India China Institute

The Great Hydraulic Transition: Modern Origins of Land and Rivers in South Asia w/ Prof. Rohan D'Souza
2013-12-12 21:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York)
Development, Though and Policy Lecture Series Presents:

The Great Hydraulic Transition: Modern Origins of Land and Rivers in South Asia

Presented by: Rohan D’Souza, Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Thursday, December 12

66 West 12th Street, Room 513

4:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M.

This seminar is co-hosted by GPIA and The India China Institute

Please RSVP to development.newschool@gmail.com

Download event flyer here (PDF)

Abstract: Most writings on lands and rivers in South Asia have disingenuously accepted the “politics of separations.” Land as property and river as resource, thus, are overwhelmingly recognized as distinct conceptual domains. Histories about land settlements, rent extraction, the burdens of revenue, legal ownership, or the commons have occupied discussions only as the political economy of the soil. Rivers, on the other hand, became a technical subject involving infrastructure and the biographies of engineering and control. Professor D’Souza will argue that this politics of separations acquired a defining force in the region only through the course of the long nineteenth century. An amphibian South Asia with its soil-water admixtures actually characterized its environmental and social worlds before being transformed into the reptilian terrain of colonial modernity.

Bio: Dr. Rohan D’Souza is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy and the author of Drowned and Dammed: Colonial Capitalism and Flood Control in Eastern India (1803-1946), Oxford University Press, 2006. His edited books include The British Empire and the Natural World: Environmental Encounters in South Asia (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Environment, Technology and Development: Critical and Subversive Essays (Orient BlackSwan: Hyderabad, 2012). His interests and research publications cover themes in environmental history, environmental politics, non-traditional security, sustainable development and modern technology.

Chair: Manjari Mahajan, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, New School University

Discussants: Nikhil Anand, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Minnesota and Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and Vyjayanthi Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, New School University

Invisible Villages & Flying Monsters: Folktales About Place Among the Tibetans of Geza
2014-02-19 22:00 - 23:30
Invisible Villages & Flying Monsters:
Folktales About Place Among the Tibetans of Geza

Public Talk by Eric Mortensen
Wednesday, February 19, 20145-6:30PM55 W. 13th St., 2nd Fl., Dorothy Hirshon Suite
The mountains of Geza are awash in old tales about invisible villages and wild people (Tibetan: nags myi rgod). This presentation assesses the oral performances of nags myi rgod stories, with a focus on the specific stories surrounding the flying monster called the myi rgod shung shung. In the Tibetan communities of Geza Township in rGyalthang (Xianggelila County of Northwest Yunnan Province), such stories are tied to the cultural memory of local geography, including the invisible village of Panlung, which can be heard but not seen.
Specifically, this project compares twenty six variant nags myi rgod stories and interview information about nags myi rgod collected and digitally recorded on four separate fieldwork trips to the Geza villages of Langdu, Gönpa, Geza (brgya rtsa), Nagara, and gter ma rong village in neighboring Dongwang. Although nags myi rgod (& Chinese ye ren) stories are widespread throughout Tibet and the Himalayas, several of the stories from Geza contain variant descriptions of an invisible village called Panlung. In the stories, a mushroom gatherer or herder – who was often identified as a relative of the storyteller – would stop in wonder and hear the rushing water and agricultural sounds typical of village life, but the village could (at least initially) not be seen. Nags myi rgod, who live in the forests looking down on the bucolic invisible village, mischievously invert human farming efforts and hunting practices and thereby make the village of Panlung uninhabitable, even for those lucky enough to breakthrough the invisible meniscus and see or enter the valley with its perfect pasturage and farmland. The stories involve frightful encounters with nags myi rgod, and longer tales recount how clever hunters or farmers trick the nags myi rgod, and escape being killed (through being tickled to death, squeezed, or pulverized by a nags myi rgod’s armpit stone) or used as a mate. Some families in the region maintain the surname Panlung, and consider themselves refugees from the invisible village. Panlung, also known as Zayzong in Nagara (zay zong is near to Bala) and Natöeyong in Dongwang, appears in many of the stories with the refugee element as the most common theme.
The centerpiece of the project is a comparative analysis of the performative function and cultural meaning of the invisible village in story. What does it mean for individuals to be refugees from an invisible dystopian village while facing current cultural, economic, and religious repression related to the land itself? In the context of this oral tradition, why, when, by whom, and to who are these stories of inversion and reversal told? [Degh 1958; Doniger 1998] To what degree are the performances of nags myi rgod tales subversive, intended for cultural maintenance, or simply fun for children? How can the variant tales inform upon the interrelated dynamics of place, identity, lament, and memory? [Mueggler, 2001]. As the myi rgod shung shung story is directly tied to features of the landscape of Geza, how do the performances of these stories contribute to local identity and inform upon the imagining of inhabitation of wildspace in this rapidly changing region?
Eric Mortensen is currently an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Guilford College, located in Greensboro, NC. He complete his undergraduate studies at Carlton College and had the opportunity to study abroad in Beijing, Nepal, India, and Bhutan. Upon graduating in 1993, he spent his graduate career at Harvard, where he studied languages, anthropology, religion, folklore, and history for ten years. During this time, he grew to love teaching and Asia, further fostering an academic interest in Tibetology. These two loves drew him to Guilford and its Religious Studies Department. Although he does not hold a degree in religious studies, he has made religion his specialty through his focused research on Buddhist religion and culture.

Refreshments will be served. Seating is limited – RSVP is required. RSVP Now.

Download Event Poster [PDF]

Anti-Corruption Movements in China and India - Dissent Magazine + The New Yorker
2014-02-27 15:00 - 16:30
Anti-Corruption Movements in China and India

Thu, Feb 27, 2014 | 3:00-4:30 PM

Join the India China Institute for an exciting discussion about anti-corruption movements in China and India. The event will feature Dissent Magazine contributor Mehboob Jeelani, Dissent Magazine Editorial Member Jeff Wasserstrom, The New Yorker Contributor Jiayang Fan, and Jonathan Shainin, Web editor at The New Yorker. The event will be moderated by ICI Academic Co-Director Mark Frazier.

The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is requested. RSVP NOW. Share this with your friends! http://bit.ly/MYcuGu

Download Event Poster [PDF]

More information on Dissent Magazine and The New Yorker.

