Recent Events

Urbanisation Trends in South Asia: The Case of Karachi

This is a South Asia Centre and LSE Cities public discussion

Thursday 17th November 2016

6:30-8pm

Room 2.04, NAB

Speakers: Arif Hasan, Philipp Rode

In the past twenty years major urban related changes have taken place in Karachi which are similar to those of other South Asian mega cities.These include the nature and scale of migration; the social and physical change in informal settlements and in the planning and location of new middle and high income ones; the increase in motorized transport; changes in academia, civil society and government thinking, structure and legislation; and the "burden" of past development. The presentation will touch on these issues, their causes, repercussions and what they mean for the future.  

Arif Hasan is a practicing Pakistani architect-planner, writer, teacher and activist working in Karachi on planning and informal settlement related issues for the last 42 years. He is the founder chair of the Karachi Urban Resource Centre, Chair of the Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Centre and a founding member of The Asian Coalition of Housing Rights. He has been involved with planning, policy and academic issues and institutions both at the national and international level and is currently on the boards of a number of academic institutions. 

Philipp Rode is Executive Director of LSE Cities and Associate Professorial Research Fellow at LSE.

This event is free and open to all.

Please email if you have any queries.

Bangladesh Confronts Climate Change: Keeping our heads above the water

This is an International Development book launch

Wednesday 16th November 2016

6.00-8.00pm

Room 2.06, NAB

Speakers: Dr Manoj Roy, Dr Joseph Hanlon

Chair: Professor Tim Forsyth

Bangladesh is hugely vulnerable to climate change, but refuses to be a helpless victim.

Climate change will make cyclones and floods more devastating; sea level is already rising. Bangladeshi officials, scientists and communities know what is coming and are already adapting, based on their experience of living with a very difficult environment. Cyclone shelters and warning systems now save tens of thousands of lives. Locally developed rice varieties mean Bangladesh is a rice exporter; newer varieties adapt to climate change. And coastal communities have found how to raise the land to match sea level rise.

Bangladeshis will keep their heads above water - if industrialised countries curb greenhouse gas emissions. Bangladeshi negotiators have been fighting for more than a decade to keep global warming below 1.5ºC, and to demand that industrialised countries pay for damage already done. They will be playing an important role in the annual climate change negotiations (COP 22) 7-18 November.

Manoj Roy is Lecturer at the Lancaster Environment Centre.

Joseph Hanlon is Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of International Development.

Tim Forsyth is Professor of Environment and Development in the Department of International Development.

This event is free and open to all.

New Politics and Policies for Nepal

This is a South Asia Centre public conversation

Monday 14th November 2016

6:30-8pm

Room 2.04, NAB

Speakers: Dr Baburam Bhattarai,  Dr Dan Hirslund, Professor Michael Hutt

Dr Baburam Bhattarai, former Prime Minister of Nepal, and Dr Dan Hirslund (LSE) will be in conversation about a range of issues confronting contemporary Nepal. They will cover topics that are close to Dr Bhattarai’s current engagements including his work on anti-corruption measures, post-Earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation, and the role of the youth in Nepal today.  The event will be chaired by Professor Michael Hutt (SOAS).

Dr Baburam Bhattarai   is a Marxist scholar and politician who has served as Finance Minister and Prime Minister of Nepal. He holds a BA in Architecture, an MA in Planning, and a PhD in Regional Development Planning. He is now founder and Chairman of the Naya Shakti Party, which was established in June.

Dr Dan Hirslund is an anthropologist from The University of Copenhagen, currently a Visiting Research Fellow at LSE. His project is connected to the Inequality and Poverty Program.

Professor Michael Hutt is Professor  of Nepali and Himalayan Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

This event is free and open to all.

Please email if you have any queries.

