scholars all 22 Research Associates over the world. 23 Research Students Sept 09-Aug 10 SOAS offers a wide range of undergraduate, 24 News postgraduate and research degrees. Students can choose from more than 300 26 Join the Centre undergraduate degree combinations and from more than 80 postgraduate programmes (taught and distance learning) in the social sciences, humanities and languages with a distinctive regional focus and global relevance, taught by world-renowned teachers in specialist faculties.

The School is consistently ranked among the top higher education institutions in the The School of Oriental and African Studies UK and the world. The School’s academic (SOAS) is a college of the University of London excellence has also been recognised in and the only Higher Education institution in research assessment exercises (RAEs) the UK specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. SOAS offers a friendly, vibrant environment right in the buzzing heart of London. The SOAS is a remarkable institution. Uniquely capital’s rich cultural and social life is literally combining language scholarship, disciplinary on its doorstep and offers students an expertise and regional focus, it has the largest unparalleled environment in which to live concentration in Europe of academic staff and study. concerned with Africa, Asia and the Middle East. www.soas.ac.uk On the one hand, this means that School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS remains a guardian of specialised University of London knowledge in languages and periods and re- Thornhaugh Street gions not available anywhere else in the UK. Russell Square On the other hand, it means that SOAS schol- London WC1H 0XG ars grapple with pressing issues - democracy, development, human rights, identity, legal Tel: +44 (0)20 7637 2388 systems, poverty, religion, social change - Fax: +44 (0)20 7436 3844 confronting two-thirds of humankind. We welcome you to become part of the SOAS This makes SOAS synonymous with experience and invite you to learn more intellectual excitement and achievement. about us by exploring our website. It is a global academic base and a crucial resource for London. We live in a world of www.soas.ac.uk/admissions/ shrinking borders and of economic and www.soas.ac.uk/visitors/ technological simultaneity. Yet it is also a world in which difference and regionalism SOAS Library present themselves acutely. It is a world that Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4163 SOAS is distinctively positioned to analyse, Fax: +44 (0)20 7898 4159 understand and explain. Web: www.soas.ac.uk/library/

2 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

of Politics, organised two postgraduate student workshops on the theme of building democracy and reducing militancy in Pakistan. In addition, we also held three film screenings and nine seminars on contemporary political, cultural, and social developments in South Asia.

During the past year, we attracted a number of high profile speakers. It was my pleasure that the Centre hosted a Distinguished Lecture by the leading Sankritist Professor Sheldon Pollock. Professor Pollock, now based at Columbia University, was a leading scholar at the University of Chicago whilst I was a PhD student there. He has been, without a doubt, one of the most brilliant and provocative minds I have ever met. Professor Pollock spoke on the possible causes of why the study of historical languages in India is at the point of extinction.

SOAS is an exciting place to be to listen to top South Asia scholars. This year we were honoured to host the eminent historian Professor Ebba Koch (University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences). Professor Koch delivered the Centre’s Annual Lecture on the subject of the Mughal approach to landscape and nature.

As is customary, the Centre hosted a number of international visitors. Dr Lakshmi Arya was the Charles Wallace Indian Fellow for the 2009-2010 academic year. Her sponsor Some of you may have noticed that there during the year. For instance, we hosted was Dr Rochana Bajpai, Lecturer in the have been some subtle changes in the an international workshop on the 2009 Department of Politics. At the conclusion of leadership of the Centre. Our friend and general election (organised jointly with her research stay, Dr Arya held a seminar on colleague Dr Francesca Orsini served as the the Institute of Commonwealth Studies) the topic of normativity, power and politics Chair of the Centre from October 2009 until and another international workshop on in post-colonial India. the end of December 2009. On account of the subject of Money and Wealth in South a sabbatical during terms 2 and 3, Dr Orsini Asian History: Meanings and Practices. A The end of the academic year is also a time agreed to enable me to step in as the interim very interesting workshop was organised by to thank those of us who have decided to Chair during her absence. the South Asian Anthropologists Group on move on, either through retirement or to the subject of genealogies of thought and take up new opportunities. On behalf of Given her demonstrated leadership talents, ‘Indian sociology’. We also hosted a workshop the Centre, I want to thank Dr Nirmal Kumar. Dr Orsini has since been asked to be the on special economic zones (organised jointly After a brief stay in the History Department Head of Department of the Languages and with the LSE South Asia Reading Group). We at SOAS, he will take up a professorship at Cultures of South Asia, a position that she also held an international conference, co- Delhi University. Nirmal was an enthusiastic has agreed to take on starting during the sponsored by the National Portrait Gallery, supporter of the Centre and we shall miss 2010-2011 academic year. On account of on portraiture in South Asia. I was the him. this added administrative responsibility, convenor for an international conference on Francesca believed that it would be prudent the United Progressive Alliance (organised Dr Lawrence Saez for her to step down as the Centre’s Chair, so jointly with the University of Birmingham). Chair, Centre of South Asian Studies, SOAS she asked me to be the Chair of the Centre on a permanent basis. Chairing the Centre One the objectives of the Centre has been has been a great privilege, so I agreed to to widen the appeal of its events to a larger remain as its Chair. Dr Whitney Cox, Lecturer audience. It should also be noted that the in Sanskrit in the Department of Languages Centre deliberately attempts to hold events and Cultures of South Asia, has agreed to involving topics and colleagues from the Arts become the Deputy Chair of the Centre. and Humanities than from other faculties. Many of you had the opportunity to enjoy The 2009-2010 academic year has been filled the book reading, by famed author William South Asia-related activities. The Centre Dalrymple, of his book entitled Nine Lives: In sponsored a large number of seminars, Search of the Sacred in Modern India. Maha workshops, film screenings, and conferences Aziz, a tutorial fellow in the Department

3 CENTRE MEMBERS

Dr Daud ALI Mr Alexander FISCHER Dr Sunil KUMAR Senior Lecturer in Early Indian History Lecturer in Law Reader in the History of Medieval and Department of History School of Law Early Modern South Asia [email protected] [email protected] Department of History [email protected] Dr Rochana BAJPAI Dr Peter FLÜGEL Lecturer in the Politics of Asia/Africa Lecturer in the Study of Religions Dr Martin W LAU Department of Politics and Chair, Centre for Jaina Studies Reader in Law International Studies Department of the Study of Religions Joint Chair, Centre of East Asian Law [email protected] [email protected] School of Law [email protected] Dr Crispin BRANFOOT Dr Jonathan GOODHAND Senior Lecturer in South Asian Art Reader in Conflict and Development Studies Dr Jens LERCHE and Archaeology Department of Development Studies Senior Lecturer in Development Studies Department of the History of Art [email protected] Department of Development Studies and Archaeology [email protected] [email protected] Dr Jan-Peter HARTUNG Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam Dr Magnus MARSDEN Dr Michael CHARNEY Department of the Study of Religions Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology with Reader in South East Asian and [email protected] reference to South and Central Asia Imperial History Department of Anthropology and Sociology Department of History Professor Almut HINTZE [email protected] [email protected] Zartoshty Professor of Zoroastrianism Department of the Study of Religions Dr Matthew MCCARTNEY Dr Whitney COX [email protected] Lecturer in Economics with reference Lecturer in Sanskrit to South Asia Department of the Languages and Dr Stephen P HUGHES Department of Economics Cultures of South Asia Lecturer in Social Anthropology [email protected] Deputy Chair, Centre of South Asian Studies Department of Anthropology and Sociology [email protected] [email protected] Professor Werner F MENSKI Professor of South Asian Laws Dr Kate CROSBY Professor Michael J HUTT Chair, Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies Senior Lecturer in Buddhist Studies Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies School of Law Department of the Study of Religions Dean of Faculty of Languages [email protected] [email protected] and Cultures Department of the Languages and Ms Alessandra MEZZADRI Professor Philippe CULLET Cultures of South Asia Lecturer in Development Studies Professor of International Environmental Law [email protected] Department of Development Studies Chair, Centre of Law, Environment [email protected] & Development Dr Arshi KHAN School of Law Senior Teaching Fellow Mr Satoshi MIYAMURA [email protected] Department of History Teaching Fellow in Economics [email protected] Department of Economics Dr Sonali DERANIYAGALA [email protected] Lecturer in Economics Professor Mushtaq KHAN Department of Economics Professor of Economics Professor David MOSSE [email protected] Department of Economics Professor of Social Anthropology [email protected] Department of Anthropology and Sociology Professor Rachel M J DWYER [email protected] Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema Mr Abul Hussain KHONDOKER Department of the Languages and Lector in Bengali Mr Rakesh NAUTIYAL Cultures of South Asia Department of the Languages and Lector in Hindi [email protected] Cultures of South Asia Department of the Languages and [email protected] Cultures of South Asia Dr Heather ELGOOD [email protected] Course Director, Postgraduate Diploma Dr Prabha KOTISWARAN in Asian Art Lecturer in Law Dr Matthew J NELSON Department of the History of Art School of Law Lecturer in the Politics of Asia/Africa and Archaeology [email protected] Department of Politics and [email protected] International Studies [email protected]

4 Mr Paolo NOVAK Professor Peter G ROBB Dr Hanne-Ruth THOMPSON Lecturer in Development Studies Professor of the History of India Lector in Bengali Department of Development Studies Department of History Department of the Languages and [email protected] [email protected] Cultures of South Asia [email protected] Dr Francesca ORSINI Dr Lawrence SAEZ Reader in the Literatures of North India Senior Lecturer in Comparative and Dr Simona VITTORINI Department of the Languages and Cultures International Politics Lecturer in Politics of Development and of South Asia Department of Politics and Course Convenor for State, People and [email protected] International Studies Power in Asia and Africa Chair, Centre of South Asian Studies Department of Politics and Dr Caroline OSELLA [email protected] International Studies Reader in Anthropology with reference [email protected] to South Asia Professor Pasquale SCARAMOZZINO Department of Anthropology and Sociology Professor of Economics Miss Farzana WHITFIELD [email protected] Department of Financial and Assistant Librarian (South Asia) Management Studies Library and Information Service Dr Ulrich PAGEL [email protected] [email protected] Reader in Language and Religion in Tibet and Middle Asia Mr Naresh SHARMA Professor D Richard WIDDESS Department of the Study of Religions Senior Lector Hindi/Urdu Professor of Musicology [email protected] Department of the Languages and Department of Music Cultures of South Asia [email protected] Mr Krishna PRADHAN [email protected] Lector in Nepali Dr Amina YAQIN Department of the Languages and Dr Edward SIMPSON Lecturer in Urdu and Postcolonial Studies Cultures of South Asia Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology Department of the Languages and [email protected] Department of Anthropology and Sociology Cultures of South Asia [email protected] [email protected] Ms Shital PRAVINCHANDRA Teaching Fellow in Postcolonial Studies Dr Subir SINHA Dr Cosimo ZENE Department of the Languages and Senior Lecturer in Institutions Reader in the Study of Religions Cultures of South Asia and Development Department of the Study of Religions [email protected] Department of Development Studies [email protected] [email protected] Dr Theodore PROFERES Senior Lecturer in Ancient Indian Religions Dr Tadeusz SKORUPSKI Department of the Study of Religions Reader in Buddhist Studies Research Associates [email protected] Director, Centre of Buddhist Studies Department of the Study of Religions Dr Shuja AL-HAQ Dr William RADICE [email protected] BA MA(PUNJAB) PHD(LONDON) Senior Lecturer in Bengali History and philosophy of religion, Department of the Languages and Dr Renata SÖHNEN-THIEME philosophy, science, and art; Sufism Cultures of South Asia Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and mysticism in general; Modernity, [email protected] Department of the Languages and postmodernism and postcolonialism Cultures of South Asia 8 December 1997 - 31 August 2011 [email protected] Dr Parvathi RAMAN [email protected] Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology Dr Sarah STEWART Chair, Centre for Migration and Ms Maha AZIZ Diaspora Studies Lecturer in Zoroastrianism BA(PROVIDENCE) MSC PHD(LSE) Department of Anthropology and Sociology Deputy Director, London Middle Democratization, Development, Militancy [email protected] East Institute 6 July 2010 - 31 August 2011 Department of the Study of Religions [email protected] Dr Rahul RAO [email protected] Lecturer in International Security Centre for International Studies & Diplomacy Dr Shabnum TEJANI [email protected] Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern South Asia Department of History [email protected]

5 MEMBERS NEWS

Crispin Branfoot Crispin Branfoot, working with the National Crispin is on sabbatical leave during the Portrait Gallery, organised and participated academic year 2010-11 and, funded by an in the international conference, Portraiture in award from the Leverhulme Trust, he will be South Asia on 21-22 May 2010 (see report on affiliated to the School of Arts and Aesthetics Page 18). at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi for five months. He also co-convened the Indian Art Circle lecture series which held eight events by During this period he will be developing visiting speakers during the academic year a new project, Construction, renovation, (see link), and organised the series of fifteen conservation: the Hindu temple in Tamil presentations for the South and Southeast south India 1870-1920. Asian art and archaeology research seminar (see link). www.soas.ac.uk/art/iac/ A small grant from the British Academy enabled him to travel to Tamilnadu in September 2009 to study late nineteenth- www.soas.ac.uk/art/events/sasearessem/ century temple architecture.