Poverty, Inequality, and Social Policy in China: Polarization or Harmony? w/ Qin Gao
2014-03-17 21:00 - 22:30 | Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, New York, NY, 10011, USA
Poverty, Inequality, and Social Policy in China: Polarization or Harmony?

Public talk by Qin Gao
Associate Professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service
Visiting Scholar at The India China Institute

Monday, March 17th 5pm – 6:30pm
Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th St., 2nd Fl.

Bio: Qin Gao is an Associate Professor at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, a Research Associate at Columbia University Population Center, and currently a Visiting Scholar at the India China Institute at the New School University. Dr. Gao’s research examines poverty, income inequality, social welfare policies, and family economic and subjective well-being in China and cross-nationally.

Talk Synopsis: China has had the world’s greatest poverty reduction during the past 30 years, yet alongside this remarkable achievement are rapidly growing income inequality and many emerging welfare needs that threat its sustained development and political stability. Is China truly close to eliminating poverty? How unequal is the Chinese society? How have social policies in China evolving and to what extent are they addressing citizens’ welfare needs? When both market and social policy forces are considered, is China more polarized or harmonized? In this talk, Dr. Gao will examine these questions building on her extensive research on these topics using both empirical data and critical analysis. We anticipate a stimulating, interdisciplinary discussion among economists, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, social policy scholars, and anyone who is interested in China studies or cross-national comparisons.

Moderator: Mark Frazier, Co-Academic Director, India China Institute

Discussant: Dr. Carl Riskin, Distinguished Professor of Economics, CUNY Queens College

The Religious Revival in Contemporary China: Sociological Perspectives w/ Fan Lizhu & Na Chen
2014-03-20 15:00 - 17:30
The Religious Revival in Contemporary China: Sociological Perspectives

Thursday, March 20th, 11:00am-1:30pmHirshon Suite, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor

Presentations:

Under Ancestry’s Shadow—The Revival of Family Values and Ancestry Reverence in Southern Zhejiang by Fan Lizhu (Fudan University)

The Revival of Confucianism in the Form of a Religion by Na Chen (University of California, San Diego)

Dr. Fan Lizhu (PhD, Chinese University of Hong Kong), Professor of Sociology at Fudan University in Shanghai, is one of the pioneers of the study of Chinese popular religion and the teaching of sociology of religion in China. Her ethnographic work focuses on contemporary expressions of traditional Chinese religious heritage. She has published widely in both Chinese and international journals, and edited several volumes of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary research.

Dr. Na Chen received his academic degrees from Peking University, University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. His research interests include sociology of religion and intercultural communication. Over the last fifteen years Dr. Chen has worked both in China (Fudan University) and the United States. He is currently a research associate at the University of California, San Diego.

Respondents:

Mark Frazier, New School for Social Research, ICI Academic Co-DirectorNeil McGee, Eugene Lang College/Columbia University

Moderator:

Mark Larrimore, Eugene Lang College

3rd Annual Emerging Scholars Conference
2014-04-14 13:30 - 23:30
The Third Interdisciplinary Symposium for Emerging Scholars on India China Studies is part of the India China Institute’s continuing commitment to build a community of scholars who are engaged in research that focuses on new and innovative approaches to understanding India-China relations. The Emerging Scholars program also draws on The New School’s tradition of fostering horizontal and vertical knowledge sharing across disciplines and amongst scholars in different stages of their careers.

Following the symposiums held in China and India in November 2013, this symposium is the third part of a three-part symposium series. Seven presenters selected from the three countries for this symposium will share their work and participate in multi-disciplinary investigation and deliberation with distinguished scholars.

Presenters:

Uttam Lal, Assistant Professor, Geography & Natural Resources Management, Sikkim University, India:  “Suturing Fragmented Geographies through Fragmented Land Route”

Ying Su, PhD Candidate, Institute of International Studies, Yunnan University, China: “Indians’ Attitudes towards English”

Min Ye, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Boston University: “Institutions, Diffusion by Diasporas: Foreign Direct Investment in China and India”

Yu Zheng, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut: “Institutions, Labor Mobility, and Foreign Direct Investment in China and India”

Nirmola Sharma, Doctoral Candidate, East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, India: “Compulsions and Contestations of Ideology: The India National Army’s Justification For Collaboration with the Japanese in Occupied China (1942-1945)”

Yinghong Huang, Assistant Professor, Sun Yat-sen University, China : “Between Justice and Development: The Mixed Stories of Land acquisition in India and China”

Prakash Kashwan, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut:  “Institutional Political Economy of Land Acquisition in India (with a Glance over the Himalayas)”

PDF: ICC Spring 2014 Agenda

Understanding Xi Jinping's Grand Reform Strategy
2014-04-29 22:30 - 2014-04-30 00:00
Public discussion presented by: Cui Zhiyuan, ICI Visiting ScholarProfessor of Public Policy, Tsinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management

Tuesday, April 29th6:30pm – 7:30pm

The New School, Hirshon Suite55 W. 13th St., 2nd Floor

Presentation Description:

In the recent Third Plenum of the 18th CCP Party Congress, Xi proposed a 60 point comprehensive reform plan. It is subject to the competing interpretations within China and abroad. During the talk, Prof. Cui will propose an interpretation based on the latest developments in the areas of state-owned enterprises, land trust in rural development, and the party-state relationship. This may be called the perspective of the Chinese New Left.

Cui Zhiyuan is a Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Chicago in 1995. His selective writings includes: The Dilemma of Invisible Hand Paradigm (Chinese version, 1999, Economic Science Publisher, Beijing); The Second Thought Liberalization Movement and Institutional Innovation (Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1997), Whither China? (Seoul, 2003) and A Petty Bourgeois Socialism Manifesto (Seoul,2014). He is a co-author (with Adam Przeworski et al) of Sustainable Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and the editor of Robert Unger’s Politics (Verso, 1997). With Huang Ping, he co-edited China and Globalization: Washington Consensus, Beijing Consensus or What? (Beijing, 2005). He took a leave of absence from Tsinghua University from 2010 to 2011 to work as Assistant Director of State Asset Management Committee of Chongqing Government.

