Michaelmas Term 2019

India's Great War: Forgotten Personal Stories of 1914-18

Thursday, 5 December, 6.30pm

This lecture recounted the story of India’s Great War through the forgotten personal stories of officers, men and those they left behind. George Morton-Jack is the author of the acclaimed The Indian Empire at War, the first global history of the Indian Army 1914-18, and explored the experiences of its British officers and Indian ranks across the fronts of Europe, Africa and Asia.

Speaker: George Morton-Jack (@GMortonJack) is a historian, and the author of the acclaimed The Indian Empire at War (2018).

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre.

This event was in collaboration with the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.

Beyond 2020: Students & Politics in India

Wednesday, 4 December, 3:30pm

Against all odds, Sachin Pilot spearheaded the victory of the Congress Party in Rajasthan in December 2018. Now Deputy Chief Minister of one of the most important states in northern India, this interactive session with students discussed the future of politics in India over the next 10 years, and further.

Speaker: Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) is Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Chair: Mukulika Banerjee (@MukulikaB) is Director, LSE South Asia Centre, and Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE.

To watch the Facebook live, click here.

This event is being held in collaboration with Talk Journalism, National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU UK), LSESU India Society, and South Asia Society.

Nation, Gender and Religion: The Many Lives of Freda Bedi

Friday, 29 November, 6.30pm

From the moment she married a handsome young Sikh at a registry office in Oxford in 1933, Freda Bedi, née Houlston, regarded herself as Indian, even though it was another year before she set foot in the country. She was English by birth and upbringing - and Indian by marriage, cultural affinity and political loyalty. Later, she travelled the world as a revered Buddhist teacher, but India would remain her home to the end.

Participants: David Arnold is Emeritus Professor in History, University of Warwick; Katie Hickman (@khickmanauthor) is the authour of She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen: British Women in India 1600 – 1900 (2019); Andrew Whitehead (@john_pether) is a journalist and author.

Chair: Mukulika Banerjee (@MukulikaB) is Director of the South Asia Centre, and Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE. 

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Interpreting the Constitution of India 

Tuesday, 26 November, 6.30pm

To mark India’s Constitution Day, the South Asia Centre discussed how the lengthiest national constitution of the world has evolved to become more meaningful and relevant to the citizens of the country. Focusing particularly on the interpretations of the Constitution by the Supreme Court of India since the 1950s, and demonstrating how the Court has been both arbiter and keeper of the values enshrined in India’s Constitution, keeping it in tandem with the changing needs of the world’s largest democracy.

Speaker: Chintan Chandrachud (@Chintan_dc) is the author of Balanced Constitutionalism: Courts and Legislatures in India and the United Kingdom (2017), and The Cases that India Forgot (forthcoming, 2019).

Discussant: Gautam Bhatia (@gautambhatia88), Balliol College, University of Oxford. He is the author of  Offend, Shock, or Disturb: Free Speech under the Indian Constitution (2016) & The Transformative Constitution: A Radical Biography in Nine Acts (2019).

Chair: Mukulika Banerjee (@MukulikaB) is Director of the South Asia Centre, and Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE.

To listen to the podcast, click here. 

This event was part of the 100 Foot Journey Club & held in collaboration with the High Commission of India in the UK.

Elections 2019: What next for Sri Lanka? 

Monday, 25 November, 6.30pm

On Saturday, 16 November Sri Lankan voters went to the polls to elect their next President. Against a backdrop of ethnic tensions, deadly acts of terrorism and last year's constitutional crisis, the 2019 Presidential Elections marked a key moment for Sri Lanka's democracy. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ex-soldier and brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won with a confident margin of votes. Therefore, we hosted a panel discussion on what the results mean for the country's long-term stability, peace and institutions. 

Speakers: Alan Keenan (@AKeenan23) is Senior Analyst & Project Director for Sri Lanka at the International Crisis Group, London; Dharsha Jegatheeswaran (@dharsha_J) is a human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research in Jaffna, Sri Lanka; Rajesh Venugopal (@rajeshvenugopal) is Associate Professor in International Development, LSE; Asanga Welikala (@welikalaa) is Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Edinburgh.

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, South Asia Centre, LSE.

To listen to the podcast, click here. 

Roundtable Discussion Series 

'What does the study of South Asia teach us about ... CAPITALISM' 

Wednesday, 20 November, 5pm 

In this roundtable chaired by Mukulika Banerjee & Magnus Marsden, panellists, Laura Bear, Rana Dasgupta, Rebecca Prentice & Andrew Sanchez explored the relationship between South Asia and capitalism in the context of current developments. They historicise South Asia’s role in the expansion of capitalism, ask how new forms of capitalism have shaped the working lives of South Asian today, as well as the organisations and dynamics of the cities, societies and countries in which they live. 

This event was organised in collaboration with University of Sussex Asia Centre. 

New Perspectives on Pakistan's Political Economy

Friday, 15 November, 6.30pm

Participants: Adnan Khan is Professor in Practice in the School of Public Policy, LSE; Matthew McCartney is Associate Professor in Political Economy and Human Development of South Asia, University of Oxford; Natalya Naqvi (@natalyanaqvi) is Assistant Professor in International Political Economy, LSE; Akbar Zaidi is Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.  

Chair: Mukulika Banerjee (@MukulikaB) is Director of the South Asia Centre, and Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE. 

To listen to the podcast, click here. 

This event was in collaboration with Bloomsbury Pakistan.

Announcement of the Shortlist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019

Wednesday, 6 November, 6.30pm 

Keynote address: Kate Moose, Founder Director of Women's Prize for Fiction.

India's Foreign Policy

Tuesday, 29 October, 6.30pm

Speaker: Ian Hall is Professor in the School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Brisbane 

Discussant: Kate Sullivan de Estrada (@Kate_SdE) is Associate Professor in the International Relations of South Asia, University of Oxford.

Chair: Mukulika Banerjee (@MukulikaB) is Director, LSE South Asia Centre, and Associate Professor in Anthropology at LSE.

To listen to the podcast, click here and to watch the Facebook live, click here.

This event is in collaboration with LSE IDEAS.

Taliban and Democracy in Afghanistan

Friday, 18 October 2019, 6.30pm

Speakers: Antonio Giustozzi is Visiting Professor at King’s College London; Sarah Ashraf (@SarahAshraf01) is Manager, Policy & Research, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, London; Chris Sands (@ChrisSandsKabul) is Freelance Journalist who writes on Afghanistan.

Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre.

To listen to the podcast, click here.