Whitney Cox Whitney Cox was on leave for the two Since his return, Whitney has been happily teaching terms of the 2009-10 academic at work on his current research project, a session. Along with continuing the rewarding reconsideration of the late eleventh century job of convening the South Asian Languages accession of the Colla king Kulottunga and Cultures Department’s two taught MA I and the subsequent transformation of degrees, Whitney had a busy several months’ medieval South Indian politics and culture. travelling, researching, lecturing and writing. While writing up the results of this research, hopefully to be completed as a monograph In October he was a guest of the Ecole in 2011, he has also kept busy finishing up Française d’Extrême-Orient in Paris, where he other publications: the first of these, an article participated in a seminar reading the oldest in the Indian Economic and Social History extant Tamil version of the Mahābhārata, the Review, appeared in April, while three more Pāratavenpā of Peruntevanār. The following articles or book chapters are expected by week he was off to the U.S. to present at the year’s end, with several more slated to appear annual South Asian Studies conference at early next year. He is especially proud to have the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the put the final touches on a book of essays, proceedings of his panel there are currently coedited with Lawrence McCrea (Cornell) being edited for publication. After a few and Yigal Bronner (Chicago), in honour of months back in London (and another trip his teacher Sheldon Pollock of Columbia to the States for the Christmas holidays), University. This volume is currently with the Whitney spent most of January and February publisher; another joint editorial project, in India, thanks to a Small Research Grant in collaboration with Vincenzo Vergiani from the British Academy. While there, he (Cambridge), consisting of the papers made research visits to Chennai, Mysore, delivered at a workshop held in May 2009 Bangalore, Kolar and Pondicherry, where on the comparative intellectual histories of he collected manuscripts and epigraphic Sanskrit and Tamil, is in preparation. transcripts of unpublished texts in Sanskrit and Tamil, photographed temple remains, Whitney also lectured at Oxford (twice) and and discussed ongoing research with Cambridge (twice); but for the unexpected colleagues; having the chance to speak eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, he would also Tamil regularly after several years’ hiatus and have spoken at the University of Washington to devour as much south Indian cuisine as and the University of California-Berkeley. humanly possible was restorative of body Finally, in June, Whitney was very pleased to and spirit both. Whitney was also delighted serve as the judge for the Sanskrit Speech to accept invitations to deliver lectures at the Day competition at the St. James School in Department of Sanskrit, Vivekananda College, Kensington. Chennai (partly in Tamil) and at the University of Mysore’s Department of Ancient History and Archaeology; the latter opportunity came through the kind offices of the Director of Epigraphy of the Archaeological Survey of India.

6 Peter Flugel 57, No. 3-4, 2010: 389-504. It is a common date. Yet, although Jaina doctrine rejects the stereotype of textbooks on world religions wor¬ship of lifeless, acitta, material objects, that Jains never worshipped the remains of intermittent fieldwork of the author in India the Jinas, and consequently never developed between 1997 and 2009 funded by British a ritual culture parallel to the cult of relics in Academy Research Grant 2001 APN 3/522 Buddhism. In his well-known study The Jaina and Central Research Fund of the University Path of Purification, P. S. Jaini recalls that of London Grant 2002/2003 AR/CRF/A on neither “the Śrāvakācāras,” the medieval texts the hitherto unstudied contemporary Jaina outlining the rules of conduct for the Jaina mortuary rituals furnished clear evidence laity, “nor the practices of Jainism give any for the ubiquity of bone relic stūpas and indication that a cult of relic-worship once relic veneration across the Jaina sectarian flourished within the tradi¬tion. No stūpas spectrum today. housing the remains of Jaina teachers have yet been discovered.” This verdict is echoed Dr Flugel has been awarded a nine month Peter Flugel’s most recent publicaton is by K. Bruhn: “There is also the issue of ‘actual AHRC Fellowship starting January 2011 for entitled The Jaina Cult of Relic Stūpas evidence’. There were Jaina stūpa.s but they completing his project in form a book on did not survive. As a consequence, the stūpa Jaina Rituals Death to be published in the In standard portraits of the history of Indic became a Buddhist monument.” Apart from Series Routledge Advances in Jaina Studies. religions, Jainism is usually singled out as the isolated myths and legends in canonical and As part of the project an international only tradition where relic worship is strictly medieval Jaina (Jain) literature depicting the conference will be held at SOAS on 18-19 ruled out, both in doctrine and practice. This veneration of the relics of the Tīrthankaras March on Jaina Narratives. conception will have to change due to new by the gods, there is no indication of bone Grant No: findings, recently published in NUMEN Vol. relic worship in early and medieval Jainism to AH/I002405/1

Matthew Nelson on contemporary affairs in Pakistan, and in he completed four additional writing several special lectures at various colleges projects, including: (a) an article for Modern and universities throughout the US: Asian Survey entitled ‘Embracing the Bowdoin, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale. Ummah: Student Politics Beyond State Power in Pakistan’ (N.b. This article benefited Publications enormously from the feedback he received Dr Nelson's book, In the Shadow of Shari'ah: in a special seminar known as the ‘Can We’ Islam, Islamic Law, and Democracy in Seminar convened by Joan Scott); (b) a Pakistan, will be published by Columbia major report for the British High Commission University Press (US) and Hurst and Co. (UK) in Dhaka entitled ‘Campus Conflict, Party in June 2010. Politics, and the Secular State in Bangladesh’; (c) an article entitled ‘Faith and Development He completed four written projects unrelated in Secular and Religious Schools’ for a special to his main focus on the study of religious symposium edited by Amy Stambach in the Matthew J. Nelson, between 2009 and 2010, education in South Asia. These included: journal Comparative Education Review; and, was awarded a year-long fellowship from (a) the page proofs for his first book, to finally, (d) a chapter (based on an article the Walter H. Shorenstein Center Asia-Pacific be published later this year by Columbia published last year) for a volume edited by Research Center at Stanford University University Press (US) and Hurst (UK) as In the Michael Merry and Jeff Milligan entitled in Palo Alto, CA. He declined this award, Shadow of Shari‘ah: Islam, Islamic Law, and Citizenship, Education, and Identity in however, in order to accept The Wolfensohn Democracy in Pakistan; (b) a broadly related Muslim Communities (Palgrave 2010). Family Membership in the School of Social chapter to be published next year by OUP Science at the Institute for Advanced Study (India) as ‘Inheritance Unbound: The Politics In addition he has also busy reviewing book in Princeton, NJ. He also received a Senior of Personal Law Reform in Pakistan and India’ manuscripts for Cambridge University Press Research Fellowship from the American (N.b. This chapter will appear in a volume (2), articles for Modern Asian Studies (2), and Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS). edited by Sunil Khalnini entitled Comparative PhD theses (2), as well as preparing two of Constitutionalism in South Asia); (c) an essay my his students for their ‘upgrade’ to PhD In 2010-2011, Dr. Nelson received another for the Oxford-based Journal of Human (ADB) status at SOAS. year-long fellowship from the Woodrow Rights Practice entitled ‘Persistent Legal Wilson International Center for Scholars in Pluralism and the Challenge of Universal Washington, DC. Human Rights’ (forthcoming November 2010); and (d) a critical assessment of politics He was invited to present his work in London in Pakistan for the Berkeley-based journal at the London Middle East Institute (twice), Asian Survey entitled ‘Tackling the Taliban?’ in Edinburgh at the annual meeting of the (published January 2010). UK-based Political Studies Association, in Washington for a group of officials focusing Focusing, more specifically, on education,

7 MEMBERS NEWS

Francesca Orsini has been on leave since to rethink aspects of the literary histories of Francesca Orsini January 2010. In January she gave lectures these two languages. at the India International Centre, New Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Today, Hindi and Urdu are considered Nehru University to launch her book Print two separate languages, each with is own and Pleasure: Commercial Publishing and script, history, literary canon and cultural Entertaining Fictions in Colonial North orientation. Yet, precolonial India was a India (New Delhi: Permanent Black) and deeply multilingual society with multiple the edited volume Before the Divide: Hindi traditions of knowledge and of literary and Urdu Literary Cultures (New Delhi: production. Historically the divisions Orient Black Swan). The former explores between Hindi and Urdu were not as sharp as how a boom in commercial publishing we imagine them today. could take place despite very low levels of formal literacy, and how entertainment genres brought into print and multiplied the Hindi-Urdu linguistic and literary hybridity Print and Pleasure tells the story behind of oral performance genres, bucking the the boom in commercial publishing in trend in reformist activism and publishing of nineteenth-century North India. dividing Hindi from Urdu. Before the Divide brings together new research on the many How did the new technology of printing and “intermediary genres” that testify to the range the enterprise of Indian publishers make the of linguistic and literary experimentation book a familiar object and a necessary part of before Hindi and Urdu crystallized as print- people’s leisure in a largely illiterate society? languages. The book was launched in Delhi What genres became popular in print? Who with an engrossing dastan performance by read them and how were they read? Mahmud Farooqi. The essays in this volume reassess the Our perception of North Indian culture in this Francesca Orsini also took part in a conference definition and identity of language in the period has been dominated by the notion of organized by the Centre for Studies in the light of this. Various literary traditions have a competition between Hindi and Urdu, and Social Sciences in Kolkata on “New Cultural been examined keeping the historical, the growth of language nationalism. Print Histories” (January 5-7), where she presented political and cultural developments in mind. and Pleasure argues that many other forces a paper on “How to do multilingual literary The authors look at familiar and not so were also at work which, in the pursuit of history”, and to two workshops in Delhi and familiar Hindi and Urdu literary works and commercial interests, spread quite different Newcastle organized by the “Network in Post- narratives and address logics of exclusion and much more hybrid tastes. colonial Translation: The Case of South Asia”, and that have gone into the creation of two of which she is part. This is an international separate languages (Hindi and Urdu) and the The importance of this major new book lies research network, funded by the Leverhulme making of the literary canons of each. Issues in showing, moreover, that book history can Trust, running from 2008 to 2011. It seeks of script, religious identity, gender are also greatly enrich our understanding of literary to explore the multicultural and polyglot considered. and cultural history. Francesca mines a huge context of literary production in postcolonial and largely untapped archive in order to reveal South Asia, and aims to develop an in- This volume is different in that it provides a that popular songbooks, theatre transcripts, depth collaborative study of contemporary new body of evidence and new categories that meanderingly seralized narratives, flimsily writing in Bengali, English, Hindi, Malayalam, are needed to envisage the literary landscape published tales, and forgotten poems are as and Tamil, in order to identify models pf north India before the construction of much a part of colonial history as the elite of “postcolonial translation” as a way of separate ‘Hindu-Hindu’ and ‘Muslim-Urdu’ novels and highbrow journals that are more understanding South Asian literature as a literary traditions. frequently the subject of historical studies. multi-lingual corpus of texts. The network brings together scholars based at Newcastle, This collection of essays looking into the SOAS, University of Delhi, and Jawaharlal rearticulation of language and its identity Nehru University. in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will be useful for students of Publications modern Indian history, language studies and ‘Before the Divide: Hindi and Urdu Literary cultural studies. Culture’, Francesca Orsini (ed.) ‘Print and Pleasure: Popular Literature and Based on a workshop on ‘Intermediary Entertaining Fictions in Colonial North India’, Genres in Hindi and Urdu’, Before the Divide: Francesca Orsini Hindi and Urdu Literary Culture is an attempt