Moderator:Sanjay ReddyCo-Academic Director, India China Institute
Discussants:

Mark Frazier
Co-Academic Director, India China Institute

Charles Sabel
Maurice T. Moore Professor of Law and Social Science, Columbia Law School

Vamsi Vakulabharanam
Visiting Scholar, India China Institute
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Hyderabad

Peronism and Orientalism: The Reconfiguration of Geopolitical Visions in the Early Cold War
2014-05-07 22:15 - 23:45
This presentation is based on personal writings, memories, articles and documents of Argentine diplomats who played a relevant role in foreign relations of Argentina with Asian countries and international organizations between 1945 and 1949. These testimonies reflect the cultural mindsets, perceptions and ways of understanding East-West relations that shaped Argentina´s geopolitical visions of the postwar order, at a time in which fundamental transformations in domestic politics were also taking place.Peronism partly opened the gates to a renovation of foreign policy, reformulating its traditional orientations under the “Third Position” paradigm. However, its worldview kept some of the traditional and conservative perceptions of ”Orient”. These will become evident in their overt support to Cold War Western anticommunism.

Fabián Bosoer is an Argentine political scientist and journalist. He is a professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Tres de Febrero and Latinamerican Social Sciences Faculty (FLACSO). He is a columnist, editorial writer and Op-Ed editor of the newspaper Clarín, in Buenos Aires. He has published the books Generals and Ambassadors: A History of the Parallel Diplomacies in Argentina (Vergara, 2005), The Falkland Islands, The Final Chapter: War and Diplomacy in Argentina (Capital Intellectual-Claves para todos, 2007), Braden vs. Peron: The Hidden History (El Ateneo, 2011) and Behind Peron: Life and Legend of Admiral Teisaire (Capital Intellectual, 2013).

India, China and the Emerging Pattern of Global Transformation
2014-05-08 18:00 - 19:30 | Klein Conference Room, 66 West 12th Street 5th Floor, New York, NY, 10011, USA
The India China Institute and the Global Studies Program at The New School Presents:
India, China and the Emerging Pattern of Global Transformation

A public talk by
Manoranjan Mohanty
Chairperson and Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies
Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development

The talk explores the implications of the trends in India-China relations, their regional and global role and the development experiences of India and China during the past few decades for the emerging scenario of global transformation. Prof. Mohanty argues that the experiences and debates in India and China show a transition in global history from the epoch of the Industrial Revolution to a new period.
Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty is Chairperson and Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi and Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi. A former Professor of Political Science and Director, Developing Countries Research Centre at the University of Delhi, he is Editor of Social Change and a former Editor of China Report. His recent publications include Grass-roots Democracy in India and China (Co-ed. 2007), India: Social Development Report 2010 (Ed. 2010) , Weapon of the Oppressed: An Inventory of People’s Rights in India ( Co-author, 2011), Land, Equity and Democracy ( Co-ed, 2012),The Political Philosophy of Mao Zedong ( 1978, 2012 ) and Ideology Matters: China from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping (2014).

Moderator:
Ashok Gurung
Senior Director, India China Institute

Discussants:
L.H.M. Ling
Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, The New School for Public Engagement
Associate Professor of International Affairs, The Milano School

Mark Frazier
Co-Academic Director, India China Institute
Professor of Politics, The New School for Social Research

Sanjay Ruparelia
Assistant Professor of Politics, The New School for Social Research
Former Fellow, India China Institute

Crisis and Criticism: the Predicament of Global Modernity w/ Arif Dirlik
2014-09-08 16:00
‘Crisis and Criticism: the Predicament of Global Modernity’

A public talk by Arif Dirlik

Join ICI for an exciting talk by renowned sinologist and social theorist Arif Dirlik.

“That we are living through a time of unprecedented crisis is widely acknowledged. What is less certain is whether this crisis is one of the crises endemic to the capitalist world system, an outcome of systemic transformations at work that suggest an impending hegemonic shift (with the People’s Republic of China [PRC] as the up-and-coming claimant), or a terminal crisis that signals the collapse of life as we know it as unbridled capitalist development in its various competing versions runs up against the ecological limitations of the earth.”

Arif Dirlik was on the faculty at Duke University and more recently was the Knight Professor of Social Science at the University of Oregon. He has published extensively on the formation of the Chinese Communist Party, the history of Chinese anarchism, and post-colonial globalism. Some of his published works include: Revolution and History: Origins of Marxist Historiography in China, 1919-1937, University of California Press; Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution, University of California Press; Postmodernism and China, Duke University Press; and Global Modernity: Modernity in the Age of Global Capitalism, Paradigm Press.

The Bullet and the Ballot Box
2014-10-09 16:00 - 17:30
This is the first in the series of events hosted by the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies that will mark the 25th anniversary of the dismantling of the Communist system in Eastern and Central Europe. Organized together with the India-China Institute, The Bullet and the Ballot Box celebrates the new book with the same title by Aditya Adhikari, recently published by Verso.

The Bullet and the Ballot Box will focus on the extraordinary case of Nepal, where an anti-autocratic movement partially inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall led to the establishment of a multi-party system in 1990. However, this was soon followed by a Maoist armed rebellion (1996-2006) that swept the entire countryside. In 2006, the Maoists joined the political mainstream and multiparty democracy was restored. Following the historic election to the Constituent Assembly in 2008, the Maoists emerged as the most powerful political force in the country, and the monarchy was subsequently abolished. The discussion will focus on how Nepal’s Maoists reinterpreted Maoism and successfully translated it into political action at a time when liberal democracy dominated public discourse and communism had lost legitimacy.

The panel will be moderated by Elzbieta Matynia-Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies at The New School and Director of TCDS. Participants will include:

– Aditya Adhikari, author of The Bullet and the Ballot Box: The Story of Nepal’s Maoist Revolution (2014)

– Andrew Arato, Dorothy Hart Hirshon Professor of Political and Social Theory in the department of sociology at The New School

– Tamrat Samuel, former director of the Asia-Pacific Division of the UN Department of Political Affairs and former Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Nepal

– Ashok Gurung, ICI Senior Director and Professor of Practice, Julian J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs.

