South Asia Newsletter Centre of South Asian Studies www.soas.ac.uk/csas/ No 66 April 2007 I would like to thank all who organised and attended the two mini-series hosted by the Centre the previous term on Gender and Politics in South Asia, and the Tongues on Fire Film Festival. This includes Dr Sumi Madhok of the Department of Politics, Jane Savory of the Centres Office, and the Tongues on Fire collective for having brought very interesting speakers and films to SOAS. The Gender series continues into Term 3. We also have a set of new events this term. Early in May we host a discussion on multiculturalism in Britain, co-organised with the Awaaz collective. In June, we commemorate the life and work of Ralph Russell, the legendary SOAS teacher of Urdu language and literature, whose fame and influence reach well beyond the UK to South Asia, where he has received numerous awards and has been associated with literary movements. I would like to thanks Dr Talat Ahmed of the Department of History for organising this event. In addition, in collaboration with the University of Reading, we will host, in late-June a conference on the legacy and uses of Alexander in South Asian culture, politics and scholarship. We hope also to put some seminars over the summer. Best wishes, Subir Sinha Chair, Centre for South Asian Studies CENTRE MEMBERS Staff Dr Jonathan Goodhand BA PGCE(BIRMINGHAM) MSC PHD(MANCHESTER) Senior Lecturer in Development Practice Dr Subir Sinha BA(DELHI) MA PHD(NORTHWESTERN) Department of Development Studies Chair, Centre of South Asian Studies [email protected] Lecturer in Institutions and Development Department of Development Studies Dr Almut Hintze BA(HEIDELBERG) MPHIL(OXON) DPHIL(ERLANGEN) [email protected] DHABIL(BERLIN) Zartoshty Brothers Senior Lecturer in Zoroastrianism Dr Daud Ali BA(WILLIAM & MARY) MA PHD(CHICAGO) Department of the Study of Religions Senior Lecturer in Early Indian History [email protected] Department of History [email protected] Dr Stephen P Hughes BA(BATES COLL.,LEWISTON) MA PHD(CHICAGO) Lecturer in Social Anthropology Dr Rochana Bajpai BA(BARODA) MA(JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIV) PHD(OXON) Department of Anthropology and Sociology Lecturer in the Politics of Asia/Africa [email protected] Department of Politics and International Studies [email protected] Professor Michael J Hutt BA PHD(LONDON) Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies Dr Crispin Branfoot BA(MANCHESTER) MA PHD(LONDON) Dean of Faculty of Languages and Cultures Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Department of Art and Archaeology [email protected] Ms Marina Chellini Dr Sudipta Kaviraj BA MA(CALC.) PHD(J.NEHRU.U) Principal Library Assiant, South Asia Section Reader of Politics with reference to Asia Library and Information Service Department of Politics and International Studies [email protected] [email protected] Dr Whitney Cox Professor Mushtaq Khan BA(OXON) MPHIL PHD(CANTAB) Lecturer in Sanskrit Professor of Economics Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Department of Economics [email protected] [email protected] Dr Kate Crosby BA DPHIL(OXON) Dr Martin W Lau MA PHD(LONDON) Senior Lecturer in Buddhist Studies Reader in Law Department of the Study of Religions School of Law [email protected] [email protected] Dr Philippe Cullet LLM(LONDON) MA(LONDON) JSD(STANDFORD) Dr Jens Lerche MA PHD(COPENHAGEN) Senior Lecturer in International Environmental Law Senior Lecturer in Development Studies School of Law Department of Development Studies [email protected] [email protected] Dr Jeevan S Deol BA(BRITISH COLUMBIA) MPHI (LONDON) PHD(CANTAB) Dr Sumi Madhok Lecturer in Urdu and South Asian Studies Mellon Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Department of Political Studies Centre of South Asian Studies, SOAS Centre of South Asian Studies, [email protected] [email protected] Dr Sonali Deraniyagala BA(CANTAB) MA(LONDON) DPHIL(OXON) Dr Angelika Malinar MA PHD(TÜßINGEN) Lecturer in Economics Lecturer in Hinduism Department of Economics Department of the Study of Religions [email protected] [email protected] Dr Rachel Dwyer BA(LONDON) MPHIL)OXON) PHD(LONDON) Mr Nicholas Martland Reader in Indian Studies and Cinema Librarian for South Asia, South East Asia & Pacific Studies Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Library and Information Service [email protected] [email protected] Alex Fischer Dr Matthew McCartney BA(CANTAB) MPHIL(OXON) School of Law Lecturer in Economics with reference to South Asia [email protected] Department of Economics [email protected] Dr Peter Flügel MA, DRPHIL (MAINZ) Fellow and Chair, Centre for Jaina Studies Department of the Study of Religions [email protected] 2 South Asia Newsletter: No 66 Professor Werner F Menski MA(KIEL) PHD(LONDON) Dr Parvathi Raman BA PHD(LONDON) Professor of South Asian