India China Institute

Intermediate Organizations amidst talk about 'New' Nepal
2007-04-21 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Despite much recent debate about the significance of civil society in Nepal, there has been comparatively little discussion about the social and political role intermediate organizations like NGOs and professional associations can play in the country’s future. On April 21, Pratyoush Onta, one of the most respected historians and public intellectuals from Nepal, will be at The New School to share his views on this important issue and the so-called ‘new’ Nepal.

Pratyoush Onta has a Ph.D. in history and has done research on Nepali nationalism, Gurkha history, institutions, area studies and media. He is currently the convener of Martin Chautari, a forum for public discussions and research in Kathmandu. He is the founding editor of the biannual academic journal, Studies in Nepali History and Society, published from Kathmandu since 1996. He has authored, edited or co-edited several books including Social History of Radio Nepal (2004), Growing up with Radio (2005), and Mass Media in Post-1990 Nepal (2006). During spring 2008, he was a visiting member of the faculty at Trinity College, Hartford.

Revisioning India and China: Authors and Artist Series
2007-02-20 18:00 - 20:00
Join us for a discussion with two leading experts on: “Market Upheaval and the Breaking of Form: Chinese Cultural Trends since the late 1990sJianying Zha is the author of “China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Bestsellers Are Transforming a Culture”. Her Chinese publication includes three books of fiction and two books of essays and journalism. Her most recent book Bashiniandai fangtanlu (Conversations on the Nineteen Eighties) was published to great acclaim and has won several “best book of the year” awards in 2006. Currently based in Beijing, she is also Senior Advisor for India China Institute at the New School University.Prof. Xudong Zhang is Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature and Chair of Dept. of East Asian Studies at New York University. The author of Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms and Postsocialism and Cultural Politics, he is also the co-editor of “Postmodernism and China”; and editor of “Whither China: Intellectual Politics in Contemporary China”. His works in Chinese include Piping de zongji (Traces of Criticism); and Quanqiuhua shidai de wenhua rentong (Cultural Identity in the Age of Globalization).

Nepal In Transition: The Terai Question
2007-02-10 14:00 - 17:00
The turmoil in Terai raises serious issues and challenges facing “new” Nepal. What is new and distinct about the Madhesi movement? Are there opportunities for strengthening new democracy?Organized by the India China Institute in collaboration with Alliance for Democracy & Human Rights in Nepal, USA; Nepalese Democratic Youth Council, USA; and Nepal-America Friendship Society

Panelists:Prof. Pramod Kantha, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wright State University, Dayton, OhioParamendra Bhagat, President, Hamro Nepal, NYCProf. Mahendra Lawoti, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MichiganMr. Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEFModerator: Ashok Gurung, Director of India China Institute

Art and Design Education in Today's China
2006-11-06 18:30 - 20:00
The India China Institute and Parsons The New School for Design present: Art and Design Education in Today’s ChinaSpeaker: Prof. Pan Gongkai of The Central Academy of Fine Arts, China

Moderator: Benjamin Lee, Provost of the New School

Art and design education in China has been transformed over the last decade as a result of the radical changes in the landscape of China’s society. Professor Pan Gongkai will make reference to the impact of globalization and localization on Chinese art and design education, with an emphasis upon how Chinese education institutions should respond to these challenges in the future.

The President of the most renowned art institution in China, Pan Gongkai is also a well-known painter and scholar of Art History in China. From 1992 to 1994, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds an Honorary Doctor Degree from the Los Angeles College of Art. He has had exhibitions of his work in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Admission is Free. Snacks will be provided. In collaboration with The Vera List Center for Art +Politics”

Sensing Urbanization in India and China: Close-up and Remote
2006-10-11 13:00 - 16:00
The India China Institute and the Tishman Environment and Design Center present:Sensing Urbanization in India and China: Close-up and Remote

A workshop which will explore the question: How can remote sensing technology connect to local actors and decision makers on the ground?

Moderator: Grahame Shane, author of Recombinant UrbanismPresenters: Remote and Close-upChristopher Small, Lamont Daugherty Earth ObservatoryColleen Macklin, Chair, Design and Technology, ParsonsPresenters: How to fill the Gap?Sarah Williams, Director of the Spatial Information Design lab at ColumbiaVictoria Marshall, Till and Brian McGrath, ICI Faculty Fellow

Cities in the Long 21st Century

This century begins with half of the world, for the first time in history, living in urban areas with much of the rest somehow plugged into the global telecommunications net. How will our global urban society collectively navigate the long, turbulent 21st century of systemic change? What role will cities as incubators of knowledge, creativity and sociability take in shaping critical environmental choices in the future? Since this century will witness the final elimination of any wild, rural or subsistence agricultural life on the planet, many fixed ideas about the relationship between cities, nature and society need to be challenged. The exhaustion of both new labor markets and natural resources means that industrial and economic expansion cannot proceed along the 19th and 20th century trajectory, and new productive paradigms must be invented. This century’s challenge is to create an urban society that is more socially equitable and better able to manage natural resources repairing the social and environmental damage caused by the first centuries of global capitalism. How can India and China, the largest and fastest developing countries, lead the way?