Colloquium on the Economies and Societies of India and China
2014-10-17 12:00 - 13:30
The India China Institute (ICI) at The New School is launching a new research forum, the Colloquium on the Economies and Societies of India and China, to promote the comparative study of the political economies of modern China and India.

COSMOPOLITAN CAPITALISM:Local State-Society Relations in China and India

“State-society relations” typically refers to the relationship between a Weberian nation-state and the citizens residing within its administratively defined and coercively enforced territorial borders. This paper departs from conventional usages of both state and society by focusing on the local state, on the one hand, and a less territorialized conception of society, on the other. Empirically, the paper demonstrates the logic of this dual definitional stretch of state-society relations by examining different expressions of “cosmopolitan capitalism” in three paired localities in China and India: 1) Zhejiang/Gujarat, 2) Zhongguancun/Bangalore, and 3) Guangdong/Kerala.

Presenter: Kellee TsaiProfessor and Head of the Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science & TechnologyProfessor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University

The Real Cost of Tea: Modern Day Slavery in Assam's Tea Gardens
2014-12-05 17:00 - 18:30
The Real Cost of Tea: Modern-Day Slavery in Assam’s Tea Gardens

Sukti Dhital, a human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Nazdeek, a legal capacity organization committed to bringing access to justice closer to marginalized communities in India, will be sharing stories from the ground on the real cost of India’s tea. Through 360 interactive multi-media, Sukti will walk the audience through Assam’s tea gardens, highlighting the substandard conditions these workers labor under. Even though the tea industry is profitable, its workers are slowly deteriorating under a modern-day feudalism developed by the British and inherited by today’s tea companies. Based on Nazdeek’s work in partnering with grassroots activists to advance the rights of workers, the discussion will center on the need for corporate accountability to address human rights abuses and a holistic approach to strengthen efforts for justice.

As covered by leading news outlets such as the New York Times, the Guardian UK, Al Jazeera, BBC and Reuters, despite producing more than 52% of India’s tea, workers in Assam are the lowest paid in India’s organized sector. Colonial-era labor structures, faulty trade union practices and corporate greed are responsible for unjust wages, which are against the Constitution, national and international laws. Through the use of national and transnational legal mechanisms, advocacy campaigns, and community trainings, activists and workers are beginning to challenge the colonial structure in Assam.

Please join the India China Institute and Nazdeek for an evening to reflect and exchange ideas on how western consumers can join the fight to end modern day feudalism in the gardens.

-Friday, December 5, from 5pm to 6:30

-wine/beverages + light snacks served

www.nazdeek.org

www.facebook.com/nazdeek

twitter.com/Nazdeek1

Fourth Interdisciplinary Symposium for Emerging Scholars on India China Studies: China
2014-12-12 15:30 - 19:00

Gods, Power and Common Folks: City and Religion in Kyoto, Japan
2014-12-22 16:00
Social Science Bahainvites you to its

Lecture Series LXXX

Eiko Ikegami

on

Gods, Power and Common FolksCity and Religion in Kyoto, Japan

4 pm • 22 December, 2014 (Monday) • The City Museum, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu

This lecture is based on Eiko Ikegami’s research over the last 10 years in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Professor Ikegami will invite the audience to the breathtaking sights of Japan’s most famous festival, Gion Matsuri in Kyoto. The Gion festival has been running for a thousand years on an annual basis. In discussing the history and contemporary practices of the festival, she will unveil significance that has become embedded in the contemporary landscape and civic culture of Kyoto city.

Drawing on her historical and ethnographic research, Professor Ikegami will conjure up the Shinto roots of the festival, and how it became dedicated to a shrine called Yasaka. She will then point out how the Gion festival is more than just a Shinto festivity. The shrine and festival are deeply connected with the development of Kyoto’s spatial layout and the creation and transformation of what it meant for ancient Kyotoites to identify with their sense of being citizens. Even the development of the world-famous traditional courtesan district, also called Gion, is related to the history of the Yasaka shrine.

* * *

Eiko Ikegami (PhD in Sociology, Harvard University) is Walter A. Eberstadt Professor of Sociology and History at The New School for Social Research in New York. She is the author of The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan and Bonds of Civility: Aesthetic Networks and Political Origins of Japanese Culture, which won five book prizes in fields, including the John Whitney Hall Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies and the Best Book Award in Cultural Sociology from the American Sociological Association. Her current work on civility and aesthetics, cultures of Japanese capitalism and public spheres in comparative perspectives through network formation includes visualised interactive communications on the internet. Before coming to The New School, she held positions with Yale University and Nihon Keizai Shinbun (The Japan Economic Journal) in Tokyo. In 2003, she was elected to the chair of the Comparative and Historical Sociology section of the American Sociological Association.

This lecture is co-organised with the India China Institute at The New School in collaboration with the Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology (Tribhuvan University), Lasanaa and The City Museum Kathmandu.

This is a public event and admission is free and open to all. Seating is first-come-first-served.Please direct queries to 4472807.

Who Cares? Care Arrangements and Sanitation for the Poor in India, Compared With Europe and China
2015-02-04 18:00 - 19:30
This talk will examine the question: why do Indian middle-class citizens seem to have no compelling interest improving sanitation for the poor, despite the fact that their own health is affected due to the close proximity of the poor? By comparing the current conditions of poverty in India and China, presenter Peter van der Veer will examine cultural theories of attitudes towards ‘the dirty outside world’ and will argue that these theories ignore the importance of caste, and especially, untouchability. The New School’s Sanjay Ruparelia will serve as a discussant.

Peter van der Veer is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen and Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University. He is the author of Gods on Earth (LSE Mongraphs, 1988), Religious Nationalism (University of California Press 1994), Imperial Encounters (Princeton University Press 2001), The Modern Spirit of Asia (Princeton University Press 2014). He is the editor of the new journal, Cultural Diversity in China and is a senior advisor at the India China Institute.

Sanjay Ruparelia is an assistant professor of Politics at The New School for Social Research and a former Fellow at the India China Institute. His areas of research and teaching span democratic theory, comparative politics and political economy of development, primarily in South Asian studies. He is the author of Divided We Govern: The Paradoxes of Power in Contemporary Indian Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2013) and is the coeditor of Understanding India’s New Political Economy: A Great Transformation? (Routledge, 2011).

