From the Dean’s Desk Dear Colleagues, Students and Friends, CONTENTS The second issue of Guftugu is with you. Conferences at MGSHSS As the first one it covers most of what we accomplished in MGSHSS during the Everyday Urbanisms: An Interview semester. It was indeed a busy and eventful semester, with conferences, workshops, with AbdouMaliq Simone musical events, poetry readings, along with a number of new faculty hires. We started Events at MGSHSS the semester with a major international The Newsletter is the Punjabi Conference, the first of its kind. official voice of the Toward the middle we hosted the annual Centre Events Office of the Dean, conference on Courts and Politics in Mushtaq Ahmad Pakistan. And by the end of the semester colleagues organized a major conference Faculty News Gurmani School of titled, The Great Transformation? The Humanities and Social China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Sciences, LUMS. Culture, Economy and Society in Pakistan. MGSHSS Professor Co-authors UNDP There were other events that brought Report on Pakistan speakers from Europe and the US for discussion and exchanges with our faculty and students. Our faculty as always History Across Borders: Ali Usman remained active in teaching and research Qasmi & Pallavi Raghavan We would like to thank and our students involved themselves in a Sara Saleem Khan and range of activities. All this is recorded in Ateeb Gul for their work the following pages. Sikh Architecture in South Asia: An on this issue and for Guftugu represents the best of what Interview with Dr. Nadhra Shahbaz their contributions to it. we offer as a School and highlights the Naeem We are also grateful to creativity, dedication to excellence and the Nazish Riaz for helping vision of our faculty and students. Of course out with the pictures. none of what is accomplished happens Women and the Economy: An Special mention must without the hard work and commitment of Interview with Dr. Hadia Majid be made of the Karachi- all our staff colleagues that make sure all that we do is made possible. based writer, journalist, Remembering Saba Mahmood Our guftugu continues. and photographer Vaqar (1962-2018) Ahmed, whose pictures have been used for the Warm regards front and back covers. Student Contributions The layout has been designed by Muhammad Junaid. We also thank authors who not only provided us with write- ups but also pictures to go along with them. 1 02 CONFERENCES AT MGSHSS International Punjabi Conference Tabinda M. Khan On February 16 and 17, 2018, the and cultural transformations of the Baba Farid and Amir Khusro. Gurmani Center for Languages and Punjab [“Punjab vich samaji, maali tay The second panel, “Punjab: Language Literature and the Mushtaq Ahmad rehtali kayapalti”] with Tahir Kamran and Identity” [“Boli tay Shanakht”], Gurmani School of Humanities and (GCU, Lahore), Manzur Ejaz (USA), and featured Tariq Rahman (BNU, Social Sciences hosted an international Mahmood Awan (Ireland), and was Lahore), Amarjit Chandan (England) Punjabi conference on the theme moderated by Sarwat Mohiuddin and Gurmeet Kaur (USA), and was “Punjab’s Cultural Identity: Past and (Islamabad). Tahir Kamran analyzed Present.” This was the first time that the changes in the Punjabi oral a Punjabi conference was held at tradition produced by the adoption of LUMS and the hosts, Moeen Nizami, print technology and the use of Urdu the Director of the Gurmani Centre, as a symbol of Muslim nationalism. and Kamran Asdar Ali, the Dean of Mahmood Awan recalled that the the MGSHSS, expressed their hope British army recruited primarily from that it would become an annual event the Punjab, making it a foremost and would stimulate scholarship beneficiary of military spending on Punjabi language, literature, and on salaries; he used Punjabi folk politics. The conference was conducted literature to demonstrate that the almost entirely in Punjabi, rather army was perceived as a benefactor than English, which was a path and army jobs as a path for social breaking development for LUMS. In mobility. Manzur Ejaz explained that moderated by Ali Usman Qasmi (LUMS). his concluding remarks, Syed Babar urbanization and the adoption of Tariq Rahman compared the Punjabi Ali, the guest of honor, exclaimed that modern technology had transformed language movement with movements never before had this much Punjabi villages in Pakistani Punjab and in other countries, and noted that it been spoken inside a LUMS auditorium! had displaced many of the activities was a deviant case because it entailed The conference began with a traditionally associated with village life. a dominant ethnic group conceding keynote speech by Mushtaq Soofi, On Friday night, the conference the right to have its language an eminent writer and President