8 Rahul Rao locus of threats to vital interests, Rahul digs critique might look like. Journeying through beneath two major normative orientations the writings of James Joyce, Rabindranath towards boundaries-cosmopolitanism and Tagore, Edward Said and Frantz Fanon, the nationalism-which structure thinking on activism of 'anti-globalisation' protesters, questions of public policy and identity. and the dilemmas of queer rights activists, Insofar as the Third World is concerned, Rao demonstrates that important currents of hegemonic versions of both orientations Third World protest have long battled against are underpinned by simplistic imageries of both the international and the domestic, threat. In the cosmopolitan gaze, political in a manner that combines nationalist and and economic crises in the Third World are cosmopolitan sensibilities. attributed mainly to factors internal to the Third World state with the international playing the role of heroic saviour. In Third World nationalist imagery, the international is portrayed as a realm of neo-imperialist Rahul Rao’s most recent publication is predation from which the domestic has to entitled Third World Protest, Between Home be secured. Both images capture widely held and the World. intuitions about the sources of threats to human rights, but each by itself provides a If boundaries protect us from threats, how resolutely partial inventory of these threats. should we think about the boundaries of states in a world where threats to human By juxtaposing critical accounts of both rights emanate from both outside the state discourses, Rao argues that protest and the state itself? sensibilities in the current conjuncture must be critical of hegemonic variants of Arguing that attitudes towards boundaries both cosmopolitanism and nationalism. The are premised on assumptions about the second half of the book illustrates what such a

Lawrence Saez Dr Saez published a number of articles in leading newspaper) on the draft plans for 2009-2010, including articles in the British a federal solution for Nepal. As usual, Dr Journal of Political Science (BJPS) and the Saez has appeared in a number of television Journal of Asian Studies (JAS), both leading interviews, mostly for Al Jazeera, CNN, and international journals on political science and the BBC. Asian studies respectively. At present he is co-editing a book on the United Progressive Much of Dr Saez’s time was devoted to Alliance. Moreover, Dr Saez is also writing large grant application writing. The work a book on the South Asian Association for has yielded important successes for SOAS. Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The book He is the principal investigator for an UK will be published by Routledge in 2011. Energy Research Council (UK ERC) grant on international governance and energy In order to carry out some fieldwork security. interviews at the SAARC Secretariat based in Kathmandu, Dr Saez had the opportunity to The £500k joint bid by SOAS and the Lawrence Saez is a leading scholar on visit Nepal for the first time. Dr Saez’s visit International Institute for Strategic Studies fiscal federalism in India. He attended the to Nepal was far longer and more eventful (IISS) is a finalist contender. Dr Saez is also annual meeting of the American Political than anticipated as he was stranded there the work package leader for an European Science Association, held in Toronto, and on account of the Icelandic ash cloud. Commission-funded FP-7 grant (worth 4.7 presented a paper on political variables and Nevertheless, as a result of the setback to his million euros) on cultures of governance and subnational debt in India. The paper was schedule, Dr Saez was able to meet a great conflict resolution in in Europe and India. well received and was nominated for the Deil number of his former SOAS students. SOAS is a consortium partner in this bid and Wright Award for best paper on federalism is currently a finalist. Dr Saez is, at present, and intergovernmental relations. He was As a political scientist, Dr Saez was also awaiting the outcome for these two large invited to deliver lectures at the University particularly intrigued by Nepal’s ongo- research bids. of Göttingen and University College London ing constitutional crisis, so he decided to (UCL). write an editorial for República (Nepal’s

9 MEMBERS NEWS

Pasquale Scaramozzino has published Pasquale the following Working PaperAbout the Paper of the Asian Scaramozzino The paper analyzes the effects of reform on India’s trading structure from 1990 to 2006. It computes comparative advantage indicators on the basis of disaggregated trade flow data, and assesses the effects of trade liberalization. Evidence is found that trade liberalization has helped India improve its comparative advantage in industries with Development Bank duringmedium- to high-technology the content, academic as well as in some of the industries enjoying robust growth in global demand. ADB Economics years of 2009 and 2010. About the Asian Development Bank Working Paper Series ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region’s many successes, it remains home to two-thirds of the world’s poor: 1.8 billion people who live on less than $2 a day, with 903 million struggling on less than $1.25 a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main Publications instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. Michele Alessandrini, Bassam Fattouh, Ben- no Ferrarini and Pasquale Scaramozzino, Tariff Liberalization "Tariff Liberalization and Trade Specializa- and Trade Specialization in India Michele Alessandrini, Bassam Fattouh, Benno Ferrarini, and Pasquale Scaramozzino tion in India", Asian Development Bank, No. 177 | November 2009 ADB Economics, Working Paper No. 177, November 2009. Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines www.adb.org/economics ISSN 1655-5252 Publication Stock No. WPS09_____ Printed in the Philippines www.adb.org/Documents/Working-Papers/2009/Economics-WP177.pdf

Edward Simpson

SOCIETY AND HISTORY OF GUJARAT SINCE 1800 Forthcoming Forthcoming THE IDEA OF GUJARAT A Select Bibliography of the English and European Language Sources History, Ethnography and Text The recent history of Gujarat has been sensational: controversial big dams, polarising The chapters of this provocative book critically engage with various well-known historical political violence and devastating natural disasters. Commentators on these events and sociological ideas about the state of Gujarat in western India. The twentieth century have often neglected the rich under-currents of history and culture that have gone into saw public politics in the region shift from those of Gandhi to the party politics of making Gujarat what it is today. This substantial work consolidates scholarship in The Idea of Gujarat development-led Hindu nationalism. In between, and following a bitter campaign, Society and History of English and other European languages on the region, drawing together well-known The Idea of Gujarat Society and History of Gujarat came into existence as a separate political entity in 1960. Regional sentiments sources as well as the neglected and sometimes surprising. It includes around 6,500 had deeper historical antecedents, but attempts at consolidating the fragile identity of detailed bibliographical references to books, chapters, periodical literature, History, Ethnography and Text the new state proved exclusionary, ignoring both history and swathes of the population. dissertations, project-reports, miscellaneous memoranda and documents on Gujarat Exploring the paradoxes and consequences of colonialism, caste, urbanism, language, Gujarat since 1800 published since 1800. The material included crosses the disciplinary boundaries of Gujarat since 1800 dress and devotion, the contributors to this book challenge both what and how things are history, political and development studies, literature and the liberal arts, sociology, known about Gujarat. This is an important intervention, with chapters by some of the cultural and social anthropology. Edward Simpson, a reputed researcher on Gujarat, introduces the volume with an extended essay about the sociology of knowledge on the leading anthropologists, historians and political scientists working on the region today. A Select Bibliography of the English region, and provides extensive annotation in the bibliographic sections. No one with an interest in Gujarat or wishing to conduct research on the region in the future can afford Published by and European Language Sources to neglect this rich resource. Registered Office: and European Language Sources 3-6-752 Himayatnagar Hyderabad 500 029. A.P. India Email: [email protected] Web: www.orientblackswan.com Published by Registered Office: 3-6-752 Himayatnagar To order contact [email protected] Hyderabad 500 029. A.P. India Email: [email protected] Web: www.orientblackswan.com Contents

To order contact [email protected] Introduction: 6. The politics of land in The parable of the Jakhs post-colonial Gujarat Edward Simpson Nikita Sud Related titles from Orient BlackSwan 1. Caste in the judicial courts of 7. From Gandhi to Modi: Gujarat, 1800–1860 Ahmedabad, 1915–2007 Writing Life Harilal Gandhi Amrita Shodhan Howard Spodek Three Gujarati Thinkers A Life Introduced and annotated by Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal Tridip Suhrud 2. Alexander Forbes and the 8. A potted history of neighbours Edited and translated by Tridip Suhrud edited by making of a regional history and neighbourliness in ISBN 978 81 250 3043 0 ISBN 978 81 250 3379 0 Edward Simpson Edward Simpson Aparna Kapadia Ahmedabad The Burden of Refuge My Life is My Message 3. Making sense of the history of Rubina Jasani Partition Experience of the Volumes 1–4 Aparna Kapadia Kutch 9. Voices from Sindh in Gujarat Sindhis of Gujarat Narayan Desai Edward Simpson Rita Kothari Translated from the original Rita Kothari 4. The lives of Bahuchara Mata 10. Textiles and dress among the ISBN 978 81 250 3673 9 Gujarati by Tridip Suhrud ISBN 978 81 250 3706 4 Samira Sheikh Rabari of Kutch Eiluned Edwards The Gujarat Carnage Speaking of Gandhi’s Death 5. Reflections on caste in Gujarat Edited by Edited by Harald Tambs-Lyche 11. The Swaminarayan movement Asghar Ali Engineer Tridip Suhrud and Peter Ronald deSouza and religious subjectivity ISBN 978 81 250 2496 5 ISBN 978 81 250 4038 5 Hanna Kim

Society and History of Gujarat since 1800. or wishing to conduct research on the region Select Bibliography of the English and in the future can afford to neglect this rich European Language Sources resource. Edward Simpson and Aparna Kapadia (now a post-doctoral fellow of the Faculty of The recent history of Gujarat has been ‘The idea of Gujarat’, History, Ethnography Oriental Studies, Oxford), with funding from sensational: controversial big dams, and Text, edited by Edward Simpson & the British Academy (SG-47894) and SOAS polarising political violence and devastating Aparna Kapadia seed funding, hosted a workshop at SOAS natural disasters. Commentators on these on the historical and sociological currents in events have often neglected the rich under- The chapters of this provocative book Gujarat, western India in 2008. The revised currents of history and culture that have gone critically engage with various well-known proceedings of this event have gone to press into making Gujarat what it is today. This historical and sociological ideas about the as The idea of Gujarat: History, ethnography substantial work consolidates scholarship in state of Gujarat in western India. The twenti- and text with OrientBlackswan, Hyderabad. A English and other European languages on eth century saw public politics in the region related bibliographic volume on the Gujarat the region, drawing together well-known shift from those of Gandhi to the party poli- colonial, social science and humanities sources as well as the neglected and some- tics of development-led Hindu nationalism. literature will be published simultaneously. times surprising. It includes around 6,500 In between, and following a bitter campaign, detailed bibliographical references to books, Gujarat came into existence as a separate po- chapters, periodical literature, dissertations, litical entity in 1960. Regional sentiments had project-reports, miscellaneous memoranda deeper historical antecedents, but attempts and documents on Gujarat published since at consolidating the fragile identity of the 1800. new state proved exclusionary, ignoring both history and swathes of the population. The material included crosses the disciplinary boundaries of history, political and Exploring the paradoxes and consequences development studies, literature and the of colonialism, caste, urbanism, language, liberal arts, sociology, cultural and social dress and devotion, the contributors to this anthropology. Edward Simpson, a reputed book challenge both what and how things researcher on Gujarat, introduces the volume are known about Gujarat. This is an important with an extended essay about the sociology intervention, with chapters by some of the of knowledge on the region, and provides leading anthropologists, historians and extensive annotation in the bibliographic political scientists working on the region sections. No one with an interest in Gujarat today.