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Handshake 302: Vernacular Geographies of Shenzhen, China
2015-02-19 18:00 - 19:30
In Shenzhen, China, the term “urban village” refers to a vernacular urban typology that has emerged out of village settlements that no longer, or only partially, exist, and continue to expand today. In these dense, urbanized spaces, the preservation of village terminology allows us to explore a vernacular geography of “modernized”, “urbanized”, and “everyday” spaces within a larger discourse about China’s urban growth and Shenzhen’s history, its development trajectories, and governmental interventions in its built environment. This talk focuses on my experience co-curating an experimental art and ethnographic space called the “Handshake 302 Village Hack Residency” that engages the living history of the urban village of Baishizhou and Shenzhen’s history more generally. Handshake 302 exploits the semiotic discrepancies between art space programs and low cost housing to provide an accessible sociology of an urban village. The talk explores how the definition, rezoning, and rebuilding of these neighborhoods simultaneously evaluates the history of urban modernity (and the ordinary people who made it) and posits the city’s future (and the people who are welcome there).

Mary Ann O’Donnell is an anthropologist, urban ethnographer, artist, and educator living in Shenzhen, China, where she is the director of CZC Special Forces, a citizen group that aims to bring Shenzhen’s urbanized villages into public discussions about urban planning and renewal projects. She is also an editor at Architectural Worlds.

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Asia and Dissent in a Time of Strongman Leaders
2015-02-26 18:00 - 19:30
Watch Here

Please join us for a roundtable discussion with experts on China, India, Japan & Russia.

Moderator:

Jeff Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s professor of History, University of California at Irvine; Author, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know; Editorial Board Member, Dissent Magazine

Panelists:

Alexis Dudden, Professor of History, University of Connecticut and Contributor, Dissent Magazine

Nina Khrushcheva, Associate Professor and Associate Dean at Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy, The New School

Ross Perlin, Author and Contributor, Dissent Magazine

Sanjay Ruparelia, Assistant Professor of Politics, The New School for Social Research and former Fellow, India China Institute

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The Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh (In Chinese)
2015-03-14 15:15 - 17:30
Tehching Hsieh is a noted New York City base performance artist. Hsieh accomplished five One Year Performance from 1978 to 1986 and worked on Thirteen-Year Plan from 1986 to 1999. In his Cage Piece, the artist locked himself in a cage for one year. He was tied to Linda Montano for a year during the Rope Piece. Punched a time clock every hour for a year, his Time Clock Piece has been exhibited in the Guggenheim Museum. Some of his works has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in 2009.

Tehching Hsieh was born in Nan-Chou, Taiwan in 1950. He dropped out high school in 1967 and took up painting. After finishing compulsory military service (1970-73), Hsieh had his first solo show at the gallery of the American News Bureau in Taiwan. Shortly after, Hsieh stopped painting. In 1973 He made a performance action, “Jump Piece”, in which he broke both ankles. He then trained as a seaman, which he used as a means to enter the United States. In July of 1974, Hsieh arrived at a small port near Philadelphia. He was an illegal immigrant in the States for fourteen years until he was granted amnesty in 1988. Starting in the late nineteen seventies, Hsieh made five One Year Performances and a Thirteen Year Plan, inside and outside his studio in New York City. Using long durations, making art and life simultaneous, the first four One Year Performances made Hsieh a regular name in the art scene in New York; the last two pieces, intentionally retreating from the art world, set a tone of sustained invisibility. Since the millennium, released from the restriction of not showing his works during a thirteen-year period, Hsieh has exhibited his work in North and South America, Asia and Europe. Hsieh lives in Brooklyn, New York.

He is most known for six durational performance pieces completed between 1978 and 2000. One Year Performance 1978–1979 (Cage Piece) In this performance, which lasted from 29 September 1978 through 30 September 1979, the artist locked himself in an 11.5-by-9-by-8-foot wooden cage, furnished only with a washbasin, lights, a pail, and a single bed. During the year, he was not allowed to talk, read, write, or listen to radio and TV. A lawyer, Robert Projansky, notarized the entire process and made sure the artist never left the cage during that one year. A friend came daily to deliver food, remove the artist’s waste, and take a single photograph to document the project. In addition, this performance was open to being viewed once or twice a month from 11 am to 5 pm. One Year Performance 1980–1981 (Time Clock Piece) For one year, from 11 April 1980 through 11 April 1981, Hsieh punched a time clock every hour on the hour. Each time he punched the clock, he took a single picture of himself, which together yield a 6-minute movie. He shaved his head before the piece, so his growing hair reflects the passage of time. Documentation of this piece was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2009, using film, punch cards, and photographs. This work was the first of Hsieh’s ever to be displayed in the UK at the Liverpool Biennial in 2010. One Year Performance 1981–1982 (Outdoor Piece) In his third one-year performance piece, from 26

September 1981 through 26 September 1982, Hsieh spent one year outside, not entering buildings or shelter of any sort, including cars, trains, airplanes, boats, or tents. He moved around New York City with a packbag and a sleeping bag. One Year Performance 1983-1984 (Rope Piece) In this performance, Hsieh and Linda Montano spent one year between 4 July 1983 and 4 July 1984 tied to each other with an 8-foot-long (2.4 m) rope. They had to stay in a same room while not allowed to touch each other until the end of the one year period.Both of them shaved their hair in the beginning of the year, and the performance was notarized initially by Paul Grassfield and later by Pauline Oliveros. One Year Performance 1985–1986 (No Art Piece) For one year, Hsieh did no art, spoke no art, saw no art, read no art, and did not enter any museum or gallery.

Tehching Hsieh 1986–1999 (Thirteen Year Plan) At the beginning of this epic piece, Hsieh declared, “Will make Art during this time. Will not show it publicly.” This plan began on his 36th birthday, 31 December 1986, and lasted until his 49th birthday, 31 December 1999. At the end, on 1 January 2000 he issued his concluding report, “I kept myself alive. I passed the December 31st, 1999.” The report consisted of cutout letters pasted onto a single sheet of paper.

Presented by Chinese Artist Alliance of New York City, The New School India China Institute. Supported by The New School CSSA

Challenges in Balancing Conservation & Development in Eastern Himalaya
2015-04-07 18:00 - 19:30
Join the India China Institute and the Environmental Studies program at The New School for an exciting talk on biodiversity conservation and development issues in the Eastern Himalaya.