of concluded with a Punjabi Qawwali serve as the basis for government the Punjabi Adab Board, followed performance, which drew on the and education, in the interest of by five panels, one on Friday and poetry of Waris Shah, Bullhe Shah, nationalism. Amarjit Chandan asked the remaining four on Saturday. conference participants why no one The first panel was on “Socio-economic spoke of the Punjabi nation; he tried to uncover the reasons why Punjabis had been unsuccessful at organizing a movement for their linguistic rights. Gurmeet Kaur spoke about the need to acquaint children, in the Punjab and the diaspora, with Punjabi folk tales because they were based on a spirituality grounded in oneness with nature, which not only united people across religions and national borders but also countered the materialism of modern consumerist societies. 1 02 The third panel, “Classical Literature: discussed how colonial, communal Gender Question” [“Classical adab tay and nationalist biases were present in nar naari da sawaal”], analyzed the historiography and considered whether representation of women in Punjabi it was possible to have an “objective” folk literature and in plays by (and representation of historical events or about) the Punjabi diaspora in Canada. if it was inevitable that history would Anne Murphy, who heads the Punjabi be distorted to serve the needs of Studies Program at the University of ideological movements. The discussion British Columbia, Vancouver, narrated was impassioned, and sometimes the story of Komagata Maru. In 1914, combative, but it demonstrated that a group of 376 passengers from the in Heer Ranjha celebrated women as the conference had successfully Punjab attempted to emigrate to Canada strong, feisty, courageous and bold. inspired participants to reflect deeply on board the Japanese steamship Zubair Ahmad moderated the panel on difficult and controversial issues Komagata Maru; all but 24 were denied and there was a lively discussion after related to Punjabi historiography, entry because of an immigration law the presentations. Audience members linguistic rights and communal that allowed exclusion on the basis debated whether the “daadi” woman divisions (particularly the division of race. Murphy argued that “the of Punjabi folk tales was a creature of between Muslim and Sikh Punjabis over past is still present” and that though the past and suggested that in future the choice of Shahmukhi or Gurmakhi Canadians have come to recognize panels on the gender question, Punjabi as the script for Punjabi scholarship). the Komagata Maru incident as a dark women activists and artists should be A recurring question throughout the period in their history, discrimination invited to share their perspective. conference was how Punjabis could persists in other forms, against preserve and celebrate their shared immigrants but also against women. The fourth panel, “Partition: The killers and the killed” [“Wandd: kaun qatil, language, history: and culture, while She analyzed three plays on the the territory of the Punjab was divided Komagata Maru incident and compared kaun maqtul”] with Pervaiz Vandal (UCA, Lahore), Mazhar Tirmizi (UK) between two nation-states, and while two which showed the perspective of the community structures of Punjabi the sole woman aboard the ship (her and Nadhra Naeem Khan (LUMS), was moderated by Kamran Asdar Ali diasporas often reproduced these perspective was excluded from earlier national and communal divisions. productions). The other two panelists, (LUMS), and the fifth panel, “History owned fully or selectively” [“Tarikh It was perhaps fitting that the Saeed Bhutta (GCU, Lahore) and Jamil conference concluded with the launch Pal, analyzed the representation of de wirasat, puri ya adhuri?”] with Mushtaq Soofi, Qazi Javaid and Iqbal of Gurmeet Kaur’s book for children, women in Punjabi folk stories, and Fascinating Folktales of Punjab, at the described how characters such as Heer Qaiser, was moderated by Nadhra Naeem Khan (LUMS). Both panels Gurmani Foundation in Gulberg. In this beautifully illustrated book, Kaur presents Punjabi folk tales, in side- by-side Shahmukhi and Gurmakhi scripts with an English translation, and also provides a conversion table that can help children learn both scripts. By introducing children to the sights, sounds and tales of pre- partition Punjab in this linguistically pluralistic way, she demonstrated that it was possible for Punjabis to celebrate their shared cultural heritage without losing their distinctive identities. Tabinda M. Khan is post-doctoral fellow at the Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature, LUMS. 03 04 Courts and Politics in Pakistan On March 14 and 15, Prof. Mohammad between courts and politics in the Waseem, Director of the Political