News about upcoming South Asia-related events - Fall 2015
Institute for South Asia Studies, UC Berkeley
Fall 2015
Friends,

Welcome, or welcome back, to Berkeley's Institute for South Asia Studies. Many events are planned for the fall semester, starting with our Annual Reception -- featuring a Bharatnatyam performance by Natya at Berkeley -- introducing the Institute and its programs on Wednesday September 9.  

We are sponsoring and co-sponsoring a range of provocative talks and performances, including visits by Amitav Ghosh, Katherine Boo, Linda Hess, Isher Ahluwalia, Will Glover, Poile Sengupta, the annual Sarah Kailath lecture by Sudha Murty, the annual Mahomedali Habib lecture by Christophe Jaffrelot; and talks by Berkeley scholars Jennifer Bussell, Poulomi Saha, and David Szanton.  

We will have performances of the Kerala based dramatic form Yakshagana with Prabhakar Joshy and of Kathak dance with the internationally eminent Shovana Narayan.

And more events are being added to our calendar each week.  

We are delighted to welcome as 2015-2016 Visiting Scholars Roger Begrich, Purushottama Billimoria, and Andrea Wright.  

In our annual newsletter Khabar, we highlight the new Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, and I hope you will take the opportunity to read Khabar and learn more about this exciting new addition to Berkeley.  As part of the Chowdhury Center's Fall program we are once again hosting the annual conference of the Bangladesh Development Initiative in November and welcoming noted Rabindrasangeet scholar/performer Mousumi Banerjee as well as former BBC journalist and Bangladesh specialist, Ali Riaz.

While you are checking out Khabar, you might note our special section devoted to Suzanne and Lloyd Rudolph. These path-breaking political scientists retired to Berkeley and quickly established themselves as a critical part of South Asia scholarly community here. We feature a relatively unknown episode in the lives of Lloyd and Suzanne.

I am delighted to note that Professor Sonia Katyal has accepted an appointment at Berkeley Law School and the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.  Dr. Katyal's work focuses on intellectual property, civil rights (including gender, race and sexuality), artistic freedom, advertising, and innovation, with significant scholarship across South Asia.  

ISAS faculty continue to win awards for path-breaking scholarship, teaching, and service.  Most recently, Professor Munis Faruqui (South and Southeast Asian Studies) was awarded the U.C. Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award for 2014.

This is a year of transition for ISAS. Manali Sheth, Program and Publications Assistant, is stepping down to pursue a career in city and regional planning, with a particular interest in transit systems internationally. Manali has been integral to the ISAS these past two years and we are both sorry to lose her and delighted that she is pursuing her commitment to progressive urban planning.  

Two new staff members are joining ISAS.  

Sridevi Prasad (Program and Publications Assistant) graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015 with a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology and a double minor in South Asian Studies and Global Poverty and Practice. Sridevi is interested in politics in South Asia and the diaspora community as well as refugee health issues.

Mike Ganim (Finance Assistant) is a veteran Berkeley administrator with over twenty years experience across several departments and programs, most recently in the School of Optometry. He retired in 2012 and we are delighted he has returned to bring his acumen to further developing ISAS.

I look forward to seeing you in10 Stephens Hall in 2015, and welcome back. 

Lawrence
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Fall 2015 Events. Please click on links for further information. 

PUBLIC LECTURES
  1. Monday, August 31, 2015
  2. Wednesday, September 16, 2015
  3. Friday, September 18, 2015
  4. Thursday, September 24, 2015
  5. Friday, September 25, 2015
  6. Tuesday, September 29, 2015
  7. Monday, October 5, 2015
  8. Thursday, October 8, 2015
    An Evening with Pakistani Poet and Nonfiction Writer, Harris Khalique
    Lecture | October 8 | 5-7 p.m. | 220 Stephens Hall, Townsend Center
     
  9. Thursday, October 15, 2015
  10. Thursday, October 15, 2015
  11. Wednesday, October 28, 2015
  12. Thursday, October 29, 2015
  13. Thursday, November 5, 2015
    The Erosion of Secularism in Bangladesh?
    5-7 p.m. | 10 Stephens Hall
     
  14. Thursday, November 12, 2015
  15. Sunday, November 15, 2015
CONFERENCES & PANELS
  1. Friday, September 25, 2015
  2. Friday, October 30, 2015
  3. Friday, November 6 - Sunday, November 8, 2015
PERFORMANCES AND LECTURE-DEMONSTRATIONS
  1. Thursday, September 17, 2015
  2. Friday, September 25, 2015
  3. Friday, October 30, 2015

a Chowdhury Center event: 
The Erosion of Secularism in Bangladesh?
Talk by Prof. Ali Riaz

Thursday, November 5
5-7 p.m.
10 Stephens Hall

a Chowdhury Center event: 
Development and Democracy in Bangladesh: Current problems and Prospects

November 6 – 8, 2015 
9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Clark Kerr Campus

One of the world's leading centers for research and programs on South Asia, the Institute for South Asia Studies (ISAS) at the University of California, Berkeley works with faculty members, graduate students, community members, private institutions, and non-profit organizations to deepen understanding of the region and to create new generations of scholars of South Asia. Read more here

The Politics of Screening: Vasundhara Sirnate on Muzaffarnagar Baqi Hai, a new documentary on the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots

Patidars for OBC Quota: Sandip Roy on whether Hardik Patel is actually spearheading an anti-reservation movement in Gujarat 

The Unspoken and the Unspeakable: Dina Siddiqi on the threat to the freedom of speech in Bangladesh

Flood of Fire
Amitav Ghosh brings the final novel in his bestselling Ibis trilogy to Cal

Thursday, October 15
12-2 p.m.
315 Wheeler Hall, The Maude Fife Room

Lessons from Life
The 4th Sarah Kailath Memorial Lecture by Sudha Murty

Thursday, October 29
6-7:30 p.m.
315 Wheeler Hall

a Chowdhury Center event:
Ocean of Stories: Telling Tales through Tagore's Music and Poetry

Friday, October 30
6-8 p.m.
Venue TBD

Videos of CSAS programs are available within a week of the event date and also in our podcast feed.
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