10 Renate Renate Sohnen-Thieme presented a paper Sohnen Thieme at the XIV World Sanskrit Conference in Kyoto, Japan on 1-5 Sept 2009 and the Beijing Forum on 5-8 Nov 2009. She has published a number of articles during 2009- 2010 including articles in Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, 'Indra in the Harivaμsa',in: Epic Undertakings, edited by Robert P. Goldman & Muneo Tokunaga And 'Buddhist tales in the Mahåbhårata?' in: Parallels and Comparisons , ed. Petteri Koskikallio.

Hanne-Ruth Publications An extensive index and numbered Thompson Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar is paragraphs provide readers with easy access a complete reference guide to Bengali to the information they require. grammar. Features include: It presents a fresh, accessible and thorough • detailed treatment of the common description of the language, concentrating grammatical structures and parts of speech on the real patterns of use in modern Bengali. • extensive exemplification The book moves from the sounds and script • particular attention to areas of confusion through morphology and word classes to a and difficulty detailed analysis of sentence structures and • Bengali-English parallels highlighted semantic features such as aspect, tense, throughout the book negation and reduplication. The book was unofficially launched just The Grammar is an essential reference before publication at a Bengali Studies Hanne Ruth Thompson’s new book, Bengali: source for the learner and user of Bengali, Conference in Delhi in February this year. A Comprehensive Grammar, has just been irrespective of level. It is ideal for use in The response by Bengali linguists to this new published by Routledge. It is a substantial schools, colleges, universities and adult approach of looking at Bengali language book of nearly 800 pages and gives a classes of all types. With clear and simple structures was overwhelmingly positive and detailed description of Bengali language explanations this book will remain the a translation of the book into Bengali as a structures, ranging from sounds and script, standard reference work for years to come joint project is a real possibility for the near morphological features and word-formation for both learners and linguists alike. future. to sentence structures, semantic features and idioms. The volume is organized to promote a thorough understanding of Bengali What makes the book new and different is grammar. It offers a stimulating analysis of the its synchronic, descriptive approach and the complexities of the language, and provides extensive use of real language examples. full and clear explanations. Throughout, the Throughout, the emphasis is on Bengali as emphasis is on Bengali as used by present- used by present day native speakers. This day native speakers. makes the book interesting to learners of Bengali as well as linguists.

11 ACADEMIC EVENTS: SEP 09 - AUG 2010

AunT tum erm Sr rmp ing Te Seminar Series

7 October 2009 5 February 2010 Book Reading Pakistan Policy Seminar SumerT m erm Organised with the Department of South Asia, SOAS Ms Maha Aziz (SOAS) William Dalrymple Building Democracy 10 May 2010 NINE LIVES In Search of the Sacred Seminar in Modern India 10 March 2010 Geeta Patel (University of Virginia) Seminar Reading sexuality in South Asia: wandering 20 October 2009 Kavita Ramdya (author) the quilted surface of a story Seminar Bollywood Weddings Chair, Professor Rachel Dwyer (SOAS), Rinki Bhattacharya, Lord Meghnad Desai, Amit 12 March 2010 Maureen Lines with locals in the Kalash Valley Bose and Anwesha Arya Pakistan Policy Seminar Bimal Roy: The Man Who Spoke in Pictures Ms Maha Aziz (SOAS) Reducing Militancy 23 October 2009 Seminar 24 March 2010 Farahad Zama (Author) Seminar The Many Conditions of Love Maureen Lines (Author and Field Director of HKCA) From Disaster To Catastrophe – A Memoir Of 30 November 2009 Life In The Kalash Valleys On The Pakistan- Seminar Afghanistan Border Professor Barbara Ramusack (University of Cincinnati) 25 March 2010 Indian Princes: Past and Present Images Seminar Lakshmi Arya (Charles Wallace Indian Fellow 2009-2010) Normativity, Power and Politics in Post/ colonial India

22 September 2009 18 March 2010 Events Workshop Film Screening Organised with the SOAS Centre for Migration Sthaniya Sambaad (‘spring in the colony’, 105 and Diaspora Studies min. 35 mm, EST) 27 May 2010 South Asian Anthropologists Group (SAAG) Arjun Gourisaria (Jadavpur University) and Centre of South Asian Studies Annual Lecture 2009: Genealogies of thought and ‘Indian Moinak Biswas (Jadavpur University) Professor Ebba Koch (Vienna University and Sociology’ Austrian Academy of Sciences) 17 May 2010 Mughal Gardens and Other Approaches to Lecture 9-10 October 2009 Landscape and Nature Workshop Professor Sheldon Pollock (Columbia University) Money and Wealth in South Asian History: Crisis in the Classics Meanings and Practices Speakers: Ranabir Chakrabarti (Jawaharlal Nehru 21 – 22 May 2010 Scene shot from Sarah Singh’s ‘The Sky Below’ University), Kunal Chakrabarti (JNU), Daud Ali Conference (SOAS/UPenn), Rajat Datta (JNU), Najaf Haider Organised with Art & Archaeology Dept and (JNU); John Deyell, Shabnum Tejani/Amrita the National Portrait Gallery Shodhan (SOAS), Peter Robb (SOAS) and Rachel Portraiture in South Asia Sturman (Bowdoin College) Speakers: Crispin Branfoot (SOAS), Laura Parodi (University College of Dublin), Ebba Koch 26 November 2009 (University of Vienna/Austrian Academy of Sciences); Film Screening Stefano Pello (University of Venice), Asok Kumar The Sky Below Das (Independent Scholar), Susan Stronge (Victoria Sarah Singh (Director) & Albert Museum), Rosemary Crill (Victoria & Albert Museum), Vincent Lefevre (Angence France- 22 January 2010 Museums), Crispin Branfoot (SOAS), Catherine Film Screening Glynn (PhD, Independent scholar), Molly Aitken Shape of Water (The City College of New York), Kapil Jariwala Kum-Kum Bhavnani (Director) and Gita Sahgal (Independent Curator and Co-Curator of the Indian (Head of the Gender Unit, at Amnesty International, Portrait at The National Portrait Gallery), Ainsley London) Cameron (University of Oxford/British Museum), Natasha Eaton (UCL) and Christopher Pinney (UCL)

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Sociologies attempted to counter the insipid uni-lineal reference? Are there parallels between social model of ‘modernisation’, ‘westernisation’ change in South Asia and the content of and ‘secularisation’, which remained strong anthropological writing? WORKSHOP: SOUTH ASIAN in sociological and planning discourse at the time. The meeting produced animated and cor- ANTHROPOLOGISTS’ GROUP dial discussion on a wide-range of novel (SAAG) 2009, GENEALOGIES In September 2009, SOAS hosted the annual topics. However, the day also pressed meeting of the South Asian Anthropologists’ home some of the problems inherent OF THOUGHT AND ‘INDIAN Group (with Mayer in attendence). The to disciplinary memory, and the attendant SOCIOLOGY event started informally in the 1970s at problems of carrying perfectly good ideas 22 September 2010 the University of Sussex and has gradually forward into new eras of intellectual fashion established itself as an important event in and language. In the early twentieth century, the study of the academic calendar. The title of the SOAS Edward Simpson ‘tribes’ dominated anthropological research meeting was “Genealogies of thought and (who organised SAAG along with Manuela Ciotti, Dhivya Janarthanan, in India. The end of Empire and war in Indian Sociology”, reflecting the pervasive Mira Mohsini and Paru Raman) Europe, however, coincided with a new inter- air of nostalgia within the discipline as the est in India’s villages. Anxious post-war gov- voices of the pioneers of the new sociology ernments invested in research in former col- of the immediate post-colonial years are South Asian Anthropologists Group (SAAG) 2009 Hosted by Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies, onies; while in India, the village became the gradually silenced by the passing of time. Department of Anthropology, SOAS instrument of centralised planning. The pe- riod also marked the birth of a new discipline The aim of the meeting was to encourage in India called ‘sociology’, in which many now graduate students and younger scholars Genealogies of thought well-known Indian, American and European to reflect on the genealogies of knowl- and ‘Indian Sociology’ scholars collaborated. The new ‘sociology’ edge and practice that have shaped the 22 September 2009 in VG06, SOAS, Vernon Square, Penton Rise, London WC1X 9EW (generally known as social anthropology in modern discipline in which they work, 9.30: Tea and coffee, 10.00 Start, 17.00 Finish the UK) is best represented in India by the but also to ask new questions of older This year’s meeting will ask questions about change within the discipline of anthropology and the study of South Asia: journal Contributions to Indian Sociology. ideas: How and why have the concerns How and why have the concerns of anthropologists of anthropologists working in South Asia working in South Asia shifted? The journal was founded in 1957 by shifted? What makes something new or What makes something new or original in ‘Indian Sociology’? the French sociologist Louis Dumont original in ‘Indian Sociology’? What are What are the relationships between social change and David Pocock. Adrian Mayer, now the relationships between social change in South Asia and anthropological theory? Does the history of anthropological writing Emeritus Professor of Asian Anthropology in South Asia and anthropological theory? reflect the history of South Asia? Has the notion of the ‘region’ at SOAS edited the journal for a period in Does the history of anthropological writing changed as a frame of reference? the 1970s. Today, it is salutary to note their reflect the history of South Asia? Has the Are there parallels between social change in South Asia preoccupation with social change as they notion of the ‘region’ changed as a frame of and the content of anthropological writing? Design: JS, Centres & Programmes Office

Further information: Edward Simpson ,[email protected] To book a place contact: Centres & Programmes Office [email protected] / 020 7898 4892/3 Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studie School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Wealth among the peasantry and the role of money forum devoted to the relationship between lenders in rural society. Though much of this practices and meanings. Presentations scholarship has confronted similar problems were given by historians specializing in WORKSHOP: MONEY AND and even used similar sources, work has ancient, medieval and modern South typically been conducted in isolation. This Asian history who joined us from India, WEALTH IN SOUTH ASIAN workshop sought to bring scholars working Canada, the United States and the UK. Dr HISTORY: MEANINGS AND with diverse types of evidence and distinct Ed Simpson and Dr Francesca Orsini, SOAS PRACTICES disciplinary approaches together in a contributed to a round table discussion. 9-10 October 2009 The aim for the workshop is to develop a longer term research project between Dr The South Asia section from the Amrita Shodhan and Dr Shabnum Tejani in History department organized a the History Department on the Social History workshop entitled: “Money and Wealth of Money in Gujarat in the nineteenth and in South Asian History: Meanings and twentieth centuries. We aim to hold a Practices” held on 9-10 October 2009. conference developing the same themes in

