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September 13 - Noon - 1 PM
206 Ingraham Hall

"Beyond the Main Road: Women's Sung Mythology from Kangra, Northwest India"

Dr. Kirin Narayan, Professor, Department of Anthropology, UW-Madison

In the Himalayan foothill region of Kangra, regional cultural traditions are increasingly said to be found off the main roads with their rush of traffic, media images, and glittering goods, lodged instead with old women in out-of-the way locales. I follow this image of cultural locales and routes inward, showing how women’s Pahari songs creatively rework the frames of Puranic narratives about Krishna from regional and gendered perspectives. I also travel outward to reflect on the countervailing pull of ethnography that circulates localized forms across regions, languages, and conceptual frameworks towards new forms of localization that potentially include diasporic appropriation.

Dr. Narayan was on leave in 2006-2007, writing a book on women's sung mythology in the Himalayan foothill region of Kangra, Northwest India , with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to long-term fieldwork on oral traditions in South Asia , she is also researching the South Asian diaspora, and the role of narratives in the transmission of identity. She is also working on making explicit the craft of ethnographic writing in dialogue with other narrative genres. http://www.anthropology.wisc.edu/people_narayan.html

 

September 20 - Noon - 1 PM
206 Ingraham Hall

"Finding Harmony: Ethics through Performance and Story"

Dr. Leela Prasad, Associate Professor of Ethics and Indian Religions, Duke University

What might the study of ethics look like if we approached it from the perspective of unscripted stories or marked performance? Conversationally shared stories about "everyday" acts and a narrative performance tradition on idealized conduct in Sringeri, a well-known Hindu pilgrimage town in southwestern India , reveal that ethical thinking and practice are profoundly shaped by notions of propriety. Connecting 11th century Sanskrit literary theory on dramatic propriety to contemporary oral poetics, I show that appropriateness--both as a poetic and a principle--is critical to conceptions of the auspicious and the dharmic, and ultimately to moral persuasiveness .

Leela Prasad (1999), Associate Professor of Ethics and Indian Religions, received her PhD in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. Her interests are in ethics and its ‘lived,’ expressive dimensions, particularly in Hindu contexts. She also works in the areas of colonial and postcolonial anthropology of India , folklore, narrative, gender, and the South Asian American diaspora. In Poetics of Conduct: Narrative and Moral Being in a South Indian Town (Columbia University Press, 2006), she draws on a decade of ethnography in Sringeri, a pilgrimage town in South India, to explore relationships between oral narrative, ethical discourse, and the poetics of everyday language. Leela is currently writing her second monograph, titled Annotating Pastimes: Cultures of Narration in Colonial India , in which she studies how the collection and publication of Indian folklore between 1860 and 1920 intertwined with earlier Oriental interests and created a paradigm for the subsequent anthropology of Indian cultures and societies. http://www.duke.edu/religion/home/prasad/prasad.html

 

Friday, September 21, 1:30 - 3 PM
206 Ingraham Hall

"Pakistan: Democracy and Stability"

Ejaz Haider, News Editor, The Friday Times and Foreign/Op-Editor of The Daily Times Lahore , Pakistan

Visiting Fellow, The Brooking Institute Foreign Policy Studies Program, 2003

Since 1995, Haider has been news editor of The Friday Times, Pakistan 's most independent weekly newspaper. In April 2002, The Friday Times launched a new publication, Daily Times. The Friday Times has long advocated a review of government policy toward fundamentalist Islam , Afghanistan , and Kashmir . The newspaper has taken a hard stand against corruption in government that ultimately led Nawaz Sharif to illegally detain its chief editor, Najam Sethi, in May 1999.

Before joining the staff of The Friday Times, Haider was assistant editor at the Lahore edition of The Frontier Post. During his career, he has reported extensively on security issues, Afghanistan , and political Islam. His weekly column for The Friday Times focuses on security, Pakistani politics, Pakistan-India relations, and political Islam.

From 1999 until March 2002, Haider was the project coordinator for the Asia-Europe Dialogue, sponsored by the Heinrich Boell Foundation. The project addresses alternative strategies on problems of globalization and nuclear proliferation.

Haider has written extensively for other publications based in Asia , including the Times of India, India Abroad, Central Asia Monitor, and The World Today, a monthly publication of the Royal Institute for International Relations in London .

Haider earned his M.A. in English literature from the University of Punjab in 1986.

