India China Institute

The Global Challenge of Implementing the Urban SDGs w/ Aromar Revi
2015-10-01 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
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.

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.

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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.

Hamro Nepal: International Benefit Concert
2015-05-16 20:00 - 22:30 | The New School University Center, 63 Fifth Ave, New York, NY, 10003, USA
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Hamro (Our) NepalAn event to raise awareness, bring community together, and fundraise for Nepal

Saturday May 16th, 20158-10pm

Background

On April 25, 2015, Nepal experienced an earthquake that has, and continues to take an immense toll on the country and its people. Nepal’s recovery faces unique challenges on the ground due to its inaccessible geography, and tumultuous political and economic climate. The Gurung Society, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit is holding a benefit to utilize our unique position as an experienced organization with deep personal and professional connections to the region. The Gurung Society has previously led fundraising initiatives for natural disasters such as the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The Event

We are hosting an event on May 16th from 8:00PM – 10:30PM, in the Tishman Auditorium at the New School in New York City to help raise funds and celebrate Nepal’s rich culture. Featuring renowned Nepali and international artists, this night will bring together a diverse community to support Nepal. The benefit is focused on serving the hardest hit villages near the quake’s epicenter. While the damage in Kathmandu is striking, many rural communities do not have the resources or networks available to adequately rebuild. It is our mission to direct funds to rural villages most in need of assistance.

Full details about the event, performers, and how to reserve tickets available here on the Hamro Nepal Indiegogo page here.

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

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

Fourth Interdisciplinary Symposium for Emerging Scholars on India China Studies: New York
2015-04-16 09:00 - 17:00
The Fourth 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.Presenters selected for this symposium share a broad interest in India-China relations in a globalizing world. The symposium will provide a platform for a select group of early career scholars from India, China, and the United States to present their work and to participate in multi-disciplinary investigation and deliberation with distinguished scholars.

When discussing the work of each of the presenters, we hope to identify relevant methodological and substantive questions, and where possible answers, through a productive confrontation of diverse disciplinary perspectives. Relevant cross-cutting themes will include that of the role to be played by received and privileged spatial and institutional frames, such as that of the nation-state, in scholarly analyses within the field, and that of how to relate historical and contemporary concerns while avoiding anachronistic fallacies.

We hope that the symposium will provide a milestone in the intellectual definition and institutional development of the field, enhance the sense of community within it, and help to foster more productive directions for teaching and scholarship.

The Fourth Interdisciplinary Symposium for Emerging Scholars on India China Studies is generously supported by The Starr Foundation. Co-sponsored by the interdisciplinary programs in Global, Urban, and Environmental studies at The New School.

** Download a copy of the full program here [PDF] or just the program schedule here [PDF].

Event Schedule

Thursday, April 16, 2015 | Orozco Conference Room (#712)66 W 12th Street, 7th Floor, New York

9:00-9:30 Registration (refreshments, coffee and tea will be provided)

9:30-9:45 Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:45-12:45 Session I: Flows and Exchanges

Chair: Jianying Zha, Writer and Former ICI China Representative

(Paper 1) Yang Lu, Lecturer, Heidelberg University

“Ontological Security and India-China Relations: From Border War to ‘News War’”

(Paper 2) Jingfeng Li, Assistant Researcher, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences

“Driving force and constraints behind BCIM Economic Corridor”

(Paper 3) Amen Jaffer, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Forman Christian College, Lahore

“The Sufi Shrine Revival in India Punjab”

(Paper 4) Marina Kaneti, PhD Candidate, Politics, The New School for Social Research

“Leveraging Capital: Trade, consumption, and migration in the age of the unequal treaties”

DiscussantsAshok Gurung, Senior Director, ICI and Professor of Practice, Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New SchoolMary Bryna Sanger, Deputy Provost and Senior Vice President, Provost Office, The New SchoolNimmi Kurian, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, Former ICI Fellow & Former ICI India Representative (Paper 1 & 2)Sanjay Ruparelia, Assistant Professor of Politics, The New School for Social Research, Former ICI Fellow & Faculty Advisor (Paper 1)Joe Thomas Krackattu, Assistant Professor, China Studies Centre Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (Paper 1)Lei Ping, Assistant Professor of China Studies and Coordinator of Chinese Program, The New School for Public Engagement (Paper 2)Yuan Zhang, Research Fellow, Sanskrit Centre of Institute of Foreign Literature, China Academy of Social Sciences (Paper 2)Sanjay Chaturvedi, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Former ICI Fellow (Paper 3 & 4)Eiko Ikegami, Professor of Sociology, The New School for Social Research (Paper 3)Barnali Chanda, Research Fellow, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkatta (Paper 3)

Question and Answers (45 minutes)

16:15-17:55 India China Studies: A Round Table Discussion

Chair: Ashok Gurung, Senior Director, ICI, The New School

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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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

Asia and Dissent in a Time of Strongman Leaders
2015-02-26 18:00 - 19:30
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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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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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The Fear of Art: 32nd Social Research conference
2015-02-12 18:00 - 19:00
The Center for Public Scholarship is pleased to present the 32nd Social Research conference, “The Fear of Art,” on Thursday and Friday, February 12 and 13, 2015, at The New School in New York City.Ai Weiwei will give the keynote address with a video he is creating especially for the conference, “The Censorship of Artists: Artists in Prison, Artists in Exile.”

