CE N T E R F O R S O U T H A S I A N S T U D I E S Michigan Newsletter Fall 2016 University of Varuni Bhatia Letter from the Director A Conversation with out brilliantly in the two films) are the changes within the Jat agrarian economy. Your films Nakul Sawhney tease this aspect out, such that gender and reli- gion do not become simply cultural components I’d like to welcome students, religious polemic, contemporary mothers, river port bureaucrats, rural but are also very strongly linked to the political community members, staff, and governance, and two film screenings development, justice and tolerance in economy of the region. I am curious to have you faculty to the 2016-17 academic year about Indian elections and anti- Islamist thought, Buddhist concepts of talk a bit more about this. and invite you to be a part of an excit- Muslim violence (see p. 3). The CSAS mind, colonial medical jurisprudence, When I was working on Izzatnagari, in December ing year at the Center for South Asian also co-sponsored lectures organized medieval Indian public sphere, Bolly- 2010, I had also traveled to Muzaffarnagar then. Studies (CSAS). by undergraduate students including wood and Hollywood, and caste in elite On April 1, 2016 the CSAS welcomed Nakul Can you tell us a little bit about your Film and My aim was to understand what was happening in the Sikh Students Association and contemporary institutions (see p. 16). Sawhney to U-M for the screening of his latest Television Institute of India (FTII) days and your Last year the Center hosted several the Jat belt outside of Haryana. Muzaffarnagar and the South Asia Awareness Network. documentary, Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai (Muzaf- decision to become a documentary filmmaker? stimulating conferences. The Digital I would like to thank Desiree Gerner, Shamli district (in western Uttar Pradesh) also have farnagar Eventually), on the anti-Muslim massacre South Asia conference explored Last year the CSAS collaborated with who has left her position as Academic By the time I went to FTII, I was already quite sure a strong Muslim population. that broke out in 2013 during the run-up to the the transformation of media on the the U-M College of Literature, Science, Program Specialist, for her valuable I wanted to make documentary films.I went to 2014 elections in Muzaffarnagar.S awhney is an One could sense, then, that this kind of Jat identity Indian subcontinent (see p. 5). We are and the Arts to establish partnerships contribution to the Center over the Bombay after that for a couple of years, but I just established Indian documentary filmmaker, whose politics, which had shown itself to be anti-women grateful to Ranvir and Adarsh Trehan with two premier academic institu- past two years. We are excited that didn’t enjoy working in the film industry.I t was credits include the highly acclaimed Izzatnagari ki and anti-Dalit in Haryana, could be channeled to and the Trehan Foundation Fund for tions in Pakistan: Lahore University Janelle Fosler, former CSAS Fellow- good that I went there because I went back to my Asabhya Betiyan (The Immoral Daughters in the become anti-Muslim as well—and it would have a making this conference possible. In of Management Sciences and Habib ships Coordinator, will step into the first love.I could see more clearly that this is what CONTENTS Land of Honour). lot to do with gender issues, where the diktats by April, the Organization of Pakistani University (Karachi). These partner- position. We are grateful to Megan I wanted to do. Letter from the Director 2 khap panchayats against inter-caste marriages and Students and CSAS hosted its Sixth ships will bring students from these Erskine who did terrific work for the Varuni Bhatia, Assistant Professor of Asian Lan- Coming to Izzatnagari ki Asabhya Betiyan so forth at a time when inter-caste marriages were A Conversation with Annual Conference, Infrastructure and two universities to U-M and foster Center during the transition. Lastly, I guages and Cultures, recently spoke with Sawhney (The Immoral Daughters in the Land of Honour), on the rise. Now in western Uttar Pradesh where you Nakul Sawhney 3 its Discontents in Pakistan (see p. 6), faculty collaboration between our am grateful for the tremendous work about his start in filmmaking and his recent films. how did you come to making this film? There have a strong Muslim population the same diktats which brought together scholars from institutions (see p. 7). Farina Mir did for the Center last year, This discussion was lightly edited for clarity. Land Transactions are these powerful women in the film, how did