 

September 27, Noon - 1 PM
206 Ingraham Hall

Shamans, Herbalists, and State Discourses of Indigenous Development in North India: Theory and Method in the Anthropology of Environmentality

Dr. Jeffery Snoddgrass, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University

This talk discusses the environmental thought and practice of indigenous peoples living in and around a wildlife sanctuary in North India. Analysis reveals fewer than expected differences between the beliefs and practices of shamans and non-shamans; however, herbalists are markedly more committed than non-herbalists to preventing or mitigating over-harvesting of natural resources. To explain these results, reference is made to particular juncture of native traditions and modern conditions. Locally, shamanic healers first and foremost serve human, as opposed to plant or animal, communities; by contrast, herbalist healers’ greater social and economic dependence on the jungle leads them to pursue a practical conservation of the poor. Globally, shamans, perceived to be superstitious “witch-hunters,” have been the target of centuries of outsider reform, leading to a shamanic suspicion in this context of state-sponsored conservation; however, herbalists are favorably positioned to take advantage of government interest in documenting and preserving local biodiversity, thus leading to less suspicious of bodies such as the Rajasthan Forest Department. Drawing on methods and theories from political ecology and cultural psychology, as well as on both humanistic and scientific perspectives, a framework is presented for the testing of hypotheses related to “environmentality”—the manner that state regulatory structures form fields of power and meaning that differentially impact local communities’ relationships to nature.

http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/Anthropology/fac.html#jeff2

 

October 4, 5 - 6:30 pm
Vandeberg Auditorium, Pyle Center

"Earth I love"

Satish Kumar, Editor, Resurgence Magazine

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, UW-Madison

When he was only nine years old, Satish Kumar renounced the world and joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks. Dissuaded from his path by an inner voice at the age of eighteen, he left the monastic order and became a campaigner for land reform, working to turn Gandhi’s vision of a peaceful world into reality. Fired by the example of Bertrand Russell, he undertook an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to America without any money, through deserts, mountains, storms and snow. It was an adventure during which he was thrown into jail in France , faced a loaded gun in America – and delivered packets of ‘peace tea’ to the leaders of the four nuclear powers. In 1973, he settled in England, taking the Editorship of Resurgence magazine. He has been the editor ever since (30 + years!). He founded the Small School in Hartland, a pioneering secondary school (aged 11-16), which brings into its curriculum ecological and spiritual values. In 1991, Schumacher College, a residential international center for the study of ecological and spiritual values, was founded, of which he is the Director of Programme.Following Indian tradition, in his fiftieth year, he undertook another pilgrimage: again carrying no money, he walked 2,000 miles to the holy places of Britain – Glastonbury, Canterbury, Lindisfarne and Iona. Meeting old friends and making new ones along the way, this pilgrimage was a celebration of his love of life and nature.In July 2000, Satish Kumar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education from the University of Plymouth. In July 2001 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from the University of Lancaster.In November 2001, Satish Kumar was presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad.His autobiography, No Destination, has sold 50,000 copies and is published by Green books. Satish’s two other books, You Are, Therefore I Am – A Declaration of Dependence and The Buddha and the Terrorist are also published by Green Books. He is currently working on his fourth book. For more information http://www.resurgence.org/satish/index.htm

Wednesday October 17, 5 - 7:30 pm
Lee Lounge, Pyle Center

NOTE: With regrets, this lecture has been cancelled.

"Future Directions of India-U.S. Ties"

Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, Deputy Chief, Embassy of India, Washington DCReception (5-6 pm) and Lecture (6-7:30 pm)

This event is co-sponsored by the Division of International Studies, UW-Madison. For more information http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/dcm.asp

October 18, Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"Women and Land: Perspectives from North India"

Dr. Smita Tewari Jassal, Anthropologist, Gender and Development, Columbia University and Cross-Cultural Communications, American University

Dr. Jassal, anthropologist, teaches Gender and Development at Columbia University, New York and Cross-Cultural Communications at American University, Washington D.C. She has also taught at SAIS , Johns Hopkins University . She was Visiting Fellow at the Truman Institute for Peace, Hebrew University Jerusalem (2002-05) and Senior Fellow at the Center For Women’s Development Studies (1995-2002).   Author of Daughters of the Earth: Women and Land In Uttar Pradesh (2001, Manohar) and co-editor (with Eyal Ben-Ari) of The Partition Motif In Contemporary Conflicts (2007, Sage Publications), her forthcoming book explores gender constructs and the oral traditions of marginalized castes and communities. Her articles have appeared in The Journal of Peasant Studies, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Economic and Political Weekly, Indian Journal of Gender Studies and in several edited volumes.