Jawaharlal University in New Delhi at a later Money and wealth have been approached date and introduce a speaker series looking from a number of perspectives in South Asian at the different approaches to money studies—from the numismatist’s focus on and wealth from a range of disciplinary coins as expressions of dynastic authority to perspectives over the next two years. the economic historian’s analysis of imperial monetary policy and global precious metal Shabnum Tejani flows, from the anthropologist’s analysis Senior Lecturer in the History of of ritualised wealth exchange to the social Modern South Asia historian’s attention to cycles of debt

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PRESENTATION: Sixth Formers ASPECTS OF ASIA:

PRESENTATION FOR and politics. He discussed the difficulties 6TH FORM STUDENTS of legislation made in one country being 5 November 2009 unrecognised by and inapplicable in another and how a company based in both could be The Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA) and caught in between. the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) held an annual presentation on Asia Angus McDowall, a freelance journalist th for sixth form students on 5 November 2009 Learning Arabic with Mr Mohamed Said resident in Tehran 2003-7 who travelled at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS. extensively in Iran and is a correspondent for Middle East Economic Digest then spoke The day began with an introduction and The next session was “language tasters”, about: Iran – good, bad or ugly? welcome by Mr. Adrian Steger (RSAA) to the where students had the chance to get a brief 110 students from 13 schools. He outlined introduction to three Asian languages. On The meeting then finished with the Chairman the aim of the meeting, to introduce students this occasion these were: Mr. Mohamed Said thanking those who had spoken, participated to concepts and subjects they may not (Arabic), Dr Lianyi Song (Mandarin) and Dr in questions and discussion and the staff of have previously explored as part of their Justin Walker (Khmer and Burmese). SOAS for their help, in particular Jane Savory. curriculum, and inspire them to take a closer interest in Asia. This was followed by Professor Michael The following schools and colleges were Hutt, Dean of Languages & Culture at SOAS, represented: The first speaker, and Chair for the day was Sir previously professor of Nepali and Himalayan David John, Chairman of The Royal Society studies who spoke about: “Why learn about • Benenden School for Asian Affairs, past vice-Chairman U.K. Asia”. He described the development of • The Charter School Trade & Investment, Chairman Premier Oil his enthusiasm for Asia and the Himalayan • Cranbrook School and Chairman of BSI (National Standards region and its culture in the course of • Dagenham Park Community School Body for the U.K.). He spoke to the title: Trade which he became an academic at SOAS. He • Dulwich College & the shift of economic power to Asia. stimulated the audience with penetrating • Kelsey Park Sports College questions about their perceptions of Asia. • Kingsbury School He then described some of the University • Leyton 6th From College courses related to Asia available in the U.K. • St. Clare’s School and The wide and varied career possibilities • Sts. Angela’s & Bonaventure’s 6th Form Centre these could lead to. • Trinity School • Westminster School After lunch Dr. Anne Farrer talked about: Aurel Stein, Central Asian explorer. The Schools day has been running for six years and further details about this years The next speaker, (who had kindly agreed event is available online: to do so at very short notice), was Warren Leaming who spoke about: Business in Asia. www.soas.ac.uk/centresoffice/events Mr Leaming is Deputy Head of Group Sir David John Compliance responsible for compliance policy and strategy globally for the HSBC Adrian Steger The emphasis of the talk was on the growth Financial Services Group having previously Secretary, The Royal Society for Asian Affairs of India and China. This was illustrated by been Head of Legal and Compliance of HSBC the near equal purchasing power, based on Bank Middle East. He described how very GDP of America and China with India not far different business and working conditions behind. The growth rate in the Asian counties could be in different countries and the was 10% compared to the 1-2% of America. influences of culture, religion, tradition Economic indicators all predicted that China would over take America and the G6 nations by 2050 with India close behind. Over the next 20 years the biggest job market would be in India, then other Asian states then China and all this with the development of globalisation. This was all put into perspective for the audience by comparison with Sir David’s varied international career. In the discussion that followed the audience were given valuable career advice possibly unrivalled in expertise. Adrian Steger (right) with speakers

14 Elections Three speakers commented on various rhetoric on social justice and reservations. aspects of the subject of governance. Professor Subrata Kumar Mitra (University of The conference attendees also addressed CONFERENCE: UPA IN POWER Heidelberg) offered a theoretical overview the issue of security and non-traditional 17-18 November 2009 on the subject of India’s governance and security threats. Professor Kanti Bajpai spoke national identy. Professor James Manor on the UPA’s foreign policy (2004-2009). Dr Dr Lawrence Saez and Dr Rochana Bajpai (Institute of Commonwealth Studies) Lawrence Saez (SOAS) presented on the won a SOAS Research Committee grant for addressed the question of whether the subject of India’s energy security during the the purpose of hosting an international central government’s poverty initiatives help UPA government. Rahul Roy Chaudhury conference on new dimensions of India’s to re-elect it. Professor Harihar Bhattacharya (International Institute for Strategic Studies, political system. Funding for the event (University of Burdhwan) discussed whether IISS) spoke on India’s anti-terrorism and was also obtained from the University of the UPA’s policy on federalism represesnted security policy in the first UPA government. Birmingham. Leading scholars on Indian a paradigm shift. Shailaja Fennell (University politics gathered at SOAS to participate in of Cambridge) spoke on the subject of Proceedings from the conference will be this conference. Using the United Progressive educational exclusion and inclusive made available on book form in 2011. Alliance (UPA) as an analytical centrepiece, development in India. The edited volume, tentatively titled UPA the conference attendees sought to advance in Power, is currently being reviewed by our understanding of the relationship The conference attendees also considered Routledge. between the state and political economy in important changes to India’s policy on Lawrence Saez three critical areas: governance, secularism, secularism. Professor Gurharpal Singh (University of Birmingham) provided an Chair, Centre of and security. In our view, these three features South Asian constitute important fault lines between the analytical overview of the UPA’s policy on Studies main national political parties in India. The secularism. Professor Steve Wilkinson (Yale conference was organised along these three University) focused his attention on the UPA’s overarching themes. policy vis-à-vis Muslims. Dr Rochana Bajpai (SOAS) offered a commentary on the UPA’s

Film Premier resistance, water always finds new routes to suicide because big conglomerates create flow and despite the water’s softness it can patents for rice types which have been never be stopped. And this is the message growing in India for thousands of years and FILM SCREENING AND Q&A: of the documentary: continued effort always for whose crop they are suddenly supposed pays off. to pay huge amounts of money. This is why THE SHAPE OF WATER women founded farms at the foot of the 22 January 2010 The film also shows the gap between local Himalayas to promote their independence issues and global policy making; it shows and biodiversity of the crops. In Senegal, What happens when students ask questions how people, and women in particular, deal where NGO’s fight against female genital could be seen on the 22nd January in with policies which have been created by mutilation in the name of human rights Birkbeck College where Kum Kum Bhavnani global or supra-national bodies. As Gita violations and hygienic reasons, the mindset screened her documentary “The Shape of Shagal of Amnesty International calls it, of many people has not changed. The core Water” for the first time in the UK. Originally policy can be dangerous at this local level. of the problem, that is female sexuality and she only set out to explain to her students This can be seen in India where the right gender issues, has still not been addressed. what “agency” meant but then the $5000 for patents has driven many farmers into This is why local women became active to project turned out to become a ‘real’ film protect their daughters and to promote a with real budget, real camera woman change in attitudes. and real editing. This was a challenge not only for Kum Kum who had never made or What makes this film so touching is the directed a film before, but also the people enthusiasm and sincere interest of director she worked with because the budget had Kum Kum Bhavani, which seeps through to be kept low. Picking four countries, Brazil, all scenes, her personal involvement and India, Israel and Senegal and conflicts which way of also incorporating critical voices of address the issues of economic production, for instance the Women in Black in Israel. sexuality and reproduction and socialization, Thus facts and personal life stories blend in the film portrays how women react to these together to tell the stories of women who challenges and get organized. did not give up but started to face challeng- es actively, they find new ways to deal with The documentary tries to show that mass difficulties, like water does. movements do have power, that is it possible to fight for own concerns and interests. The Sarah Holz story is shaped like water because “Nothing SOAS is softer than water” these are the opening From left to right lines, and on first sight they seem quite Gita Shagal from Amnesty International, Kum Kum confusing but throughout the documentary Bhavnani, the director and Susan James, the organiser it becomes clear that despite obstacles and

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WORKSHOP: PERSPECTIVES ‘Multiple and Intersecting Identities among Perspectives British Pakistanis: Negative and Positive FROM BRITAIN AND Scholarly Frames’, Keele academic Pnina NORTH AMERICA Werbner emphasised the importance of debates and policies relating to the migration 5 December 2009 ‘intersectionality’ in promoting a radical and integration of North African Moriscos and pluralist framework for understanding Latinos, both in Spain and the US. He argued Perspectives from Britain and North stigmatised social categories. Taking that this was particularly the case in the America, a day-long workshop held at Pakistanis in Manchester as a model, she period post-9/11, following which anxieties London University’s Birkbeck College on stressed that – far from remaining true to about Islam have increasingly been projected 5th December 2009, brought together the types defined by dominant societies – onto Hispanic peoples. academics and practitioners from both sides individuals perform multiple identities of of the Atlantic in a continued attempt to map ‘virtual and moral commitment’ to differ- ‘Faith, Race and Belonging’ provided the the commonalities that characterise the ways ent cultural domains which are creative, theme of the final panel, which combined a in which Muslims are framed in Europe and dialogical and situational in nature; and paper on ‘Barack Obama, Islam and the Dis- North America. Areas of particular empha- argued that policy makers should look to courses of American Racial Belonging’ by the sis for the day included the production and these internal dynamics when formulating Virginia Tech English Professor, essayist and reception of images of Muslims post-9/11 their approaches toward different ethnic acerbic critic of the liberal left, Steven Salaita, and questions relating to representation and groups. and an autobiographical talk entitled ‘Islam power, including the way that power elites operate in relation to mainstream media. The second panel went on to explore the ‘Legal Hinterlands’ in which Muslims have, Framing Muslims’ Principal Investigator of late, found themselves caught. Speaking Dr Peter Morey opened this final event in on ‘”A Culturally Different Enemy” and Other the research initiative’s three-year AHRC Everyday Expressions of White Supremacy: phase with some observations on how the Reflections on Torture and Muslims’, Toronto discourse surrounding Muslims has shifted Professor Sherene Razack, who had been – or failed to shift – during the course of tracking discussions of torture, echoed Peter the project’s duration. He suggested that Morey’s sentiments when acknowledging although one might have anticipated that that we might be tempted, four years on a network co-ordinated to interrogate the from Abu Ghraib, to consider ourselves limitations of various representative modes ‘post’ torture. However, she argued, in a at a particular historical moment and under period when ‘Muslim’ has become a racial a specific regime should, with the end of category from which it seems impossible to and Hollywood’ by the screenwriter and that era, automatically become defunct, the disaffiliate, it is now possible for all Muslims novelist Kamran Pasha. Salaita examined reality was somewhat different. A change to be violated without impunity. Continuing Obama’s handling of the accusations of in rhetoric might be identified in the period with this theme, academic and Attorney foreignness and Arab/Muslim alterity lodged from Bush to Obama and from Blair to Brown, at Law Tim Jon Semmerling’s memorable against him during the course of his election but the underlying policies – and methods paper, ‘Extraordinary “Renditions”: When campaign and his subsequent instalment as by which Muslims are framed – ultimately Law and Pop Culture Co-Narrate the Bush President, and highlighted how his assertions remain the same. Administration’s Use of Extraordinary of national belonging and normativity Rendition’, drew attention to the growth of in ‘post-racial’ America rely on a retreat a dangerous reliance in a postmodern world from identification with the ‘dark spaces’ on the myths of popular culture and on frequented by Arabs and Muslims today. higher or ‘legal’ truths as a means of ‘knowing’ He suggested that – with time – it might the realities of torture, and highlighted the be possible to use such popular outlets to importance of scrutinising such explanatory modify stereotypes and imagine alternative narratives. and more positive futures for Islam and Muslims in the West. In the afternoon, the third panel turned to the topic of ‘Pasts, Presents and Futures’. The day’s proceedings drew to a close with Nabil Matar’s discussion of ‘Muslims and a roundtable discussion led by the personal Other Peoples in the Early Modern Period’ narrative of the Pakistani American journalist sought to destabilise stereotypes by setting Amena H. Saiyid which sparked off a lively contemporary framings of an Islamic ‘Other’ and heated discussion from the floor. The In the first panel on ‘Muslim Multicultures’ against those offered by the fascinating summing up of the day’s events by the Proj- Sociologist Haideh Moghissi’s paper narrative accounts of travellers’ journeys in ect co-Director Amina Yaqin highlighted the ‘Muslims in Canada: Promises and Pitfalls Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire interdisciplinary dialogue which had taken of Multiculturalism’ highlighted how, in during the seventeenth-century. Matar’s place throughout the day and its significant Canada’s multiethnic society, policies detailed analysis of these travelogues contribution toward the overall success of the designed to ensure religious communities eloquently illustrated the complexity of Framing Muslims network. can practice their faith free from abuse have Muslim and non-Muslim exchanges and Madeline Clements lead in the case of Muslims not so much to encounters in an earlier period of history. University of Manchester a plurality of lifestyles as to segregation and Hishaam Aidi’s, ‘Moors, Aztecs and Ideologies www.framingmuslims.org/ – through the governmental implementation of Al-Andalus’ went on to explore how of ‘special measures’ – to stereotyping historical memories of an intrusive Moorish and racism. In her ensuing discussion of presence haunt contemporary discourses,