Flawed Political Finance Laws and Corruption in India

This is a South Asia Centre public discussion

Wednesday 9th November 2016

6:00 - 7:30pm

Alumni Theatre, NAB

Speaker:  Professor M.V. Rajeev Gowda

Chair: Dr Mukulika Banerjee 

Competitive political parties and election campaigns are central to the health of democracies. Parties and campaigns require significant resources to be effective. India has developed complex election expenditure, political party funding, reporting and disclosure laws. These laws have perverse impacts on the electoral system: they drive campaign expenditure underground and foster a reliance on unaccounted funds or ‘‘black money.’’ This tends to lead to adverse selection where those able to work with black money dominate politics and worsen corruption in government overall. Possible remedies include partial state financing of political parties and realistic election expenditure limits.

Professor Gowda is currently a Member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of India's Parliament and a National Spokesperson for the Indian National Congress party. He has previously been the Chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Director of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, and Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma. He has a PhD in Public Policy and Management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and has been an Olin Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of California Berkeley and a Carnegie Council Global Ethics Fellow. His most recent co-edited book is India's Risks (2014).

Dr Mukulika Banerjee is Director of the South Asia Centre and Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is author of Why India Votes? (2014).

This event is free and open to all.

Please email if you have any queries.

Martin Woollacott in conversation with Salil Tripathi

This is a South Asia Centre book discussion

Monday 7th November 2016

6:30-8:00pm

Thai Theatre, NAB

Martin Woollacott  will be in conversation with Salil Tripathi on his latest book The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: The Bangladesh War and Its Unquiet Legacy  (2014).

Salil Tripathi is an author and contributing editor at Mint  and at The Caravan in India. His books include Offence: The Hindu Case (2009) and Detours: Songs of the Open Road (2015). He is an award-winning journalist, and has written extensively for the Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the New Statesman, India Today, and other publications.He is currently Chair, of the PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee. 

Martin is a journalist who has written extensively for The Guardian and was in Dhaka during the liberation war of 1971; Salil is a journalist, commentator and writer.   

This event is free and open to all.

Please email if you have any queries.

India's Democracy: Electoral Vibrancy, Liberal Deficits

This is a South Asia Centre roundtable discussion

Friday 4th November 2016 

6:30pm-8:00pm

Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House

Speakers: Professor Ashutosh Varshney, Ashis Ray

The speakers will explore India’s democratic and electoral record, provide an analysis of state elections in India since 2014 and assess the BJP national government’s record half way into their  term.

Ashutosh Varshney is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University, and author of Battles Half Won: India's Improbable Democracy (2013). His book Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India (2002) won the Gregory Luebbert Prize of the American Political Science Association.

Ashis Ray   was CNN's founding South Asia bureau chief in Delhi, and is the longest serving Indian foreign correspondent. Based in London he has worked in this capacity since 1977 for the BBC, CNN, the Ananda Bazar Group and The Times of India.

This event is free and open to all.

Please email if you have any queries.

A conversation with Dr Qazi Khalid Ali

An LSE SU Pakistan Society/Pakistan Development Society event

Thursday 3rd November

6:30-8pm

Thai Theatre, NAB

Speaker: Dr Qazi Khalid Ali

Chair: Athar Hussain

Dr Qazi Khalid Ali, a renowned jurist, author, academician, public servant and legislator with over 40 years of service to Pakistan, is the founding Vice-Chancellor of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law Karachi; the country’s first Law University.

Mobilising Resources and Maximising Change: An Interaction with Anshu Gupta

A student South Asia Society event

Tuesday 25th October 2016 

6:30pm-8:00pm

Room 2.02, Clement House

Winner of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award, Anshu Gupta is the founder of Goonj - an NGO in India which positions underutilized urban waste as an incentive to trigger sustainable development in rural India.

His contribution to the development discourse in India has been significant. Goonj encourages rural populations to dig wells, implement watershed management, lay roads and bridges, build schools and earn urban material such as cloth, utensils, furniture as return for the work they essentially did for themselves.

View the Facebook event here.

Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging-Market Tycoons and Their Mega Firms

An IGA public lecture 

Tuesday 25th October 2016 

6:30pm-8:00pm

Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

Speakers: Caroline Freund

Like the robber barons of the 19th century Gilded Age, a new and proliferating crop of billionaires is driving rapid development and industrialization in poor countries. In her new book, Caroline Freund has identified and analyzed nearly 700 emerging-market billionaires whose net worth adds up to more than $2 trillion. Freund finds that these titans of industry are propelling poor countries out of their small scale production and agricultural past and into a future of multinational industry and service-based mega firms. This story of emerging-market billionaires and the global businesses they create dramatically illuminates the process of industrialization in the modern world economy.

Caroline Freund is the former Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank.

This event is free and open to all. More details can be found here.

The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971

A Centre for Women Peace and Security event

Thursday 13 October

6.30pm - 8pm

TW2 9.04, Tower 1 & 2 , Clement's Inn

Speaker: Nayanika Mookherjee

Discussants: Naila Kabeer, Denisa Kostovicova

Nayanika Mookherjee is the Research Director and Reader in the Anthropology department, Durham University. She has published extensively on anthropology of violence, ethics and aesthetics.

In Spectral Wound, Nayanika Mookherjee counters the assumption of silence relating to wartime rape and maps out the circulation of public memories related to the sexual violence of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 (Muktijuddho). This public memory manifests in the internationally unprecedented state designation of the raped women as birangonas  ('brave women') in 1971; an extensive 45 year old archive of visual and literary representations of the raped woman dating back to 1971; and human rights testimonies of poor and middle class birangonas since the 1990s.

This event is free and open to all. 

South Asia Centre drinks reception for LSE PhD students

Co-hosted by the PhD academy and South Asia Centre

The LSE South Asia Centre is holding a drinks reception to bring together PhD students working on region.

This event provides an opportunity to meet with doctoral researchers from across LSE, as well as South Asia Centre staff and faculty working on the region. South Asia Centre Director Dr Mukulika Banerjee will also be present to discuss how the Centre can support PhD students – from assisting with research dissemination, running Masterclasses and targeted events to making introductions to academics within LSE and internationally.

The event is open to current LSE PhD students and is free to attend.

Some Research Gaps in the Interface between History and Development

A Department of Economic History public lecture

Wednesday 5 October 2016

5.00pm-6.30pm

CLM.3.02, LSE

Speaker: Pranab Bardhan

Pranab Bardhan, Professor Emeritus, Economics, University of California Berkeley, is the author of 12 books, more than 150 journal articles, and has edited 12 books. He has done theoretical and field studies research on rural institutions in emerging economies, on political economy of development policies, and on international trade. A part of his work is in the interdisciplinary area of economics, political science, and social anthropology. His current research involves theoretical and empirical work on decentralized governance, and the political economy of development in China and India.

This event is free and open to all.

The Decline of the West in the New Asian Century?

An LSE IDEAS public debate 

Tuesday 4th October 2016 

6:30pm-8:00pm

Old Theatre, Old Building

Speakers: Jonathan Fenby, Yu Jie, Gideon Rachman

Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman will discuss his new book Easternisation: War and Peace in the Asian Century. Join the debate on how far the growing wealth of Asian nations is moving the international balance of power away from the West. 

Gideon Rachman is a Financial Times columnist.

Jonathan Fenby is co-founder of Trusted Sources and author of Will China Dominate the 21st Century?

Yu Jie is China Foresight Project Manager and Dahrendorf Senior Research Associate at LSE IDEAS.

This event is free and open to all. More details can be found here.

The Rise and Fall of Nations

This is an LSE public lecture

Tuesday 12th July 2016

6.30-8pm

Old Theatre, Old Building, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE

Speaker: Ruchir Sharma

Chair:  Jonathan Black 

Ruchir Sharma explores the forces triggering political revolts and economic slowdowns in every major region. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country’s future, he spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners and losers in the global economy.

Click here  for more info.

India's Greatest CEOs by Suhel Seth

Thursday 16th June 2016

6:30-8:00pm

Old Theatre, Old Building, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE

Speakers: Suhel Seth, Rt Hon. Jo Johnson and H.E. Navtej Sarna

You are invited to the launch of Suhel Seth's new book India's Greatest CEOs.