Close-up and Remote Technologies: Filling the Gap

Satellite technology brings global society two different representations of this millennial transition: telematic flows bring center and periphery together in one kaleidoscopic close-up media image of the global village. Meanwhile and remote sensing gives many of us a picture of our mixed human, vegetative and watery planet. Close-up, micro-expressions broadcast from multiple sites within the global metropolis, and the continually updated objective and remote fractal mosaic of night-light or satellite imagery from afar offer two radically different windows on the emerging 21st-century city. Can the scalar gap in these two technologies be bridged in order to offer global society the complex socio-political tools with which to design, manage and re-inhabit the planet in the coming decades? The choices we face are daunting: how to share diminishing resources within an unevenly developed world society based on the belief in the endless accumulation of capital? How can knowledge from space empower and inform decisions of local actors on the ground?

Chinese in India: The Legend of Fat Mama
2006-09-29 18:30 - 20:00
Please join us for a viewing of The Legend of Fat Mama, a film by Rafeeq Ellias, an award-winning advertising and magazine photographer. Discussion Participants:Rafeeq Ellias, Director The Legend of Fat MamaPayal Banerjee, Adjunct Professor, GPIA, The New SchoolLily Ling, Associate Professor, GPIA, The New SchoolModerator: Tansen Sen, Associate Professor of History at Baruch College and author of Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino Indian Relations, 600-1400

The Inaugural Conference: Cities in a World of Migration: India and China in Global Perspective
2006-04-28 - 2006-04-29
The rapid economic emergence of India and China has significantly altered the landscape and context of cities in a world of migration. The scale and urgency of globalization and urbanization in India and China are unprecedented and present significant socio-economic challenges for these two countries and across the globe. Cities in a World of Migration: India and China in Global Perspective” provided a forum for insight into the multiple dimensions of these changes – social, economic and environmental – and the opportunities and challenges of urbanization and globalization in the 21st century.

The conference began with an opening address delivered by New School President Bob Kerrey. The keynote address was delivered by Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Democrat from Delaware, who compared internal migration in India and China with immigration to the United States. He called for the development of strategic relations between the United States and the two Asian countries, which are rising powers facing a number of urgent problems. As a nation where 300 million people have risen out of poverty, China offers important opportunities for the United States in areas such as energy tech support. Senator Biden pointed out that lessons learned from U.S. immigration periods could be applied to address the massive migration problems now facing India and China. More than 20 scholars, architects, urban planners from The New School, and experts from India and China joined ICI fellows as conference panelists.

In five sessions over a two day period, panelists addressed the following topics: 1) Dynamics: What are the dynamic roles of cities in India, China, and the United States? How have they evolved from local, national, and global perspectives? 2) Circulation: How do we understand the dynamics of urban and rural migration in both directions? 3) Governance and Planning: Cities in India, China, and the United States have developed in very different physical and political environments. How do these differences affect our approaches to urban governance and planning? 4) Dwelling and Development: How is the real estate market responding? Can people be regulated? What is the social impact of new housing and infrastructure developments? 5) Imagining the Future: What opportunities exist for imagining a democratic future for the emerging cities of the world? What are the constraints?

The discussions were so varied that it would be impossible to give an adequate summary of the proceedings. There was, however, consensus among the participants that the most crucial lesson learned is the importance of balancing open public debate and private discussion. Energetic work and slow-paced reflection must both be employed to develop exceptional collaborations across disciplines and countries. Ultimately, as President Kerrey pointed out, the cultivation of friendships across borders may make the difference between war and peace.

India & China: Who’s Ahead?
2006-02-03 17:30 - 19:30

Nepal at the Crossroads: A Year of Worsening Political Quagmire
2006-02-01 18:00 - 20:00
February 1st marks the first year of King Gyanendra’s direct rule in Nepal. To many this day is seen as a black day due to spiraling down of human rights situation and deeply troubling political quagmire in Nepal since then. In the name of “Ïwar on terror” the government of King Gyanendra has resorted to curbing civil liberties and heavy-handed crackdown on democratic forces in the country. The speakers will highlight some of the key aspects of general trend in political and human rights situation in Nepal in the past year and discuss the possible ways out of the crisis. Questions and answers will follow the presentations from the speakers.
Alliance for Democracy & Human Rights in Nepal, USA and the South Asia Forum (The New School) cordially invite you to a discussion Nepal at the Crossroads: A Year of Worsening Political Quagmire

Sub-topics and speakers:
“Chairman Gyanendra vs. The People of Nepal”
Kanak Mani Dixit is a prominent Kathmandu-based journalist who is the editor of the Himal South Asia and publisher of the news magazine Himal Khabarpatrika. He is also a children’s author and a cultural activist.
“Prospects for Peace: International Perspectives”
Rhoderick Chalmers is the Deputy South Asia Project Director at the International Crisis Group.

The program will start with a 10-minute performance art by Ashmina Ranjit, a prominent Nepali Artist and Activist, currently a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University.

Moderator: Professor Carol Breckenridge, Founder, South Asia Forum

Free admission.
