Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Pointe At The CSULB Pyramid
An International Symposium on
Being Indian in the 21st Century: The Politics of Culture and Identity in Contemporary India
The politics of culture and identity in modern and contemporary India is the overarching theme of a conference to be hosted by the Yadunandan Center for India Studies at California State University, Long Beach and the Indian Council for Historical Research. Within this context, the conference will address issues of national identity — what does it mean to be Indian in the 21st Century?
Undergirding the conference theme are questions about contemporary Indian “identity" - self-actualizated, and to the outside world - posed by Pavan K. Varma. To wit,
In the twenty-first century every sixth human being will be Indian. India is very close to becoming the second largest consumer market in the world, with a buying middle class numbering over half a billion. The Indian economy is already the fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. It is in the top ten in overall GNP. Yet at least 200 million Indians remain desperately poor. Illiteracy rates are high. Communal violence is widespread; corruption endemic. Brides are still tortured and burnt for dowries; female infanticide is common. The caste system has lost little of its power and none of its brutality. How are we to make sense of these apparently contradictory pictures of India today? And how can we overcome the many misconceptions about India that are fed by western stereotypes and Indians’ own myths about themselves.
This free event, including lunch, is designed to bring together academics, students and community members on Saturday, May 3, 2008. It will be followed by dinner and the 6th Annual Solanki Lecture featuring the acclaimed film director, Saeed Akhtar Mirza. Please RSVP to (562) 985 - 7010, or email indiastudies@csulb.edu in order to facilitate the planning for meals.
Distinguished international participants include:
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University/ Chair, Indian Council of Historical Research. He is the author of numerous volumes on Indian education and history, including, The Cambridge Economic History of India. Professor Bhattacharya is also the editor of several prestigious journals, including, The Indian Economic and Social History Review.
Suranjan Das, a noted historian, is presently Pro-Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. His works include Goondas: Toward a Reconstruction of the Calcutta Underworld; Caste and Communical Politics in South Asia; Kashmir & Sindh; Nation-Building, Ethnicity and Regional Politics in South Asia; and Electoral Politics in South Asia.
Nilanjana Deb is a lecturer at the Department of English in Jadavpur University, Calcutta. She was awarded the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Fellowship for 2003-4 to do research on Canadian First Nations literature at the University of Toronto. She was awarded the Australia-India Council fellowship for 2004 and worked on Aboriginal Australian literature and the development of curricula related to Australian writing at Curtin University, Monash University, La Trobe University and the University of Queensland. Her areas of interest include post-colonial studies, Fourth World literatures, diasporic and subaltern literatures and translation studies.
Sheba George, Assistant Professor at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, earned a Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley. She specializes in gender and transnational Indian identity. She is the author of When Women Come First: Gender and Class in Transnational Migration.
Daniel Lak spent twelve years in South Asia for the BBC, four each in India, Pakistan and Nepal. He is the author of Mantras of Change: Reporting India in a Time of Flux and India Express: The Future of a New Superpower.
Karen Iasksen Leonard is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of several volumes on Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus in the United States.
Claude Markovits is Professor, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France. In addition to numerous articles, essays and reviews, he is the author of the following books: A History of Modern India; Indian Business and Nationalist Politics; The Global World of Indian Merchants; The UnGandhian Gandhi: The Life and Afterlife of the Mahatma; Society and Circulation: Mobile People and Itinerant Culture in South Asia.
Saeed Akhtar Mirza is an Indian writer and director of Hindi films and television shows. He is the maker of films like Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro and Naseem, which won two National Film Awards in 1996. He is best remembered in popular culture for his TV series Nukkad.
D.R. SarDesai is Professor Emeritus of History at UCLA. Former Doshi Chair for Indian History at UCLA, he is the author of numerous books on South and Southeast Asian History. SarDesai’s most recent volume is India: The Definitive History.
Anil Srivastava and Shampa Banerjee are co-authors of One Hundred Indian Films: An Annotated Filmography. Srivastava has worked with Open Source Education Resources and India’s National Knowledge Commission for many years. Both Srivastava and Banerjee, who acted in Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy, have interests in the intellectual and artistic contributions of Bollywood to India’s search for national identity at home and abroad.
Manjushree Thapa is a journalist and fiction writer. Her 2006 book Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy combines history, reportage and travel writing to examine the recent history of Nepal, including the royal massacre in 2001 and the Maoist rebellion.
Pavan K. Varma is a former Indian Foreign Service officer. He is currently Director-General of the Indian Council on Cultural Relations. He is the author of the award-winning books, The Great Indian Middle Class, Being Indian: Inside the Real India and other volumes on the contradictions and complexities of contemporary Indian society.