The book will be launched by The Rt Hon. Jo Johnson, Minister of State for Universities and Science, followed by a panel discussion including H.E. Navtej Sarna, Hon'ble High Commissioner of India to the UK and the author. 

The event is free and open to all, but please RSVP  to Tim Aldcroft if you wish to attend.

Suhel was recently interviewed by Saanya Gulati, for the South Asia @ LSE blog. You can read the article here.

This is a '100 Foot Journey Club’ (#100FJC) event, jointly organised by the LSE South Asia Centre and the High Commission of India, London.

“We don't want your freedom”: the imagination of virtue among Muslim Bengalis

A Department of Anthropology Research Seminar on Anthropological Theory

Friday 10th June

10:30am - 12:30pm

Seligman Library (OLD 6.05) Old Building

Speaker: Fernande Pool

This seminar is free and open to all. 

For more information contact Deborah James, and click here  to see other events in this seminr series. 

Alternatives to Austerity?

A Department of Anthropology  public conversation 

Thursday 9 June 2016

6.30-8pm

Old Theatre, Old Building

Speakers:  Dr Laura Bear, Anna Coote, Dr Andrea Muehlebach, Dr Carly Schuster 

Chair: Professor Deborah James

This discussion will look towards a post austerity future, discussing proposals for a social calculus to be applied to government policy and sovereign debt relations.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEausterity

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Click here for more info.

Beyond Caste: Identity and Power in South Asia, Past and Present

A South Asia Centre public lecture

Tuesday 7th June

6:30pm - 8:00pm

Alumni Theatre, NAB

Speaker: Sumit Guha

Chair: Tirthankar Roy

Sumit Guha will be giving a public lecture based on his book ‘Beyond Caste: Identity and Power in South Asia, Past and Present’(Brill 2013), which tracks the long history of the practices amalgamated under the label of caste and shows their connection to changing patterns of social and political power down to the present. It frames caste as an involuted and complex form of ethnicity and explains why it persisted under non-Hindu rulers and in non-Hindu communities across South Asia.

The lecture is open to all however there are a limited number of places, so please email to confirm your attendance. 

The Indian Village: Romantic Images versus Historical Realities Lecture  

A South Asia Centre Public Lecture as part of the '100 Foot Journey Club' (#100FJC)

Monday 6th June 

6:30pm - 8:00pm 

Nehru Centre, 8 South Audley Street, London, W1K 1HF

Speaker: Sumit Guha 

Chair: Ed Simpson

This lecture will review the realities of Indian village life and its social and political setting  up to the late twentieth century. 
The event is free to attend and open to all.

Click here for more information

Tales of the Unexpected: gender equality and social progress in Bangladesh 

A South Asia Centre, Gender Institute and Eva Colorni Memorial Trust  discussion 

Friday 3rd June

6:30pm-8:00pm

Old Theatre, Old Building

Speakers: David Lewis, Juli Huang  and Amartya Sen

Chair: Naila Kabeer 

This panel will discuss why gender indicators for Bangladesh have shown a marked improvement despite various development indices not reflecting a similar upswing.

Click here to see event storify and here for the video/podcast.

Growth Challenges in Fragile States

An International Growth Centre  public discussion, as part of Growth Week 2016

Thursday 2nd June

6:30pm - 8:00pm

Sheikh Zayed Theatre, NAB

Speakers: Sir Paul Collier (Professor of Economics and Public Policy at University of Oxford and Director of IGC); Torsten Persson (Professor of Economics at Stockholm University and Centennial Professor at LSE)

Chair:  Timothy Besley (W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at LSE)

The conflicts and crises in fragile states are no longer contained within national borders and now dominate global agendas for development and growth. This panel of experts will explore the major challenges that state fragility poses for creating an environment conducive to sustained and inclusive economic growth.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

For more info click here.

