Lent Term 2023

Civic Politics & Online Activism in the New Age

Friday, 31 March | 3pm UK / 10am USA (EST) / 7.30pm India / 8pm Bangladesh / 10pm Philippines

Roundtable exploring internet-based social networking & political activism of the non-elite in reformulating civic political space.

SPEAKERS: Fatima Gaw (@fatimagaw) is Doctorand in Media, Technology & Society, Northwestern University, specialising in algorithms, platforms & disinformation networks in The Philippines, and formerly Assistant Professor at the University of The Philippines, Manila; Deana Rohlinger (@DeanaRohlinger1) is Professor of Sociology at Florida State University, is interested in mass media, political participation, and politics in the US, and author, most recently, of New Media and Society (2019); Dr Ratan Kumar Roy (@RatanSanjib) is Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust Visiting Fellow 2022-23 at LSE South Asia Centre, and Assistant Professor in the School of General Education, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is author of Television in Bangladesh: News and Audiences (2020), and is currently working on digitalisation, online activism & civic politics in Bangladesh; Dr Amogh Dhar Sharma (@AmoghDS) is Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies at the Oxford Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. He is currently completing his monograph titled 'The Backstage of Democracy: India's Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them' (forthcoming).

DISCUSSANT: David Lewis (@lewisd100) is Professor of Anthropology & Development at LSE, has published extensively on civil society & NGOs in South Asia, and more recently, has been interested in representations of development in popular culture. He is co-editor of the recently published New Mediums, Better Messages: How Innovations in Translation, Engagement & Advocacy are Changing International Development (2022).

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar (@SAsiaLSE) is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre.

Banner image: Sara Kurfeß, 'Phone Wallpaper by @efekurnaz', 2018, Unsplash.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

FACT & FICTION

Expanding the Archive: Sources & the Social Sciences

Thursday, 16 March | 3.30pm UK

A Roundtable on new archives to expand the source base of the social sciences, including radio, music, literature, theatre, etc.

SPEAKERS: David Lewis (@lewisd100) is Professor of Anthropology & Development at LSE, and co-editor (with Dennis Rodgers & Michael Woolcock) of New Mediums, Better Messages? How Innovations in Translation, Engagement, and Advocacy are Changing International Development (2022) around which this Roundtable is organised; Vinod Pavarala (@vpavarala) is Senior Professor of Communication and UNESCO Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad, and co-author (with Kanchan K. Malik) of Other Voices: The Struggle for Community Radio in India (2007); Dr Sarah Saddler is Assistant Professor of Theatre, Baruch College, CUNY, New York; her current book project, titled 'Performing Corporate Bodies: Multinational Theatre in Global India', is an ethnography of theatre-based workplace training in corporate India.

DISCUSSANT: Krishnendu Ray (@Raykris1) is Professor of Food Studies at NYU-Steinhardt, New York, and author, most recently, of The Ethnic Restaurater (2016).

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE).

This event is part of the Centre's Fact & Fiction series.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

GROWTH & ECONOMICS: How Far can India Rise?

Thursday, 9 March | 3pm UK / 8.30pm India

Industrialists & international investors are more optimistic about India's domestic growth than the rest of the world. What underpins this?

SPEAKERS: Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) is an economist, currently Carl Marks Professor of International Studies, Cornell University, USA; Jayati Ghosh (@Jayati1609) is Professor of Economics at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachussetts Amherst.

DISCUSSANT/CHAIR: Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is Director, LSE South Asia Centre, and Professor of Management Accounting at LSE.

This event is part of the Centre's 'India @ 75' series.

Image credit: 'India @ 75' by Oroon Das. This image is copyrighted and may not be used by anyone. It is part of a special series commissioned by the LSE South Asia Centre to commemorate its 'India @ 75' events.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

SRI LANKA @ 75

CEYLON TO SRI LANKA: A Journey in Nationhood

Thursday, 16 February | 3pm UK / 8.30pm Sri Lanka

This special commemorative lecture will reflect on the emergence of Sri Lanka from a British colony to an independent nation.

SPEAKER: Dr Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (@CBKsrilanka) is former President & Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and Chairperson, South Asia Policy & Research Institute, Colombo.

DISCUSSANT: Dr Rajesh Venugopal (@rajeshvenugopal) is Associate Professor in the Department of International Development, LSE, and author of Nationalism, Development & Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka (2018).

CHAIR: Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is Director, LSE South Asia Centre, and Professor of Management Accounting at LSE.

Banner image © The 'Sri Lanka @ 75' logo is copyrighted by the LSE South Asia Centre, and may not be used by anyone for any purpose. It shows the national flower of Sri Lanka, the Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae), framed in a graphic design of colours derived from the national flag, and sacral & architectural motifs. The logo has been designed by Oroon Das.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

PAKISTAN @ 75

Sound Economics can Enrich Pakistan

Thursday, 2 February | 3.30pm UK / 8.30pm Pakistan

PLEASE NOTE: This event was originally publicised including Dr Esther Peréz Ruíz (International Monetary Fund) as the second Speaker, but Dr Ruíz excused herself shortly before the event due to ongoing work commitments in Pakistan.

SPEAKER: Asim Khwaja (@aikhwaja) is Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance & Development, and Director, Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University.

CHAIR: Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is Director, LSE South Asia Centre and Professor of Management Accounting at LSE.

This event is in collaboration with The Lakshmi Mittal & Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, and is part of the LSE South Asia Centre's ongoing 'Pakistan @ 75' series of events in 2022-23.

Banner image: The ‘Pakistan @ 75’ logo is copyrighted by the LSE South Asia Centre, and may not be used by anyone for any purpose. It shows the national flower of Pakistan, Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), framed in a filigree design adapted from Islamic architecture. The logo has been designed by Oroon Das.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

Aung San and Independent Burma

Thursday | 26 January | 3pm UK / 9.30pm Myanmar

A special lecture to mark 75 years of Myanmar's independence & the complex history of its anti-colonial struggle, focusing on Aung San.

SPEAKER: Angelene Naw is Professor Emerita in History at Judson University (@JudsonU), Illinois. She is author of Aung San and the Struggle for Burmese Independence (2001), an academic biography of Aung San, and very recently, of The History of the Karen People of Burma (ed. J. Cain; 2023).

DISCUSSANT: Michael W. Charney is Professor in the Department of History & the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS(@SOAS), University of London, and a specialist in the history of Southeast Asia. He is author of A History of Modern Burma (2009), and more recently, Imperial Military Transportation in British Asia: Burma, 1941-1942 (2019).

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE).

Banner image: The ‘Myanmar @ 75’ logo is copyrighted by the LSE South Asia Centre, and may not be used by anyone for any purpose. It shows the national flower of Myanmar, Padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus), framed in a design combination adapted from Burmese textile weaves and sacral architectural motifs. The logo has been designed by Oroon Das.