16 Immigrants CENTRE FOR MIGRATION & of language, trade union organisation as well as the relationship between food and DIASPORA STUDIES ANNUAL migration. LECTURE 2009-2010: In her stimulating and thoughtful talk at CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: SOAS, entitled ‘Continuity and Change: IMMIGRANTS IN SPITALFIELDS immigrants in Spitalfields 1660-2000’, Dr 1660-2000 Kershen discussed both the similarity and differences between Jewish and Bangladeshi 23 October 2009 settlers in the east end of London. The annual lecture for the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies in 2009- Using what she describes as the ‘three of the 2010 was given by Dr Anne Kershen, pillars of immigrant life’, religion, language who founded the Centre for the Study of and economic activity, Dr Kershen examined Migration at Queen Mary in 1995. Whilst the role each played in the processes of centres for the study of migration are now integration, and in some cases separation, almost ubiquitous on the British academic illustrating that continuity and change in landscape, the Centre at Queen Mary was immigrant life has been what has made one of the first in the UK. Spitalfields a place of settlement and transition from the mid-seventeenth century Dr Kershen has long been at the forefront through until today. In so doing, she also of pushing the boundaries of academic spoke more broadly to the fact that Britain is knowledge on migrant populations in historically an island of migration, providing Britain, highlighting the long history of the context for the more recent changes A podcast of the lecture is available on the migration to this country as well as the taking place in Britain’s urban centres. Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies complex contributions that migrants have website. made economically, socially and culturally. Dr Kershen has written extensively on Jewish Paru Raman www.soas.ac.uk/mirgration migrant populations, as well as Bangladeshis Chair, Centre for Migration and Eastern Europeans, looking at the role and Diaspora Studies

Pakistan Centre of South Asian Studies Pakistan Policy Seminars PAKISTAN POLICY SEMINAR SERIES: BUILDING DEMOCRACY 5 February 2010 REDUCING MILITANCY 12 March 2010 Building Democracy Reducing Militancy Friday, 5 February 2010 The Centre of South Asian Studies sponsored contemporary strains of militancy,Friday, 12 February including 2010 2-5pm in Room 4421 its first Pakistan Policy Seminar Series in ethnic, sectarian and Taliban-related forms of As a student member of SOAS’s first Pakistan Policy Seminar, come debate ways to fix Pakistan - a country which some policy makers (eg former US Secretary of State Madeleine Term 2 at SOAS. Maha Hosain Aziz, Senior violenceAlbright) have in compared the to troubledan “international migraine”! state (March 12). The

Teaching Fellow in South Asian Politics and secondMs Maha Aziz, part Senior Teaching of bothFellow in South seminars Asian Politics and Business was Week’s devoted Asia Insight Columnist, will deliver a lecture on why democracy has struggled (5 Feb) and militancy has risen (12 Feb) in Pakistan. Asia Insight Columnist for Business Week, to discussion; an audience of students, We will then brainstorm local and global policy solutions for these ongoing problems. How delivered a lecture on Pakistan’s struggle academicscan Pakistan become more and democratic? journalists How can Pakistan reduce brainstormedmilitancy? to achieve democracy (Feb 5), detailing policy suggestionsThe seminars are for free, but achieving open to students only. Nodemocracy booking is required. For further information contact: Maha Aziz, [email protected] or the various local and global factors that and reducing militancyCentres & Programmes in [email protected]. (Tel: 020 7898 4892/3) have made democratic consolidation an To subscribe to the Centre of South Asian Studies mailing list email [email protected] Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this poster is as accurate as possible at the time it is posted. We cannot guarantee, however, that subsequent changes have not been made. You are advised to check impossibility since 1947. Aziz also delivered information relating to scheduled events on the SOAS website or by using the contactMaha information provided. Aziz Poster: Dorinne Tin Ming Kaw, Centres & Programmes, REO a lecture explaining the historical and Research Associate

17 EVENT REPORTS

CONFERENCE: court portraiture as an assertion of political Portraiture status in early 19th-century Devgarh, and PORTRAITURE IN SOUTH ASIA the reformulation of royal portraiture by 21-22 May 2010 a Bikaner court artist in the colonial era. The new technologies and functions of On 21 and 22 May SOAS and the National portraiture in colonial and modern India Portrait Gallery jointly convened an were examined in the final papers, focussing international conference, with support from on the legal status of the portrait and ideas of the Victoria and Albert Museum, dedicated physiognomy in early 19th-century Calcutta, to the discussion of portraiture in South Asia. and the transformation of portraiture in The event coincided with the exhibition The India as a result of the development of both Indian Portrait 1560-1860 at the National photography and chromolithography. The Portrait Gallery (11 March-20 June 2010). list of speakers and the paper abstracts are The thirteen papers delivered by both available at: new and established scholars from India, Europe and the United States examined a www.soas.ac.uk/events/event57887.html variety of themes and issues, demonstrating the richness and variety of traditions of portraiture in South Asia. Over eighty people attended the conference contributing to the lively discussion and debate at this very enjoyable and successful event. Crispin Branfoot Senior Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology

The first day at the National Portrait Gallery was dedicated to the Indo-Persian traditions of portraiture at the Mughal court and their contemporaries in the Deccan in the 16th and 17th centuries. Mughal paintings of rulers are the most familiar portraits to a wider audience but new material emerges and innovative perspectives developed. The topics examined included the genesis of Mughal portraiture during Humayun’s reign, newly-discovered albums from Jahangir’s reign in the Royal Library at Windsor, women in Mughal painting, the idea of the portrait in Indo-Persian literature, the impact of European representations of rulers on full-length portraits of Jahangir, and the diplomatic role of portraits between Bijapur and the Mughals.

The second day at SOAS examined portraiture beyond the Indo-Persian courts of the Mughals. The emphasis on the pictorial record shifted with two papers examining the sculpture and literary conception of portraiture before the 16th century, and the sculpted images of Nayaka rulers in south Indian temples. The rich and varied traditions of Rajput portraiture were the subject of the next papers: the integration of ruler portraits IMAGE: Kunwar Anop Singh of Devgarh riding with a falcon, Devgarh, Mewar, Rajasthan, into Rajput ragamala paintings in Rajasthan attributed to Bakhta, c. 1776. Museum Rietberg Zurich. Gift of Dr. Carlo Fleischmann Foundation and acquisition. © Museum Rietberg Zurich. Photo: Wettstein & Kauf and the Pahari region, the development of

18 The Classics On the evening of 17 May, the Centre This was only the first movement to Pollock’s for South Asian Studies was delighted to lecture: instead of just seeking to assign welcome Sheldon Pollock, William B. Ransford blame, in his second half he laid out a Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, programme of what should be done and why, Columbia University, for the occasion of a in his own words, anyone should care. He public lecture in the Khalili Lecture Theatre. called for a renewed focus within the global The lecture, entitled “Crisis in the Classics,” university on the practices of philology as a was chaired by Professor Paul Webley, SOAS’s general meta-discipline for making sense director and principal. Pollock began on a of textual language, his argument for the dark note, detailing the precipitous decline in relevance of which—pitched to an imagined the knowledge of India’s historical languages university administrator—was aimed at over the past several decades. Seen from recovery the widest possible sense of ‘the the perspective of classical studies in South classical.’ To know the past as classical is, he Asia, this decline has been near-catastrophic: concluded, to recover some irreducible part any of a number of the major languages of of our own humanity. literature and scholarship, among them Old Kannada, classical Hindi, and Indo-Persian, Pollock’s thoughts occasioned a lively Whitney Cox and Sheldon Pollock risk extinction in the next several decades. discussion, which continued long after the Provocatively, Pollock linked this ongoing lecture hall had emptied. The lecture, at once crisis to the public priorities of independent sobering and challenging, spoke to problems Lctee ur : SHELDON India, especially the newly materially and enduring questions of deep significance pOLLOCK: Crisis in prosperous India of the post-liberalisation to the Centre, to the Faculty of Languages era, as a burgeoning global economic power and Cultures, and indeed to SOAS in general. the Classics seemingly intent on a public act of voluntary 17 May 2010 collective amnesia. Whitney Cox Lecturer in Sanskrit

Landscape

CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES’ ANNUAL LECTURE: EBBA KOCH: MUGHAL GARDENS AND OTHER APPROACHES TO LANDSCAPE AND NATURE 27 May 2010

In this year’s annual lecture, Professor Ebba Koch ((Vienna University and Austrian Academy of Sciences) explored the Mughals’ garden culture and relationship with India’s landscape in the sixteenth and seventeenth She was visiting professor at Harvard centuries. She discussed the use of the (2008/09) and Oxford (2008). Since 2001 carefully ordered and planned gardens – Prof. Koch has been global advisor to the Taj terraced, beside a river or with a mausoleum Mahal Conservation Collaborative, and she as the centre-piece such as the Taj Mahal – as was Austrian delegate to the Management the imposition of the new Mughal order in Committee of the “Network of Comparative India. But she broadened our understand- Empires” of the European Commission (2005- ing of the ‘Mughalization of nature’ by also 2009). Her research interests are Mughal art considering other forms of their landscape and architecture, the political and symbolic architecture more familiar to earlier Indic meaning of art, and the artistic connections tradition, such as rock-cut gardens in Ajmer between the Mughals and their neighbours and Dholpur and Jahangir’s monolithic and Europe. Her publications include elephants on the road to Kashmir. Mughal Architecture (1991), Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology (2001) and The Complete Dr Ebba Koch is a professor of Asian art at Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra the Institute of Art History, Vienna University (2006). Crispin Branfoot with Ebba Koch and a senior researcher at the Institute of Ira- Crispin Branfoot nian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Senior Lecturer in South Asian Art