Taming the Imperial Imagination: colonial knowledge, international relations, and the Anglo-Afghan encounter, 1808-1878

A Department of International Relations public conversation

Wednesday 1st June

6:00-7.30pm

PAR.2.03, Parish Hall, Sheffield Street

Speaker:  Dr Martin Bayly

Discussants: Dr Duncan Bell, Dr Rob Johnson, Professor Jutta WeldesChair: Dr Tarak Barkawi

Taming the Imperial Imagination (Cambridge University Press) marks a novel intervention into the debate on empire and international relations, and offers a new perspective on nineteenth-century Anglo- Afghan relations.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries contact Sophie Wise by email s.wise3@lse.ac.uk or call 020 7955 6821

“India is Indira, Indira is India.” M. F. Husain and the aesthetics of India’s Emergency, June 1975

The South Asia Centre 1st Anniversary lecture

Tuesday 31st May

6:30-8:00pm

Wolfson Theatre, NAB

Speaker: Sumathi Ramaswamy

Through M F Husain's painting 'India June 1975: The Triptych in the Life of a Nation', Ramaswarmy will explore the place of the visual artist in sustaining and deepening India’s much-vaunted democracy.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Please email  if you have any queries

Twitter and Political Rebranding in the Global South:The Case of Narendra Modi

Part of the The ICT4D seminar series, organised by the LSE Department of Management

Tuesday 31st May

3 - 5pm 

32 Lincolns Inn Fields, room LG.14 

Speaker: Joyojeet Pal

The ICT4D seminar series centres on how ICTs may make a contribution to development in the global South.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

For more info click here.

The Wonder that is Indian Elections, Challenges & the Way Ahead

A Hundred Foot Journey Club (#100FJC) event, in partnership with the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK and Pravasi Bharat.

Friday 13th May 2016

6:00pm - 8:00pm

High Commission of India, India House, Aldwych, London WC2B 4NA

Speakers: Dr S Y Quraishi and Dr Mukulika Banerjee

A conversation with the Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr S Q Quraishi, led by Dr Mukulika Banerjee, Director of the LSE South Asia Centre and author of Why India Votes.

The Hundred Foot Journey Club (#100FJC) is a collaboration of the High Commission of India and the LSE South Asia Centre.

The National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK is the pan-UK body representing youth of Indian origin in the UK.

It is the umbrella body of India and India-related societies at universities across the UK.Pravasi Bharat was formed to increase the participation of Indian diaspora in the Indian elections.  

Rethinking the Global Monetary System

An Institute of Global Affairs public lecture

Tuesday 10 May 2016

10-11.30am

Old Theatre, Old Building

Speaker: Dr  Raghuram Rajan

Chair: Professor Erik Berglof

This was the inaugural event for the ‘100 Foot Journey Club’ (#100FJC ), a collaboration between the High Commission of India and the LSE South Asia Centre.

Click here to see event storify and here for the video/podcast.

For more details about the event click here. 

Youth bulge or bomb? Harnessing the potential of Pakistani youth

A South Asia Centre Event

Thursday 28th April

6:30pm-7:30pm

TW1.G.01 (please note Tower 1 is currently only accessible via the Clements Inn gates, next to the Royal Courts of Justice)

Speakers: Marc-André Franche (Country Director UNDP Pakistan, @MAFundp), Emrys Schoemaker (Communications & Conflict Specialist and LSE PhD candidate, @emrys_s). 

Chair: Dr Mahvish Shami (Assistant Professor, Department of International Development, LSE)

Is youth engagement the key to improving human development and peace in Pakistan? This talk will look into the challenges and opportunities of Pakistan’s youth bulge, with specific focus on the role of youth engagement as a strategy to promote human development and peace.

Fore more information please click here.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Please email  if you have any queries.

Changing Waters: Towards a New EU Asia Strategy

Launch of LSE IDEAS Special Report

Thursday 28 April 2016

6.30-8:00pm

Tower 2 9.04

This event explores an overhaul of the EU's 2001 Asia Strategy, more important than ever in the context of Asian economic growth and the US 'pivot'. Can the EU act as a neutral arbiter in this volatile region?

Click here for more information.