would be issued against inter-religious marriages. Pakistan and the US to focus on the despite her leave, and we look forward Conference 4 Finally, I am pleased to announce that How did you come to documentary filmmaking? you find them and get them to speak to you on That’s where the whole concept of “honor,” which complex issues surrounding develop- to her return to full duty as Center our Summer in South Asia (SiSA) the camera? a woman is supposed to bear—community honor, Sound in South Asia ment and infrastructure in Pakistan. director this fall. In college, between 2000 Conference 4 undergraduate fellowship program family honor, so on and so forth—these would fit Our final conference, a collaboration and 2003, we saw docu- There was so much happening at the time in the continues to thrive. This summer we In the pages that follow you’ll find well into the diktats against “love jehad” mounted by Digital South Asia Conference 5 with other International Institute area mentary films like Ram ke region—these so-called honor killings were all over sent ten U-M students to India to work more information on the Center’s the VHP. All this found a resonance with each other. centers, Land Transactions and their Nam (In the Name of Ram) the media, and coming from Delhi, it was so close U-M Pakistan Conference 2016 6 on a terrific range of research projects, activities over the past year as well as I wasn’t very surprised when I heard about the riots Social-Ecological Impacts, was a two- by Anand Patwardhan. to home. I was keen to see this, explore this a little including textiles, domestic labor, those we have planned for the coming and especially when it was all instigated in the name CSAS Welcomed India day conference attended by scholars Before that, the only docu- more. I went there and I began shooting and then Ambassador Singh 7 Ayurvedic and allopathic medicine, year. You’ll also read about research of “honor,” protecting Hindu women’s honor from from South Asia, Europe, Africa, and mentary films I had seen I traveled extensively and met a lot of people. One literacy, and waste management (see on and engagement with South “Muslim men” allegedly “on the prowl.” U-M, CSAS Establish Ties Southeast Asia (see p. 4). were the Films Division documentaries tele- recurrent feature was young women. p.14). Please join us on September 30 Asia from across U-M. This year, we With Pakistani Universities 7 casted on Doordarshan—and that was what one When I saw the two films, Izzatnagari and His Excellency Arun Kumar Singh, for the SiSA Fellowship Symposium to are highlighting the work of our col- How did you negotiate the gender field as a understood as “documentaries.” The Patwardhan Muzaffarnagar, I felt that the films needed to Faculty News 8 Indian Ambassador to the US, and hear about the fellows’ experiences in leagues in the School of Engineering male filmmaker speaking with women and men documentaries introduced me to another kind of be seen together even though they are sepa- College of Engineering 10 Mr. Faisal Tirmizi, Consul General of India. We are grateful to an anony- (p. 10) and the Law School (p. 11). on a topic so controversial? storytelling which was fascinating to me. Since rated by three years, that they tell two sides of Pakistan, spoke about current US mous donor for making this wonderful School of Law 11 Please check the Center’s website for then, I saw Rahul Roy’s films, and other kinds of One learns from one’s mistakes. I remember walking the same story where the agrarian economy, relations with their countries (see p. program possible. more information about events and films which got me clued into this form. Gujarat into a school, a girl’s school where there were just gender and religion are closely tied to each FLAS Recipients 11 7). We also held two events focused We have an exciting program for news about South Asia at U-M. I look happened (2002 Gujarat riots) and a whole range three of us men as a part of the film crew, and they other. Am I right in thinking this way? on Dalits: representatives of the Dalit Graduate Student News 12 next year. On October 7-8 a major forward to seeing you at our events of films were being made and screened on the were very uncomfortable. That was an experience I Women’s Self-Respect movement I think Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai is very much a Summer in South Asia international conference, Sound and (all of which are free and open to the violence that had taken place in those riots. took with me and when I went to Muzaffarnagar for discussed their stirring activities; and sequel of Izzatnagari ki Asabhya Betiyan.