19 EVENT REPORTS

BOOK LAUNCH: groundbreaking and informed academic text on the phenomenon of artists in Pakistan Pakistan VIRGINIA WHILES: ‘ART AND who are using the traditional medium of POLEMIC IN PAKISTAN’ miniature painting to challenge changing 3 June 2010 politics at home and abroad. She also tackles the questions which are raised when such On the 3rd of June the Centre for Migration and radical forms of subversion become desirable Diaspora Studies hosted a book launch for and fashionable commodities on the global ‘Art and Polemic in Pakistan: cultural politics art market. and tradition in contemporary miniature painting’ by Dr Virginia Whiles. Professor Chris Pinney from UCL provided a lively and informed introduction to the book, which tells the unlikely story of political subversion through the medium of Mughal miniature painting. Dr Whiles, who completed her PhD at SOAS in the department of anthropology and sociology, is ideally suited to production Over 60 paintings from artists based at of such an original piece of scholarship. the National College of Art at Lahore are reproduced in the book, illuminating the A long time expert on the art world in links between art and cultural politics. general and artistic production in Pakistan in particular, she has taught for many years at the Paru Raman University of the Arts, as well as the National Chair, Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies College of Art in Lahore. Critic, curator and Paru Raman with Virginia Whiles anthropologist, Dr Whiles has produced a

SOAS ALUMNI GATHERING

and former students including Georgie Aside from the delicious food, the Carroll, currently working in advertising impromptu mehfil (songs from Mughal-e and writing a book; Fifi Haroun, media Azam to Kal Ho Naa Ho were sung) and advisor, journalist and events organiser the inclusion of Rupee notes (Indian amongst many other things; Charlie & Pakistani) in the bill total, there Henniker, director of sketch comedy was a heartening display of the post- group The Unexpected Items and working SOAS employment record. All those in in Digital Marketing at BBC Worldwide; attendance were pursuing fulfilling and From left to right Jessica Hines, author of ‘Looking for the exciting careers (and sometimes two or Rachel Dwyer, Jessica Hines & Anna Morcom Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me’ for more at the same time) and continuing to Bloomsbury and founder of Inside India; contribute to a global network of activity, David Lunn, a PhD student and Teaching often drawing directly on their study of On March 3rd a number of alumni from the Fellow at SOAS (allowed to attend as Hindi cinema and Indian culture. South Asia Department gathered in Vijay’s, a second marker of cinema papers and film South Indian restaurant in Queen’s Park. The enthusiast); Anna Morcom, whose PhD was Further alumni events like this are being connection was Indian Cinema, or Professor on Hindi film songs, now Academic Fellow planned, and suggestions are welcome – Rachel Dwyer’s BA and MA courses as well as at Royal Holloway College, University of we aim to host a more structured event or PhD students, to be precise. London and author of ‘Hindi Film Songs evening next time. and the Cinema’ (2007), Tibetan singer, Old acquaintances and new spent the writer on Bollywood music and dance and Rachel Dwyer evening catching up, swapping notes Tibetan culture; Shikha Sethi, now working Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema (and contact details) and sharing news on in publishing; and of course Rachel and all things filmi. In attendance were most Michael Dwyer (SOAS alumnus, in African of the current Masters course students, history).

20 CHARLES WALLACE TRUST

Rportfe o Charles theorists, particularly Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal and Lord Bhikhu Parekh. One of my Wallace Indian Fellow most memorable experiences in London was 2009-2010 meeting Lord Parekh at the House of Lords for tea and a chat about his research and I was the Charles Wallace Indian Fellow at mine. At SOAS, I found Dr Rochana Bajpai, SOAS, University of London, for 2009-10. My my sponsor, to be a committed interlocutor visit lasted three months, from 25 January to and a trusted friend. I shared my office at 27 April 2010, during which I worked on the SOAS with Dr Valentina Boretti, in whom I project “Normativity, Power and Politics in found an ally in dealing with all the minor Post/colonial India. crises that emerged during the visit. I must also mention Dr Bhukhya Bhangya, British In writing this report, this sum-total of Academy Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow, reflection on three exciting months, I would and other friends who together formed a of course begin with the obvious: The transient community while I was there. To all location in London, which is of utmost benefit these people, I owe many thanks. to a historian. The British Library yielded much of its promise, and much archival Above all, I would like to thank Mr Richard material that was germane to my research. Aflord, Secretary, Charles Wallace India Trust, There were, in particular, ethnographies on who was extremely supportive during my Mysore, accounts of the origins and customs visit. I was impressed by the interest and of jaties, etc that I found particularly useful investment that Mr Alford shows in every to my project, part of which is to trace the individual Charles Wallace Fellow who visits genealogy of collective identities such as the UK. I had the pleasure of many warm Charles Wallace Visiting caste, as they formed during the colonial interactions with Mr. Alford during my visit, Fellowships at SOAS period. and he always looked out for me with care. Two three month Visiting Fellowships are The three months spent at SOAS were also Finally, I must say that a three-month stay awarded annually by the Centre of South a time away from the everyday demands gives a visitor a sense of the place in a way Asian Studies, SOAS, one with the Charles of my regular job: time that I used to write that short visits do not. The experience Wallace India Trust and the other with the a paper, which I had been thinking about that one gains in three months is not the Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust. for a while. I presented this paper at my monument-hopping, check-list experience seminar at SOAS on 25 March, and had an of a three-day tourist town. It is the slower The fellowships are awarded to those who engaged response from the audience. There experience in which one learns to ride have completed a PhD and are ready to make the most of a short period of study were other conferences / talks that came the public transport, ponder if there is the and discussion at SOAS. Applicants must be as opportunities to travel, meet people elusive trait that one calls Britishness, and an Indian/Pakistan national and be residing and share thoughts. One was the Eighth becomes sensitive to ways of life. My stay at in India/Pakistan at the time the application European Social Science History Conference London opened to me the charms of this way is submitted. (EESHC), which was held at Ghent, Belgium of life. In addition to the monuments, the between April 1 and 15, 2010. Apart from rewarding museum fatigue and the theatre. Applications are encouraged in particular the diversity of themes covered under the What I took away from this trip, from London, from those scholars who have had no or rubric of Social Science History in a European was to get over my many fears. To go there little opportunity to do research outside conference, and the sheer numbers of anyway; for there was adventure not to be India/Pakistan. panels and presentations, what stayed missed in the city’s streets and paved by- from the conference was Ghent itself, a lanes, where reserved people looked out The closing date for the 2010/2011 city I found magical, especially by night. I from cosy cafes or warmly lit pubs. London fellowships beginning in the following was also invited to speak to the South Asia to me became all these things, in addition January-March 2011 was Tuesday, 31 Studies reading group at the University of to a city with a throbbing academic culture, August 2010. Cambridge. Unfortunately, the volcanic ash alive with various reading groups, weekly kept most students and regular members seminars and cultural events. Details of the fellowships, including the candidate criteria, application procedure of the reading group stranded at various Dr Lakshmi Arya and the current and past fellows, are airports, during the time that my talk was 2009-2010 Charles Wallace Indian Fellow available online: scheduled. www.soas.ac.uk/ Short visits often pack a great deal of southasianstudies/fellowship/ experience within a short space of time: they condense life, as it were. One such experience Charles Wallace Trusts was meeting very interesting people, whom The four Charles Wallace trusts support a I would also like to thank in this report. I met number of other fellowship schemes and Professor James Manor at a meeting of the aid for postgraduate students. You can find South Asia Studies reading group at the further information and guidance by visit- London School of Economics (LSE). I had ing their website which will give you access stimulating conversations with Professor to information on the individual trusts. Manor, given our common interests in Karnataka and its political history. Professor www.wallace-trusts.org.uk/ Manor also introduced me to other political Lakshmi Arya with Lord Bhikhu Parekh

21 RESEARCH ASSOCIATES

As Shuja Al-Haq was submitting his PhD thesis The effort resulted in a two semester Shuja Al-Haq on Sufism and its development in the Punjab postgraduate course called History of at SOAS in 1994, he knew the research project Knowledge that begins with a definition of for the years to come, namely, designing a knowledge as a network of concepts and course for the Islamic world. their relations that the human creates in his interaction with nature. This means, firstly, The Islamic world seems to have lost its script that the history of knowledge, far from since the rise of modernity and the loss of beginning in Greece 2600 years ago, must its political, cultural independence. Even be as long as the human’s emergence on after its freedom from the colonial yoke, it the planet as homo sapiens. And, secondly, could never bring about a reconciliation history of thought or knowledge is a study between modernity, a new way of thinking of the growth, both in size and complexity, of brought in by the West, and tradition, or the network through its various phases. its understanding of its own past. The continued deep ambivalence of the global Having written the script he joined Bahauddin Islamic community between these two Zakariyya University, Multan, Pakistan, last poles of its world propelled me to design a July where his is currently teaching it to the university course that could weave a new MPhil students of philosophy and sociology. synthesis with the help of the range of The outline and bibliography of the course critical works produced, especially since the and the related papers can be seen on: scientific revolution of the early twentieth century (1900-1927), in the areas of religion, philosophy, science and art (these being four worldhok.blogspot.com major forms or languages of knowledge). onthethirdway.blogspot.com

Maha Hosain Aziz is a Senior Teaching plains recurring government breakdown Maha Azia Fellow in the Department of Politics and in unconsolidated democracies through International Studies at the University of the lens of development policy. She has London's School of Oriental and African delivered lectures on her research at Studies (SOAS). She is co-convenor of the various institutions, including Georgetown year-long undergraduate course in South University, SOAS and the LSE. Asian politics, lecturing on democracy, development and identity groups in India, Maha earned her Bachelors degree in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal International Relations from Brown and Afghanistan. She also created the first University and a Masters in International policy seminar series at SOAS for students, Affairs from Columbia University. She also journalists and academics to debate ways to received a Masters in Comparative Politics improve democracy and reduce militancy in from the LSE, before pursuing her PhD in Pakistan. Political Science. She previously worked in Investment Banking and Media. Maha is currently researching the link between economics, psychology and Recent Publications militant recruitment. She writes a regular A sample of Maha's Business Week column: How to Warm India-Pakistan Ties column for the Global and Asia Insight sections of Business Week. She focuses on To Fight Terror in Pakistan, Create Jobs www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/ varied South Asian topics, including ways apr2010/gb2010044_082450.htm to improve India-Pakistan ties, strategies for www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/ reducing militant recruitment in Pakistan nov2009/gb20091125_996881.htm Pakistan: Still Reeling from Cricket Terrorism as well as the social and political effects of global terrorism. Fight Terrorism in Pakistan with www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/ Rural Outsourcing feb2010/gb2010029_465004.htm She previously taught British politics and democratic institutions at the London www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/con- tent/jan2010/gb20100112_786682.htm All of her columns are available at: School of Economics (LSE). She received two departmental teaching prizes and a teaching www.businessweek.com/bios/ excellence award. She was also awarded Pakistan, Terrorist Recruits Maha_Hosain_Aziz.htm the C&J Modi/Narayanan Fellowship for her and Economic Stress PhD at the LSE. Her doctoral research ex- www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/ jun2010/gb2010068_515072.htm

22 RESEARCH STUDENTS SEPT 09 - AUG 10

Sanaa ALIMIA Meenu GAUR Rastin MEHRI Afghans in Pakistan: Reworking Citizenship and The Kashmir of Hindi Cinema (Completed Feb The Zoroastrians of British Columbia Sources of Political Power, 1978-2009 2010) Supervisor: Dr Almut HINTZE Supervisor: Dr Matthew NELSON Supervisor: TBC Leena MITFORD Val ANDERSON Leon GOLDMAN 19th century Urdu literature The Eurasian ‘problem’ in nineteenth century India The Avestan hymn to Justice Supervisor: Professor Christopher SHACKLE Supervisor: Professor Peter ROBB Supervisor: Dr Almut HINTZE Nuno MOURATO Sampachentin APTCHOURAHMAN Sambaiah GUNDIMEDA Translating Hinduism: Responses in English to Educational rights of the Turkish minority in Title: TBC Hindu Spiritual Texts (1785-1973) (Completed Greece Supervisor: Dr Matthew NELSON and April 2010) Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Dr Rochana BAJPAI Supervisor: TBC