People Power: how non-violent strategies are shaking and shaping the world

A South Asia Centre and IGA public lecture

Wednesday 27th April

7:30pm-9:00pm 

Old Theatre

Speaker: Srdja Popovic

Chair: Dr John Chalcraft (Associate Professor in the History and Politics of Empire/Imperialism)

From Arab streets to Wall Street, Popovic will talk about how non-violent protests and their strategies are re-shaping political and social arenas across the world.

Click here to read an edited transcript of Srdja Popovic and Yogendra Yadav discussing political theory and the practicalities of fostering non-violent mass movements. A podcast of the conversation is also available.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Please email  if you have any queries

How Did Aung San Suu Kyi Win So Big?

A South East Asia Centre event

Monday 25th April 2016

6.00 - 7.30pm

Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

Speaker: Peter Popham

Chair: Dr Jurgen Haacke

In this talk Peter Popham will seek to identify the secrets of Aung San Suu Kyi Win's phenomenal achievement: including the trust, identification and outright love of millions of Burmese, on account of her years under house arrest; a personality cult based on beauty and worldwide fame; and, not least, the ruthless egotism of a woman with a raging hunger for the highest office. He will then consider how these factors are likely to impact her effectiveness as Burma’s ruler.

Click here for more information.

A More Sustainable Energy Strategy for India

An Asia Research Centre event

Thursday 14th April 

6.30pm-8pm 

Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Speakers: Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Nicholas Stern

This event is free and open to all but pre-registration through Eventbrite is required to attend. 

Click here  for more information

LSE SU India Forum: India's Growing Global Footprint 

Tuesday 19th March 2016

9am-6pm

Old Theatre, Old Building

The LSE SU India Forum (LIF) is a day-long conference that aims to promote vibrant discussions on issues facing contemporary India through keynote speeches and panel discussions by renowned experts across various fields.

Click here for more details and to register for tickets.

Omar Hamid in discussion with Huma Yusuf  

A South Asia Centre  book discussion

Friday 18th March

6:30pm - 8:00pm

Ronald Coase Lecture Theatre, 32L.LG.04

Omar Hamid will be discussing with journalist Huma Yusuf his two books - 'The Prisoner' and 'The Spinner's Tale' 

'The Prisoner' is a thriller inspired by the events surrounding the abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal's Daniel Pearl in 2002 .'The Spinner's Tale' follows the different paths taken by two school friends into adulthood and how far apart their worlds become.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required.

Please email  if you have any queries

Of Housing and Politics: Mapping political opportunities for mobilising in Bangalore, India.

A South Asia Centre research presentation and discussion

Wednesday 16th March

4.15-5.45pm

TW2.9.04

Speaker: Dr Swetha Rao Dhananka 

What are the conditions for the emergence of a social movement on the issue of adequate housing for the urban poor in the city of Bangalore? Swetha Rao Dhananka will discuss her research into the articulation of political opportunities given by the Indian post-colonial, legal and policy framework with the action repertoires of differently resourced civil society organisations.

The presentation will be followed by a discussion session around the themes raised by the research. 

Swetha Rao Dhananka is a post-doc fellow sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation and hosted by UCL’s Development Planning Unit and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bangalore, India. She received the faculty prize from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) for her doctoral research on Politics and Housing for Bangalore’s urban poor.

Conference: The Academic Book in the South

A partnership between the British Library and the Academic Book of the Future project

Monday 7th – Tuesday 8th March

9:30am - 5:30pm

British Library Conference Centre, St Pancras, London

This two day conference discusses how profound changes in publishing will affect the Academic Book of the Future in the South.

Speakers at this conference will address the production, dissemination, reading and reception of the academic book with specific focus on Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. The conference will consider, among other things, how scholars’ ability to access and produce knowledge is facilitated by digital technology, and how academics can play a more active role in the creation of, and access to, books in the Arts and Humanities, both printed and digital. It will appeal particularly to scholars and practitioners with interests in authorship, publishing and librarianship and the history of the book. 

There is more information about the conference here

How can we Transform the Economic Lives of the Ultra Poor?