For more information: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/programs/asia/southasia/sa_faculty/southasiafacultyjassal.html

October 25, Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"Hijras, 'AIDS Cosmopolitanism' and Questions of Care in Hyderabad"

Dr. Gayatri Reddy, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

http://www.uic.edu/depts/anth/faculty/reddy.html

November 1 , Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"Prana: The Element of Inner Vitality in Indic Art"

Dr. Vajracharya, Ph.D. in Art History in 1987 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The discussion about prana began after the discovery of a male torso from Harappa. The naturalistic treatment of the torso led some scholars to believe that this sculpture can not be the creation of the Indus valley civilization, but comes from Greco-Roman tradition. They found further support of their view from the fact that the torso was discovered only three feet underground, instead of usual seven, eight feet deep trench. Art historians, however, argued that the Harappan torso could not be other than Indian because it followed Indian tradition of voluminous modeling of the male and female body. It is true that such treatment strikingly differs from the modeling of the human body in Greco-Roman artistic tradition in which main emphasis is given to the delineation of muscle tone.

Further development of this argument is found in Stella Kramrisch’s works. According to her the entire body swells during yogic practice as a result of holding, prana the life breath; therefore, the voluminous modeling of Indic sculpture is an artistic expression of yogic prana. Despite the fact that this explanation is well accepted, it lacks conviction because the element of prana is used also for describing healthy livestock, and loving couple known as mithuna. The solution of the problem, on the contrary, comes from unexpected textual sources. In light of these new sources, Dr. Vajracharya will explain the symbolic significance of prana in Indic art.

November 8 , Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"Bead Technology of the Indus Tradition: New discoveries of stone, faience, and glass bead making in Pakistan and India "

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Director for The Center for South Asia

This illustrated lecture will summarize the recent discoveries relating to the production and use of beads and other perforated ornaments during the Indus tradition of Pakistan and Western India. While the main focus will be on the development of technology and styles, it will also present new evidence for the interface between stone bead making and artificial stone coloring and manufacture. The continuities and changes in bead styles will also be covered along with evidence for the role of beads in economics and ideology.

The earliest stone and shell beads have been discovered at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh, Pakistan (circa 7000-5500 BC). A range of drilling techniques allowed an increasing variety of beads to be produced during the subsequent Early Harappan period (cica 3300-2800 BC). A dramatic increase in stone and faience bead making is seen during the urban Harappan period (2600-1900 BC). Important new drilling techniques include the use of “Ernestite” stone drills, and tubular copper drills with abrasives. During the Late Harappan (1900-1300 BC) period a range of new raw materials are used and new technologies are developed to create stone, faience and for the first time, glass beads.
http://www.anthropology.wisc.edu/people_kenoyer.html

November 15 , Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"History of Tibetan Medicine: Past and Present"

Dr. Yangbum Gyal, TMD, Medicine Buddha Healing Center

http://www.tibetanhealing.net/

Tibetan medicine is one of the world's oldest known medical traditions. It is an integral part of Tibetan culture and has developed throughout many centuries.

In an age where a growing proportion of people are turning to healing through natural processes or alternative medicines, surveys show that at the present time, at least one-third of the people of America use alternative medicines in some form or other. One of the growing holistic approaches to health care or alternative medicine in the West is the Tibetan science of healing.

In that perspective, “History of Tibetan Medicine: Past and Present” will offer a comprehensive survey of how Tibetans developed their ideas about and experiences of health, disease and medicine. In addition, Dr. Yangbum Gyal will discuss how the application of Tibetan medicine is changing due to the modern technology and discoveries.

November 28 , Noon
Lubar Commons (7200)

"Roundtable: "The New Developmental State in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa: Implications for Law and Policy"

Featured Speakers: David M. Trubek (Law); Kathryn Hendley (Law and Political Science); Aseema Sinha (Political Science); John Ohnesoge (Law), and Heinz Klug (Law)

Co-sponsored by WAGE, the East Asian Legal Studies Center, CREECA, and the Emerging Powers in the Global Economy Research Circle. Open to all; registration not required; lunch provided

November 29 , Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"Maneuvers of Virtue: Encounters With Militia Training and Violence in a Shakha of the Hindu Nationalist Movement in Gujarat"

Dr. Arafaat A. Valiani, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Williams College

http://lanfiles.williams.edu/%7Eavaliani/Valiani_website.htm

This paper draws upon participant observation from within a shakha in Ahmedabad, critically, in order to reveal how physical training and the use of force, among swayamsevaks [volunteers] of the Hindu right in Gujarat, are discursively situated and pursued as a form of moral conduct. Such practices, which have an historical genealogy, strenuously interrogate the liberal-Eurocentric claim on the categories of civic membership and secular citizenship. While being cognizant of the lethal outcomes of such practices, and including testimonies from Muslim and lower-caste communities of Ahmedabad that have endured chilling episodes of communal violence in the postcolonial period, this paper will explore the daily routines that are collectively enacted in one shakha, located in Ahmedabad, in order to map the contours, preliminarily, of an emerging non-liberal ethical practice and discourse of civic virtue in postcolonial Gujarat.