Anwesha ARYA Syed Asif HAIDER Aparajita MUKHOPADHYAY Tradition and text: Śāstra, statute and the living Muslim modernities in Indian cinema Railways, journeys and the idea of space in late law of dowry as sadācāra Supervisor: Professor Rachel DWYER ninteenth-century North India Provisional title Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Supervisor: Professor Peter ROBB Louise HARRINGTON David AZZOPARDI Conflicted places and thirdspaces: the landscape Faris NASRALLAH Buddhism amongst Sri Lanka Diaspora of Partition in South Asian literature and film Legal management of internal plurality in Iraq Communities in the UK Supervisor: Dr Amina YAQIN Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Supervisor: Dr Kate CROSBY Ana JELNIKAR Manjita PALIT Nagasena BHIKKHU Towards Universal Man: R. Tagore, W.B. Yeats, and Songs of the Body: Embodiments of Sexuality The Significance of the Sima (Monastic Boundary) Srecko Kosovel: Identity in difference (Awarded in Bengali Literature and Culture 1880-1920 in Burmese and Bangladeshi Buddhism 2009) (Awarded 2009) Supervisor: Dr Kate CROSBY Supervisor: TBC Supervisor: TBC

Nazmuzzaman BHUIAN Akhil KATYAL Mridhula PILLAY Press freedom in Bangladesh Same-Sex Intimacy and Ideas of the Self in Managing law and religion: A comparative Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Modern India study of India and Malaysia Supervisor: Dr Amina YAQIN Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Upal CHAKRABARTI Land and ‘improvement’ during early British rule: Emir KAYA Shamraiz QAYYUM Cuttack Division, 1803-66 Balance of negotiating normativities in legal Muslim skilled socio-legal navigation in Britain Supervisor: Professor Peter ROBB theory: The Turkish Diyanet’s mediation for higher Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI public interest through realist altruism Rupa CHAKRABORTY Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Muhammad Mahbubur RAHMAN A Syntactic Study of the Dialect of Sylhet with Sentencing policy and practice in Bangladesh: Reference to Standard Colloquial Bengali Masum KHAN A study on the sentencing decisions of the (draft title) D. H. Lawrence and the post-Tagore modernist Supreme Court in murder cases Supervisor: Dr William RADICE writings in Bengali Literature (draft title) Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Supervisor: Dr William RADICE Mayurika CHAKRAVORTY Rashi ROHATGI Bengali fantasy literature Sonia KHAN The Mauritian poet Abhimanyu Unnuth ‘Shabnam’ Supervisor: Dr William RADICE Caretaker government in Bangladesh: Salvation or Supervisor: Dr Francesca ORSINI a recipe for disaster? Biswajit CHANDA Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Udeni SAMARASEKARA Family law reform in Bangladesh: The need for a Reconstructing the transition from oral to written: culture-specific legal system Lidia LEWANDOWSKA-NAYAR the comparative genesis and reception of the Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI The place and role of Narottama Dasa Thakura in Iliad, the Råmåyaˆa, and the Aeneid development of Bengali Vaishnavism (draft title) Supervisor: Dr Renate SÖHNEN-THIEME Mona CHETTRI Supervisor: Dr William RADICE Identity Politics in the Eastern Himalayan Soofia SIDDIQUE Borderland David LUNN Remembering the Revolt of 1857 Supervisor: Professor Michael HUTT Looking for common ground in the Hindu/Urdu Supervisor: Dr Francesca ORSINI controversy Phibul CHOOMPOLPAISAL Supervisor: Dr Francesca ORSINI Priyadarshini SINGH Conflicting Interpretations of Modern Thai Political Title TBC Buddhism: Reflections on Sociology, Sources and Zaad MAHMOOD Supervisor: Dr Matthew NELSON and Academic versus Insider Interpretations Determinants of labour reform in India Dr Rochana BAJPAI Supervisor: Dr Kate CROSBY Supervisor: Dr Lawrence SAEZ Federica SONA Pragya DHITAL Mara MALAGODI In the shadow of uniformity: Muslim marriages in Paper Chains: An Investigation of Translingual The Nepalese constitution (Awarded 2009) Europe Commerce in North Indian Print Media Supervisor: Professor Michael HUTT and Professor Supervisor: Professor Werner F MENSKI Supervisor: Dr Matthew NELSON Werner F MENSKI Krishna Prasad UPADHYAYA Meenu GAUR Anushay MALIK International Humanitarian Law and Vulnerability: Kashmir on Screen: Region, Religion and Worker activism in Lahore, 1950s-1980s the Tharu experience of Nepal’s internal conflict Secularism in Hindi Cinema (Completed 2010) Provisional title Supervisor: Professor Michael HUTT Supervisor: Professor Rachel DWYER Supervisor: Professor Peter ROBB Arash ZEINI The Pahlavi version of the Yasna Haptanghaiti Supervisor: Dr Almut HINTZE

23 NEWS

sohs ut a ia research are also welcome. South Asia Research also publishes ‘thought pieces’ and interpretative (SAR) essays that address issues and problems arising from new research. South Asia Research is an interdisciplinary area journal for the South Asia region, now SAR now appears three times a year and is published by Sage Publications in London available electronically through SAGE, which and edited by Werner MENSKI. The topics has led to a much larger readership for the covered include modern and pre-modern journal, as access figures demonstrate. history, politics, economics, anthropology, literary and visual culture, language and SAR is available online at literature. Its primary aim is to give rapid access to current research work and to http://sar.sagepub.com/ provide opportunities for publication to research students as well as to established scholars. In addition to reports of research in Free access to table of contents and abstracts. progress and book reviews, review articles Site-wide access to the full texts for members of subscribing institutions

CENTRE FOR BUDDHIST STUDIES Celebration of Endowment: The Seiyu Kiriyama Lectureship in Buddhist Studies 16 June 2010

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of sushi reception in the Brunei Gallery. The the founder of Agon Shu. The endowed the Agon Shu’s endowment of The Seiyu School then hosted a dinner at the Pearl lectureship has now been named in his Kiriyama Lectureship in Buddhist Studies restaurant in Holborn in honour of our honour. and the Centre for Buddhist Studies in guests from Agon Shu. the Department of the Study of Religions, The first holder of the Seiyu Kiriyama the School welcomed the Director for On arrival Mrs Maki was welcomed by Di- Lectureship in Buddhist Studies is International Affairs of the Agon Shu, Mrs rector Prof. Paul Webley and other staff of Dr. Crosby, who will also take over as Kazuko Maki, and representative of the the School. Dr Lucia Dolce presented Mrs director of the Centre on Dr Skorupski’s London branch of Agon Shu, Mrs Yumiko Maki with her latest book in Japanese, retirement later this year. A farewell party Mitchell on the 16th of June 2010. published earlier this year. Speeches by and dinner for Dr Skorupski was held Prof. Webley, Prof. Almut Hintze (HoD, on 22 June. He will rejoin us in 2010- To mark the occasion the founding SoR), and Dr Kate Crosby thanked the 2011 as the Visiting Numata Professor director of the Centre for Buddhist Agon Shu for their generosity – not- in Buddhist Studies, to deliver a lecture Studies, Dr Tadeusz Skorupski, ar- ing that this had enabled SOAS to offer series on ‘Consciousness in Buddhism.’ ranged a magnificent display of Bharat a breadth of teaching and research in Natyam, Kathak and eastern Tibetan Buddhist Studies unparalleled at any Kate Crosby Senior Lecturer in Buddhist Studies dance performances, the “Aesthetic Vi- university in the world outside of Asia – brations of Buddhist Enlightenment” in and expressed their appreciation of Dr. the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre. An Skorupski’s leadership in bringing the audience of 300 guests were entertained endowment to SOAS and starting the by the dance groups Kalasagara UK, Trev- Centre. Mrs Maki replied to these speech- eni Dance Company and Nam-Sa Tashi es with her own vote of thanks and a Theatre Group. This was followed by a special message from Seiyu Kiriyama,

24 NEWS

TreDago ays In Ljubljana, Slovenia 18-20 March 2010

With Rabindranath Tagore's 150th anniversary of his birth coming up, Slovenia, in its capital of Ljubljana, hosted a number of distinguished international scholars to reevaluate the legacy of Tagore's works for the new millenium, as well as probe and promote her enduring creative links with India. The new publication of Tagore's selected Organized by the Department of Asian short stories in Slovenian translation, Izbrane and African Studies at the Faculty of Arts zgodbe (Cankarjeva založba, tr. by Dušanka (University of Ljubljana) with support from Zabukovec, selected and introduced by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations Ana Jelnikar), in fact the 30th publication of (ICCR) and the Embassy of India, Prof Tagore's translated works to date, testifies Malashri Lal from the University of New Delhi, to the fact that Tagore's reception amongst historian Uma Das Gupta from Kolkata and Slovenes is a continuous and living tradition. Shantiniketan, Tagore translator and scholar William Radice from SOAS (University of Tagore Days in Ljubljana catered to a wider, London), bilingual writer, Tagore scholar and non-specialist audience with the production translator Ketaki Kushari Dyson ensured a of Tagore's dance drama Chandalika on comprehensive treatment of Tagore's legacy, Friday 19th March at the Cultural Centre addressing the significance of his literary Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, performed by the works, practical achievements in education internationally renowned Mamata Shankar and rural reconstruction, his philosophy, dance troupe from Kolkata. Finally, as it be- particularly as it stands in relationship with fits one of the great poets of the modern age, his creative works, the politics of language the Tagore Days were brought to a close by a and the importance of living tradition. literary reading at the Jazz Club Gajo in the heart of Ljubljana on the Saturday night. His If this formed the crux of the morning panel poetry was read in many different languages, of the academic seminar Rabindranath followed by a reading of the Slovenian writ- Tagore and His Legacy for the World Today ers Iztok Osojnik, Meta Kušar, Andrej Blat- held at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana, the nik, Gregor Podlogar and Evald Flisar whose afternoon panel moved on to consider works have been inspired by India. In an Tagore's international impact with respect to intermingling of many languages and poet- China, Central Europe, Croatia and Slovenia. ics, both past and present, in a relaxed and Prof. Jana Rošker shared her expertise friendly exchange between cultures and on Tagore's trip to China, evaluating its individuals, the reading at Gajo was in itself Painting by Rabrindanath Tagore cultural significance, Imre Bangha of the proof of the best legacy Tagore has yet to University of Oxford and authority on teach the world. Tagore's reception in Hungary examined Ana Jelnikar the various metamorposes of the Indian poet in the reception history of the region, while Indologist Klara Gonc Moačanin from the University of Zagreb threw light on Tagore's reception in Croatia and Ana Jelnikar explored the deeper connections between the Slovenian poet Srečko Kosovel and Tagore in the larger context of the Indian poet's reception in Slovenia.

The symposium's coordinators Tamara Ditrich and Ana Jelnikar were pleased with the impressive turnout at the event that gathered area scholars, literature experts, students and Tagore lovers alike. With Prof Jana Rošker, the head of the Department of Asian and African studies, they remain optimistic that the establishment of the Indian Studies Department at the University of Ljubljana planned for the near future will indeed go ahead.

25 JOIN THE CENTRE

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