An International Growth Centre LSE Literary Festival film screening & discussion

Friday 26th February

1-2pm

Thai Theatre, NAB

Speakers: Professor Robin Burgess, Professor Naila Kabeer, Lewis Temple

Chair: Upaasna Kaul

Tackling extreme poverty has proven to be one of the most intractable challenges facing policymakers today. This event will explore the impact of an innovative and proven approach for poverty alleviation, developed in Bangladesh by the international NGO BRAC, targeted at individuals defined as being extreme or ‘Ultra-Poor’.

There is more information about this event here 

Reception for LSE Alumni from Pakistan in the UK

On Tuesday 16th February 2016, the South Asia Centre held a reception for LSE Alumni from Pakistan in the UK where they met the LSE President & Director, Professor Craig Calhoun, and His Excellency Mr. S. Ibne Abbas, High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK. 

Dr Mukulika Banerjee also spoke about the South Asia Centre and it's imminent trip to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Thanks to all alumni who came, and for the support given by members of the LSE SU Pakistan Society and LSE SU Pakistan Development Society. It was great to meet you and hope to see you at South Asia Centre events in the near future

Photos of the event are on our Facebook page here

'Nepal After the Constitution' - a round table discussion

An LSE SU Nepalese Society event

Thursday 11th February 2016

6:00 - 8:30 pm

Room 9.04, Floor 9, Tower 2

Speakers include - 

• Professor Michael Hutt, Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies at SOAS and Director of SOAS South Asia Institute
• Dr Punam Yadav, Visiting and Teaching Fellow at LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security
• Dr Chandra Laksamba, Former Executive Director and Senior Research Officer at Centre for Nepal Studies, UK
• Dr Mara Malagodi, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at LSE’s Law Department

For more info, and updates on the event, click here

LSE India Summit 2016

Thursday 28-Saturday 30 January 2016

Cidade de Goa & The International Centre Goa

The three day event will include four panel discussions, alongside an exhibition of rare documents from the archives of the Reserve Bank of India, and two specially curated talks by Serbian political thinker Srdja Popovic and award-winning novelist Amitav Ghosh.

Details on panels and speakers here.

Register on the Difficult Dialogues website here. 

Developments in Relations Between Pakistan and India

An Asia Research Centre  Public Lecture

Friday 22nd January 2016

6.30pm to 8pm

Room TW1.G.01, Ground Floor, Tower One
 
Speaker: Mr Zahid Hussain
Chair: Professor Athar Hussain
 
Following the election of a new government in India and recent increased high-level contact between the two countries, Zahid Hussain will discuss challenges and current prospects for change in Pakistan and India’s bilateral relations.
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

For more info click here

Please direct any queries to arc@lse.ac.uk or call 020 7955 7615

Subjects of Reason: goods, markets and imaginaries of the global future

An LSE Law Matters public lecture

Thursday 21 January 20

4.30pm-8pm

Old Theatre, Old Building

Speaker:   Professor Sheila Jasanoff

Chair: Professor Andrew Lang

The lecture will look at how discourses of exchange create commensurable systems of exchange across highly disparate regions and forms of life. Three legal encounters will be considered as points of friction: the creation of the single carbon market; the regulation of GMOs by the World Trade Organisation; and the Novartis-India litigation on the cancer drug Gleevec.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket or pre-registration required.

Click here  for more information

Tackling Extreme Poverty through Programmes Targeting the World's Ultra-Poor

An International Growth Centre (IGC) and BRAC public discussion

Wednesday 9 December 2015

6.30-8pm

Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Speakers: Sir Fazle Abed, Professor Oriana Bandiera, Professor Robin Burgess, Dr Mushtaque Chowhudry, Professor Esther Duflo

Chair: Professor Craig Calhoun

More event details and information here.

Narratives of Inclusion. Can cities help us live together?

An event of the Urban Age Global Debates series hosted by Alfred Herrhausen Society and LSE Cities

Speakers: Suketu Mehta, Richard Sennett

Chair: Tessa Jowell

Thursday 3 December 2015

18:30-20:00

More event details and information here.