“Challenges in Balancing Conservation and Development in Eastern Himalaya, a Biodiversity Hotspot”

A public talk by Ganesan Balachander.Discussion moderated by Timon McPhearson, Assistant Professor of Ecology, The New School.

The Eastern Himalaya is a biodiversity hotspot, with parts of it declared as UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites (Kaziranga, Khanchendzonga, Manas). Equally rich is the cultural diversity of its multitude ethnic groups. The region is likely to witness rapid economic growth – held back till now due to a long period of neglect, political instability and conflicts – owing to geopolitical considerations (a long disputed border with China), vast potential of hydro electric power for a energy starved country and growing development aspirations of the people. Conventional development models will be unlikely to produce sustained and inclusive growth and are likely to lead to loss of species, water insecurity and continued ethnic conflicts. To address these problems, the major research priorities include:

~ Need for information on occurrence, extent and distribution of species, both faunal and floral~ Modeling to ascertain likely impact of climate change (to prepare for adaptation as well as mitigation)~ The value of ecosystem services and factoring this element in policy making and design of project

The speaker will address these issues through lessons learned over two decades of research activities and projects in the region.

Ganesan Balachander is Director of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. ATREE is recognized as amongst the top 20 environmental think tanks in the world (U-Penn survey). Balachander is also currently a member of the Consortium Board of the CGIAR, a global public sector research organization involved in addressing food insecurity, poverty, malnutrition and ecosystem resilience. Earlier, he was the Representative for South Asia of The Ford Foundation in New Delhi. In a previous career, before he obtained his doctoral degree in Ecology from Rutgers University with a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard, he was a Vice President at Citibank, New York.

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New Urban Forms, New Fields of Inquiry Conference: China and India
2015-04-17 - 2015-04-18 | Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street Room B500, New York, NY, 10011, USA
New Urban Forms, New Fields of Inquiry: China and India will explore new ways of looking at the interplay of the conceptual and the material in studies of urban India and China. A collaborative and exploratory field-building exercise, this conference will pursue alternatives to theories of social science and design that sometimes draw upon universalist and/or linear assumptions about processes such as capitalism, urbanization, and modernity. Instead, our conference participants, many of whom have engaged in ethnographic, interpretive, or other qualitative approaches to urban forms and processes, will pursue new concepts and expose areas of future inquiry based on their work on urban and urbanized spaces of China and India. ICI believes that a conference engaging scholars committed to theorizing from careful, contextualized studies of Chinese and Indian cities has the potential to create new fields of inquiry. Please check back for updates on logistical information about this conference.
Keynote Speaker:
Terry McGee
Professor, Former DirectorInstitute of Asian ResearchUniversity of British Columbia

Explorations on the Asian Urban Edge
2015-04-17 18:00 - 20:00
The India China Institute is excited to announce a keynote talk by Terence McGee as part of the two-day New Urban Forms, New Fields of Inquiry conference at The New School.

“Explorations on the Asian Urban Edge: Untangling Issues of Comparative Research on Urbanization in China, India and Southeast Asia”

A Public talk by Professor Terence McGee, University of British ColumbiaWelcome remarks by Provost Tim Marshall

April 17th, 6-8pmWollman Hall, 5th floor65 West 11th St., NYThe New School

In the last sixty years, Professor McGee has researched Indian international migration, Malays rural-urban migration to Kuala Lumpur, street vendors in Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, Penang and Hong Kong. His work has focused on the urban margins of Asian cities located within the diverse trajectories of urbanization in China, India and Southeast Asia. His address will focus on four main questions.

~What is the “urbanization problematique” in the 21st century?~How can context and theory intermesh to reinterpret urbanization at different spatial scales–local, national, regional and global?~What role does the comparative study of urbanization play in understanding urbanization at these various territorial scales?~What are the consequences of strategic research themes for the comparative research on urban China and India?

Terence McGee has conducted research on urbanization and development in Asia for more than fifty years. He is the author of numerous influential books, monographs and articles on urbanization question in Southeast Asia, China and Latin America. He has also led several influential projects on urban development and the effects of environmental change on mega-urban regions. He was Director of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia (1978-88, 1993-98) as well as Professor of Geography (1978-2001). He was awarded the distinguished Vautrin Lud International Prize in Geography in 2009 for his contributions to development geography.

RSVP information coming soon

Bron Taylor: Spirituality After Darwin
2015-09-24 18:00 - 19:30
Spirituality After Darwin:

‘Dark Green’ Nature Religion and the Future of Religion and Nature

A public lecture by Professor Bron Taylor. Mark Larrimore, Eugene Lang College Religious Studies program as discussant.

6:00-7:30 pm, Theresa Lang Community Center, 55 W. 13th St., 2nd floor.

Event RSVP

New Religions come and go but some persist and become major global forces. In this presentation Professor Taylor presents evidence that, especially since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, a new, global, earth religion has been rapidly spreading around the world. Whether it involves conventional religious beliefs in non-material divine beings, or is entirely naturalistic and involves no such beliefs, it considers nature to be sacred, imbued with intrinsic value, and worthy of reverent care. Those having affinity with such spirituality generally have strong feelings of belonging to nature, express kinship with non-human organisms, and understand the world to be deeply interconnected. In a recent book Taylor labeled such phenomena ‘dark green religion’, noting that its central ethical priority is to defend the earth’s biocultural diversity. Taylor provides a wide variety of examples of new forms of religious (and religion-resembling) cultural innovation among those promoting such nature spirituality, from individuals (including artists, scientists, filmmakers, photographers, surfers, and environmental activists), to institutions (including museums, schools, and the United Nations). By tracking these, Taylor provides an opportunity to consider what such spirituality may portend for the religious and planetary future.

Speaker Bio:

Bron Taylor is Professor of Religion, Nature, and Environmental Ethics at the University of Florida, and a Carson Fellow of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich Germany. His research involves both ethnographic and historical methods, and much of it focuses on grassroots environmental movements, their emotional, spiritual, and moral spiritual dimensions, and their environmental, cultural, and political impacts. He has been involved in a variety of international initiatives promoting the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. His books include Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future (2010), the award winning Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (2005), Civil Society in the Age of Monitory Democracy (2013) and Ecological Resistance Movements: the Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism (1995), and Avatar and Nature Spirituality (2013). He is also the founder of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, and editor of its affiliated Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture. For more information see www.brontaylor.com.