Biographical Information: Before taking up his current appointment in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Williams College, Arafaat Valiani earned his doctoral degree in Sociology from Columbia University. He has a Masters degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies and the London School of Economics.

Arafaat A. Valiani’s current book project focuses on the history of militant and violent dissent in colonial and postcolonial Gujarat, India. This study traces the historical emergence of a militant mobilizational vision for national emancipation in relation to colonial constructions of religion. The project also connects this analysis to an investigation into the formation of mobilizational techniques of the Hindu nationalist movement which later fostered one of its surest—and lethally violent—bases of support in the state of Gujarat.

He has a journal article that is forthcoming in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, and he is the author of the entry ‘Violence’ that is forthcoming this year in the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences.

December 6 , Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

Roundtable: "Media and Democracy in India"

Aziz Haniffa, Managing Editor, "India Abroad" and KP Nayar, Chief Diplomatic Editor and Correspondent for the Americas, "The Telegraph"

http://www.saja.org/haniffa.html

Aziz Haniffa is the Managing Editor and Chief Diplomatic and Political Correspondent of India Abroad—the oldest and largest circulating South Asian newspaper in North America—which is owned and published by rediff.com (Nasdaq:REDF)—India’s largest news portal. He has been covering US-South Asia relations and the Indian American community, based in Washington for over 22 years since joining India Abroad, and over the years has scored many scoops and done innumerable  exclusives, including interviews with presidents, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, and US and South Asian lawmakers. In September and October 2004, he was the first only South Asian journalist to have done back-to-back exclusive interviews with both President George W.Bush and Democratic presidential challenger Senator John F. Kerry, on the eve of the 2004 presidential election. Aziz was also the only South Asian print journalist who was part of the White House press delegation that accompanied former president Bill Clinton to the subcontinent in March 2000. A native of Sri Lanka, he has a bachelor’s degree, double majoring in English and Economics and a master’s degree in political science and international affairs from George Washington University.

 

Aziz is a regular South Asia analyst on CNN International  and has appeared regularly on other CNN programs including Q & A, Insight, World Report, and also on MSNBC and C-Span. He is also a regular media panelist on the National Defense University’s NESA (Near East and South Asia ) Center in Washington,D.C.,that throughout the year hosts senior military officers and officials of the foreign and defense ministries from Middle Eastern and South Asian countries in Washington for four-to-eight week periods to interact with their colleagues in the US as well as policymakers and media based in the US. Aziz has traveled extensively in South Asia, Middle East, North, East and South Africa, Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean. 

 

K.P. Nayar, Chief Diplomatic Editor and Correspondent for the Americas of "THE TELEGRAPH", based in Washington DC since the beginning of 2000. "THE TELEGRAPH" is India's fourth largest-selling English newspaper with a paid daily circulation of about half a million copies. Headquartered in Calcutta, it is part of Eastern India's biggest publishing house with several dailies and magazines in English and Bengali. The company also owns Star News India, a leading TV channel, in partnership with the global media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. The newspaper’s web site is: www.telegraphindia.com

 

Prior to his current position with, “The Telegraph” K.P. Nayar was the Diplomatic Editor of the “India Express” and “The Economic Times.” K.P. held visiting fellow appointments at Oxford University from 1986-1987 and The Henry L Stimson Center, Washington DC in 1996.

December 13, Noon - 1 pm
206 Ingraham Hall

"Rethinking Rasa as an Aesthetic Principle in the Visual Arts" Dr. Joanna Williams, Professor History of Art, University of California, Berkeley

Rasa theory, the concept that the arts distill eight or nine emotions to a form pleasurable to the connoisseur, is much discussed in the fields of Indian drama, dance, and literature in general. The utility of this approach is yet more problematic for the visual arts. Professor Williams will argue the case using examples from sculpture and painting and addressing questions of reception.   Professor Joanna Williams holds a joint appointment in History of Art and South and Southeast Asian Studies. Her research interests include both South Asian and Southeast Asian sculpture and painting. Her courses have covered ancient Indian art, the Hindu temple, Indian miniature painting, and the arts of Southeast Asia . She has spent 12 years in the region, 2 in New Delhi as a Program Officer for Culture and Education for the Ford Foundation.  http://arthistory.berkeley.edu/faculty/williams.html

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