We have chosen this theme for our next conference because freedom of expression remains under threat in both totalitarian and democratic states. Artists continue to be imprisoned and exiled and art continues to be banned and destroyed, all of which gives evidence of the power of images to unsettle, to speak truth to power, to question our cherished cultural norms and what we hold sacred.

The conference aims to examine how art can threaten, terrify, and provoke the wrath of political, religious, and cultural regimes. Speakers will examine the history of art censorship and the role of artists as collaborators and rebels. The agenda also pairs artists and scholars to discuss activist art, the threat posed by art, the potency of art, artists at risk, and artists in exile. Museum and gallery directors will discuss who does the policing and ask: What is the role of self-censorship?

The conference is co-sponsored by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, PEN American Center, and the India China Institute at The New School. The conference has been made possible with generous support from Agnes Gund, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Larry Warsh, the Ford Foundation, and ArteEast.

The director and founder (1988) of the Social Research conference series is Arien Mack, Alfred and Monette Marrow Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research, who has been the editor of Social Research since 1970. For the history of the conference series, visit the Social Research conference series site. For information about other public events at The New School, see the university calendar. Find information about the more than 70 degree programs offered at The New School. For general information about The New School, visit the Quick Facts page.

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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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.

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

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

Climate Change Himalaya + Nature in Flux | Exhibition by KG Ranjit & Ashmina Ranjit
2014-11-08 17:30 - 2014-11-15 19:00
The India China Institute is excited to announce an exciting event taking place in Kathmandu, Nepal. ICI is partnering with The City Museum Kathmandu, the artists collective Lasanaa, and Nepali artists KG Ranjit and Ashmina Ranjit for a discussion and week-long art exhibition about the role of the arts and humanities in addressing climate change in the Himalaya.

The event includes a 24-hour performance piece by ASHMINA RANJIT at The City Museum Kathmandu’s CMK Gallery. The performance piece is part of the “Nature In Flux” exhibition organized by the India China Institute, LAH Lasanaa and The City Museum Kathmandu. The exhibition will also feature paintings by renowned artist, and Ashmina’s father, KG RANJIT.

Climate Change Himalaya: Engaging the Arts & Humanities

Climate change is the defining issue of our times. While the impacts of climate change are unevenly experienced around the world, communities in the Himalaya are some of the most vulnerable to change. Understanding and communicating these emerging changes is an increasingly important task for public engagement and education. Responding to this need, artists, poets, writers, photographers and filmmakers who live and work in the Himalaya are taking a more active role in documenting and presenting these changing climate landscapes to the public. To support these efforts, the India China Institute at The New School in New York and LASANAA, an alternative art space in Nepal, are working to develop a new collaboration focused on engaging the arts and humanities around climate change and the Himalaya.

There is no question that addressing climate change requires the best available science, but as we have learned, science alone is not enough to create action on climate change. To change people’s hearts and minds, and advance innovative and adaptive solutions to our current climate crisis, appeals to people’s deeply held values, ethics and spiritual beliefs are necessary—and it is here that creative thinkers (e.g. artists, writers, poets) have historically played a critical role in social change by making space for a diversity of voices and views.

Synergies between the arts and sciences, politics and the humanities, are strengthening movements calling for new ways of relating to people and the planet. This includes highlighting our ability to propose alternative practices, raise public awareness, and take political action in these times of crisis despite widespread apathy and political inaction. These emerging global movements of diverse peoples have taken the lead on climate change action and remind us that all life on the planet is interconnected, and that our actions, or inactions, impact everyone.

The discussion on 8 November 2014 will be followed by a week-long inaugural exhibition featuring the works of esteemed artists KG Ranjit and Ashmina Ranjit. This combined exhibition, which will end on 15 November, is an intergenerational interpretation of the climate change crisis. This event is designed to foster further dialogue between the arts and humanities and social sciences, and is part of a broader effort by the India China Institute to broaden debates on climate change in the Himalaya.

Artists’ Statement

‘Beyond Recognition’

For me love, compassion, social justice, equality, freedom are our rights as human beings. Living in harmony in our societies, our countries, and the world at large – are the most important aspects of life.