Refreshments will be provided. Seating is limited. Please RSVP here.

The Global Challenge of Implementing the Urban SDGs w/ Aromar Revi
2015-10-01 18:00 - 20:00
The Global Challenge of Implementing the Urban Sustainable Development Goals

When: Thursday, October 1, 2015; 6:00 – 8:00pmWhere: Hirshon Suite (Room 205) 55 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011

ICI is hosting Aromar Revi to deliver a special public talk on “The global challenge of implementing the urban SDGs.” Mr Revi will dissect the United Nation’s SDGs, which have been well-crafted to guide the public’s understanding of complex sustainable development challenges, inspire public and private action, promote integrated thinking, and foster accountability.
Aromar Revi is currently the Director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), a national education institution committed to the equitable, sustainable and efficient transformation of Indian settlements. He is an international practitioner with over thirty years of inter-disciplinary experience. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), co-chair of its Urban thematic group, where he leads a global campaign for an urban Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). He is also a past fellow of the India China Institute.
Professor Shagun Mehrotra will serve as a panelist. Mehrota is a Professor of Sustainable Development at The New School and is the founding Director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Center. Professor Mehrotra serves on UNSDSN’s Urban Thematic Group charged by the UN Secretary General as an external advisory group for the post-2015 development agenda. Mehrotra co-directs UCCRN, a global research network of 500 scholars and practitioners based in a 100 cities dedicated to urban climate change research and policymaking.

Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to reserve a seat.

Dynastic Politics and the Challenges of Democratization in Bangladesh w/ Rounaq Jahan
2015-10-16 16:00 - 18:00
ICI is happy to announce this important talk we are co-sponsoring with the Development Thought and Policy Seminar Series at The New School. The event will take place Oct. 16th from 4-6pm in the University Center, #311.
Please RSVP for the event to development.newschool@gmail.com.
Rounaq Jahan will present her new book Political Parties in Bangladesh: Challenges of Democratization (Prothoma Prokashan, 2015). The book is organized into six broad chapters, covering theoretical explanations of political parties and political development, and with a detailed look at party systems under different regimes during key phases in Bangladesh’s history. Her analysis focuses on major traits of political parties, their organizational structure and leadership dynamics, who supports the parties and intra-party democratic practice, with special attention to local level politics. She concludes this imporant study by offering her key findings from the study and making recommendations on how to address these issues and challenges. Her talk will be based on this latest book. You can read more about her new book here.
Professor Rounaq Jahan is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in Bangladesh.

Stories and Journeys from the Indian Himalayas
2015-12-03 18:00 - 20:00
Stories and Journeys from the Indian Himalayas

December 3, 2015 | 6:00-8:00 pmHirshon Suite (Room 205)55 West 13th St, New York, NY 10011

RSVP Here

Noted Himalayan Anthropologist James Fisher will moderate the conversation.

Husband and wife team, Payson R. Stevens and Kamla K. Kapur will talk on their work in India over the last 12 years living in a remote Himalayan Valley. Payson’s career is multi-faceted with training in art and science. He was an advisor to the Great Himalayan National Park and spearheaded its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kamla is a well-known author of three acclaimed books reimagining Indian myths, stories and tales from three main spiritual sources: Hinduism, Sufism, and Sikhism.

They will share their stories and unique creative perspective with Kamla reading from her books and Payson sharing the perspective of an American living in a valley where the old mythic ways still survive. He will also show his experimental videos that focus on India’s sacred sites.

About Payson:

Payson is an award-winning author, artist, filmmaker and digital pioneer with training in science and the arts. His two companies consulted to NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on global change and helped pioneer digital new media. He received the Presidential Design Award from Bill Clinton for these groundbreaking innovations. During the last 14 years he has worked on Himalayan rural community and conservation issues related to the Great Himalayan National Park. He continues to paint and make experimental videos combining poetry and music in compelling mash-ups.

About Kamla:

Kamla was born and raised in India and studied in the U.S. She taught literature, mythology, and creative writing at Grossmont College for 17 years. Many of her poems have been published in prestigious American journals and quarterlies. She is an accomplished playwright with recent performances of her award-winning play, Kaamiya, in Mumbai. Recent books include: The Singing Guru, Pilgrimage to Paradise: Rumi’s Tales from the Silk Road, Ganesha Goes to Lunch. She is currently working on numerous writing projects including the multi-volume, Sikh Saga; Coherences, a novel of contemporary India, and a young-adult fantasy novel, Malini in Whirlwood.

The Colonial Practices of the Postcolonial State: China in Tibet, India in Kashmir w/ Dibyesh Anand
2016-03-31 12:00 - 13:30
The Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia, the India China Institute at the New School, and the Inner Asia Curricular Development Project at Columbia •

The Colonial Practices of the Postcolonial State: China in Tibet, India in Kashmir

Dibyesh Anand

Thursday, March 31

12:00-1:30 pm

SIPA #918, Columbia University

Dibyesh Anand is a Reader (Associate Professor) and Head of Department in International Relations at the University of Westminster in London. He has degrees from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, University of Hull and Bristol. He is the author of the monographs Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination, Tibet: A Victim of Geopolitics, and Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear.

Dr. Anand has held visiting positions at the University of California Berkeley, Australian National University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Central University of Hyderabad.

Event is free and open to all.

SIPA is by Columbia’s main Morningside campus at 118th and Amsterdam.

No.1 Train to 116th or buses M4, 11, 60, or 104. Map Directions

Nepal: A Year Since The Earthquake
2016-05-06 18:00 - 19:30
A Discussion on International Crisis Group’s Report

Nepal’s Divisive New Constitution: An Existential Crisis

The International Crisis Group, in partnership with India China Institute (ICI), will present its latest report, “Nepal’s Divisive New Constitution: An Existential Crisis.”
The earthquakes that rocked Nepal in Spring 2015 were followed by a period of political instability linked to a contentious constitution-writing process. Since the constitution was passed last September amid deadly protests, the country’s ethnic, social and political fractures have only deepened. Meanwhile, earthquake relief efforts have also been hampered by political infighting and corruption.
This special event aims to reframe the arguments regarding Nepal’s current political situation and move the discourse in a more productive direction. Panelists will examine the political, legal, and human rights challenges ahead, and recommend options for the international community to engage constructively to prevent further instability.