Laws Lecturer in Social Anthropology School of Law Department of Anthropology and Sociology [email protected] [email protected] Mr Satoshi Miyamura BA(TOKYO) MA(HITOTSUBASHI) MSC(LONDON) Professor Peter G Robb BA(WELLINGTON) PHD(LONDON) Teaching Fellow in Economics Professor of the History of India Department of Economics Pro-Director [email protected] Department of History [email protected] Dr David Mosse BA DPHIL(OXON) Reader in Social Anthropology Dr Martyn Rogers BA DPHIL (SUSSEX) Department of Anthropology and Sociology Teaching Fellow [email protected] Department of Anthropology and Sociology [email protected] Mr Rakesh Nautiyal BA MA(GARHWAL) LLB Lector in Hindi Dr Lucy Rosenstein BA MA PHD(LONDON) Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Senior Lecturer in Hindi [email protected] Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia [email protected] Dr Matthew J Nelson BA(BOWDOIN) PHD(COLUMBIA) Lecturer in the Politics of Asia/Africa Professor Christopher Shackle BA DIPSOC ANTHROP BLITT(OXON) Department of Politics and International Studies PHD(LONDON) FBA [email protected] Professor of the Modern Languages of South Asia Department of the Study of Religions Dr Francesca Orsini PHD(SOAS) [email protected] Lecturer in Hindi Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Dr Tadeusz Skorupski LTH(VATICAN) PHD(LONDON) [email protected] Reader in Buddhist Studies Director, Centre of Buddhist Studies Dr Caroline Osella BA PHD(LONDON) Department of the Study of Religions Lecturer in Anthropology with reference to South Asia [email protected] Department of Anthropology and Sociology [email protected] Dr Renata Sohnen-Thieme DRPHIL(MAINZ) Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit Dr Ulrich Pagel BA PHD(LONDON) Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Senior Lecturer in Language and Religion in Tibet and Middle [email protected] Asia Department of the Study of Religions Dr Shabnum Tejani BA (OBERLIN COLL) MA MPHIL PHD(COLUMBIA) [email protected] Lecturer in the History of Modern South Asia Department of History Dr Avril A Powell MA(CANTAB) PGCE PHD(LONDON) [email protected] Reader in the History of Islam in South Asia Department of History Professor Tom Tomlinson MA PHD(CANTAB) [email protected] Dean of Faculty of Arts and Humanities Professor of Economic History Mr Krishna Pradhan BA MA(TRIBHUVAN) Department of History Lector in Nepali [email protected] Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia [email protected] Professor D Richard Widdess MUSB MA PHD(CANTAB) MA(LONDON) Professor of Musicology Dr Theodore Proferes BA(NEW YORK) MA PHD(HARVARD) Department of Music Lecturer in Ancient Indian Religions [email protected] Associate Dean, Learning & Teaching Department of the Study of Religions Dr Amina Yaqin BA(PUNJAB) BA(SUSSEX) PHD(LONDON) [email protected] Lecturer in Urdu and Postcolonial Studies Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Dr William Radice MA DPHIL(OXON) [email protected] Senior Lecturer in Bengali Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia Dr Cosimo Zene BA MA PHD(LONDON) [email protected] Senior Lecturer in Theory and Methods in the Study of Religions Department of the Study of Religions [email protected] April 2007 3 CENTRE MEMBERS CONT’D Professorial Research Associates Research Associates Professor Clifford Wright Dr Shuja Al-Haq Professor Nicholas Dirks SOAS Dr Stuart Blackburn Mr Ramesh Kumar Dhungel Ghulam Murshid STAFF NEWS Edward Simpson I am delighted to be joining the Department of Anthropology Through this project I have become interested in what and Sociology at SOAS. happens when social and physical landscapes are destroyed; how the living re-inhabit the world in the absence of familiar I have a background in anthropology with degrees from people and places; how the living negotiate their peace the University of Manchester and the London School of with the dead; what things and ideas people cling to, and, Economics. conversely, what they let, willingly or otherwise, slip from their grasp; and how sometimes unlikely coalitions of people come My principal research interests are: (i) the������������������ anthropology of together in the name of regional or political protest after the Indian Ocean, with particular reference to understanding natural disasters in new spaces formed by changing relations contemporary India and the ethnography of Islam and, (ii) the between people and states. ethnography of life and death in the aftermath of catastrophic natural disasters. �������������������������������������My research has mostly been conducted Recently, I have started comparative research in Sri Lanka in Gujarat, western India, and has been both theoretical and and Pakistan on these issues in relation to post-disaster ethnographic; my field methods evolving over the last decade reconstruction.