(Re)Doing Respectable Femininity: Issues of Gender and Class among ‘New Women’ of Bangladesh 

An LSE Sociology Social Inequalities Research Cluster  Session

Dr. Nazia Hussein will be presenting extracts from her ongoing research. She is a Teaching Fellow in Sociology. Her research interests are in the areas of gender, class, ethnicity and religion in South Asia and more specifically Bangladesh. 

Wednesday, 2^nd December

12:30pm

32 Lincolns Inn Fields, 32l.lg.2.02

For more any queries contact Dr Hussein here

Made in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Sri Lanka

An LSE South Asia Centre event

Dr Sanchita Banerjee Saxena will discuss her recent book, which explores the labour behind the global garment and textiles industries. Click here for more details on the book.

Friday 27 November 2015
4-5.30pm
NAB 1.15, New Academic Building, LSE

Video available here 

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Shortlisting Announcement

An LSE South Asia Centre event

Thursday 26 November 2015
6.30-8pm
Shaw Library, LSE

More event details and information about the DSC Prize here.

Lord Meghnad Desai - 'A Revolutionary Act: The Making of the Indian Constitution'

An LSE South Asia Centre event

Ambedkar Hall, India House, High Commission of India,WC2B 4NAIt is free to attend but please email if you would like to come

This special lecture celebrates the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by the Government of India on 26 November 1949.  

Thursday 26 November 2015

10.00-11:30am

Ambedkar Hall, India House, High Commission of India,WC2B 4NA

Reviving Global Democracy: beyond the 'Western Model'?

An LSE Department of International Development/Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit event

Speakers: Professor Richard Youngs, Dr Mukulika Banerjee, Dr Senem Aydin-Düzgit
Chair: Professor Mary Kaldor

Wednesday 11 November 2015
6.30-8pm
Room 2.06, New Academic Building

Details here

Bihar Vidhan Sabha Election Results 2015

A South Asia Centre Global Hangout Discussion

Speakers: Giles Veniers, Jeffrey Witsoe, Manisha Priyam, Milan Vaishnav, Neelanjan Sircar, Pranav Gupta, Sarthak Bagchi

Chair: Mukulika Banerjee

To see the video of the converstion clik here

Monday 9 November 2015
2-3.30pm
9.04, Tower 2, LSE

In conversation with Amartya Sen

A South Asia Centre public conversation

Speaker: Professor Amartya Sen
Chair: Professor Lord Stern

Friday 6 November 2015
6.30-8pm
Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Podcast available here

Details here.

Will the 21st Century be Asian?

An LSE IDEAS event

Speakers: Professor Danny Quah, Professor Michael Cox, Dr Leslie Vinjamuri
Chair: Mr Tim Frost

Monday 2 November 2015
6.30-8pm
Old Theatre, Old Building

Podcast available here.

Anthropology and Development: Challenges for the 21st century

A Department of Social Policy and Department of Anthropology public discussion

Speaker: Professor James Fairhead, Professor Katy Gardener, Professor David Lewis and Professor David Mosse 
Chair: Professor Deborah James

Wednesday 28 October 2015
6.30-8pm
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

Podcast available here.

Justice, Accountability and Human Rights in India

In partnership with LSE Human Rights  and the India Study Group

Speaker: Dushyant Dave
Chair: Professor Chetan Bhatt

Wednesday 21 October 2015
6.30-8pm
Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Podcast available here.

Shobhana Bhartia in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee

A South Asia Centre public conversation

Speaker: Shobhana Bhartia
Chair: Mukulika Banerjee

Tuesday 13 October 2015
6.30-8pm
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

Podcast and video available here.

Myanmar on the Brink

LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre public discussion

Speaker: Mark Canning, Dr Jurgen Haacke, Shibani Mahtani
Chair: Professor Danny Quah

Thursday 5 October 2015
6.30-8pm
Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Podcast available here.

The Political and the International: Reflections on the Singapore Mutiny 1915

Speaker: Dr Itty Abraham 
Chair: Professor William A. Callahan

Thursday 24 September 2015
6.30-8pm
Clement House 2.02

Details here.