Discussion Panel:

Anagha Neelakantan, International Crisis Group

Anagha Neelakantan is Crisis Group’s Deputy Asia Program Director, assisting the Program Director in leading research, analysis, policy prescription and advocacy activities of the Asia Program, overseeing and managing field staff, while ensuring timely communications between field and headquarters, spread across three sub-regional projects: South Asia, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. Anagha follows in particular political transitions including peace processes, ethnic and other entrenched violent social conflicts, constitution-making, human rights, demobilisation and security sector reform, governance issues, India’s foreign policy and the role of geopolitics in conflict resolution. Anagha worked in Nepal from 2000-2013, as Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Nepal, an analyst with the United Nations Mission in Nepal, and as executive editor of the Nepali Times weekly. In 2014, she worked in Myanmar with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

Ashish Pradhan, International Crisis Group

Ashish Pradhan is Crisis Group’s UN Advocacy and Research Analyst and is based in New York where he supports the organisation’s advocacy at the United Nations. He assists in providing detailed analyses of developments at the Security Council to ensure adequate reflection of UN perspectives in Crisis Group publications. He also supports advocacy with UN officials, NGOs, and diplomats from a variety of UN member-states on country-specific crises and policy issues covered by Crisis Group. And he conducts research on thematic issues covered in Crisis Group reports, including on jihadi militancy in South Asia. He previously worked for Crisis Group’s Kathmandu office from 2010-2013 while analyzing Nepal’s peace and constitution-writing processes with a particular focus on identity politics, minority rights, and the federalism debate.

Richard Bennett, Amnesty International (formerly with OHCHR-Nepal)

Richard Bennett joined Amnesty International in March 2014 as Asia-Pacific Director and from July 2015 has been Head of Amnesty’s New York Office. Previously he served with the United Nations in senior human rights posts, heading the human rights components of peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and South Sudan. From 2007 to 2010 Richard was the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal. He has also been Chief of Staff for the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and Special Adviser to the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights in New York. A citizen of New Zealand and the UK, Richard worked for a decade at the NZ Human Rights Commission before joining the UN.

Rohan Edrisinha, UN Department of Political Affairs (formerly with UNDP in Nepal)

Rohan Edrisinha is a Senior Political Officer and Constitutional Advisor in the Policy and Mediation Division of the Department of Political Affairs of the U.N. He taught at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo from 1986 to 2011. He served as the constitutional advisor to UNDP Nepal and the head of its constitution support programme from 2011 to 2014. In 2015, he functioned as an independent consultant on constitutional reform and federalism in Myanmar, and as a governance advisor to UNDP Sri Lanka. He taught at the Faculty of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 1995 and was a visiting fellow at Harvard University (2005) and the University of Toronto (2009). He was a founder Director and Head of the Legal and Constitutional Unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Sri Lanka, from 1996 to 2010.

Moderated By:

Ashok Gurung, India China Institute

Ashok Gurung is the senior director of the India China Institute (ICI) and is Professor of Practice in the Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School. A founding director of ICI, he is responsible for establishing and the overall development, management, and coordination of ICI programs and projects in India, China, and the United States. A native of Nepal, he has taught several courses on development management, political and social issues in Nepal at the New School. Ashok has over twenty years of international development experience as an educator, researcher, manager, grant-maker, policy analyst, activist and training facilitator with civil society groups, academic institutions, foundations and multi-lateral organizations, and governments worldwide. Among various roles, he was the program officer for the International Fellowships Program, the largest global leadership initiative ($280 million) of the Ford Foundation.

Public Talk & Book Launch: China's Future
2016-05-09 18:00 - 20:00
Watch Here

Join India China Institute for a discussion on what the future holds for China with David Shambaugh.

Book Description

China’s future is arguably the most consequential question in global affairs. Having enjoyed unprecedented levels of growth, China is at a critical juncture in the development of its economy, society, polity, national security, and international relations. The direction the nation takes at this turning point will determine whether it stalls or continues to develop and prosper.

Will China be successful in implementing a new wave of transformational reforms that could last decades and make it the world’s leading superpower? Or will its leaders shy away from the drastic changes required because the regime’s power is at risk? If so, will that lead to prolonged stagnation or even regime collapse? Might China move down a more liberal or even democratic path? Or will China instead emerge as a hard, authoritarian and aggressive superstate?

In this new book, David Shambaugh argues that these potential pathways are all possibilities – but they depend on key decisions yet to be made by China’s leaders, different pressures from within Chinese society, as well as actions taken by other nations. Assessing these scenarios and their implications, he offers a thoughtful and clear study of China’s future for all those seeking to understand the country’s likely trajectory over the coming decade and beyond.

About David Shambaugh

David Shambaugh is is an internationally recognized authority and author on contemporary China and the international relations of Asia, with a strong interest in the European Union and transatlantic issues. He is currently the Director of the China Policy Program and a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. Professor Shambaugh is a prolific author, having published more than 30 books and 300 articles.

Watch the video of David Shambaugh’s talk below.

Global Himalaya and Sustainable Futures
2016-10-11 17:30 - 19:30
Global Himalaya and Sustainable Futures: A Panel Discussion

Tuesday, October 11th | 5:30-7:30pm

Orozco Room (710), 66 W. 12th St. The New School

Join the India China Institute and the Himalayan Universities Consortium for an engaging panel discussion on the state of the Himalayas and questions of sustainable futures in the region. Panelists will present their insights and experiences from working in the region, and their thoughts on the future of the Himalayas from both a regional and global perspective. An RSVP is required for this event.

Featured speakers include:

Dr. Eklabya Sharma, ICIMOD
Prof. Pasang Sherpa, The New School
Prof. Alton Byers, University of Colorado
Ms. Lisabeth Hilton, Founding Director of The Third Pole
Prof. Mark Turin, University of British Columbia