Our home planet – the Earth – is the only place in this universe that is able to cultivate the existence of the living being for thousands of years. Human beings were so bright and clever that they fostered various indigenous cultures, where nature, art and ecology integrated effortlessly in to ways of life. But realities have changed beyond recognition and only memories of these harmonious relationships remain. Natural culture and indigenous knowledge have been corroded by lopsided urbanism and synthetic modernity. Earth and existence are threatened by a hydrocarbon apocalypse. We seem to have forgotten the fundamental harmonies between humanity and nature that uphold our integrity and dignity.

The more radically we separate ourselves from nature to justify our modernity, the more we lose the ability to relate to our sustainable heritages. Because we have drifted away from nature and destroyed the eco-balance, we are insensitive to ecological limits and interdependencies. To address the ecological crisis at every level we must develop a new culture and an ecologically rational society.

In this work, my concern is neither focused on the trap of synthetic modernity nor the nostalgia of historical harmonies. It is about that liminal space where one is free yet not free – trapped yet unrestricted – the suspension between hope and despair, bliss and misery. In that space the culture evolving from the present socio-political/natural scenario is both reflected and recreated. In this manner, ‘Beyond Recognition’ raises questions about our values as human beings; character, honesty, trustworthiness, duty, and even our sense of beauty, and relationship to natural simplicity. (Ashmina Ranjit)

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Environmental Aesthetics of K.G. Ranjit

Krishna Gopal Ranjit is a well known senior artist with numerous exhibitions to his credit. His realistic landscapes, with their subtle portrayals of light and shade, are collected all around the world. In the current exhibition, his art takes a new direction. Dealing with the theme of environmental crisis, he has previously painted mountains without snow, trees without leaves, birds without feathers, and melting glaciers and drowning cityscapes.

Most of the paintings are characterized by a burst of light at the center. Dim somber colors dominate the margins; an artistic motif that was also present in his earlier realistic landscapes. What is different about the current set of paintings, however, is a radical shift away from the realist form. The lines blur, losing their rigidity, and the colors flow freely, creating forms that range from semi-abstract to abstract. Images of Buddha and other gods peep from under the semi-abstract shapes of the paintings. Such depictions symbolize hope slowly turning obsolete in a world teeming with the threat of earthquakes, floods, landslides and other environmental disasters.

At the same time, environmental crisis is not merely a natural problem for Ranjit; it is a political problem. This theme is well represented in the painting where the city structures of Nepal, Afganistan, Bhutan, China and other nations of the Asian continent are shown drowning under water. It suggests not only a natural tsunami, but also a political one that can sweep away monuments of history in a matter of minutes. The paintings in the current show pulsate with energy and movement; they seem to suggest that chaotic energies—both natural and political—are shimmering under the surfaces of everyday life. The paintings are not only aesthetic representations of the environmental disasters, but serve also as timely warnings to the human race about the deteriorating condition of global environment.

//

Post by The City Museum Kathmandu.

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 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.

Deadlock to Detente: Indias Strategic Doctrine and the Burgeoning Peace with Pakistan
2014-10-01 18:00 - 19:30 | Dorothy Hirshon Suite, 55 West 13th Street Room I203, New York, NY, 10011, USA
Awash with militancy, ground zero for climate change, and on the brink of nuclear war, the Indian subcontinent has long been known as “the world’s most dangerous place.” But after decades of deadlock in the subcontinent, India is moving beyond South Asia for its strategic needs—and making peace with Pakistan in the process.

ICI is pleased to present a discussion with Neil Padukone. Mr. Padukone is a Geopolitics Fellow at the Takshashila Institution and a former Public Service Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, his work has been published in The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, the Journal of International Affairs, Newsweek’s Daily Beast, The National Interest, the World Affairs Journal, the Huffington Post, and the Economic and Political Weekly, among others. Neil is a former foreign affairs columnist at the Christian Science Monitor and South-Central Asia commentator for Russia Today news. His book Beyond South Asia: India’s Strategic Evolution and the Reintegration of the Subcontinent was published in August 2014.

Joining Mr. Padukone will be Thomas Graham. Dr. Graham is a scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and has worked in government (U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory) and the non-profit sector (Rockefeller Foundation and The Second Chance Foundation). Dr. Graham has published books and articles on U.S. national security decision making, nuclear non-proliferation and counter-terrorism, and public opinion. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.).

Social Justice and Dalits in South Asia
2014-09-29 00:00
Across the globe, an estimated 260 million people are relegated to a lifetime of segregation, exploitation, and extreme forms of physical and psychological abuse, all because of the caste into which they are born. In much of South Asia, caste-based divisions dominate in housing, marriage, and general social interaction—divisions that are often reinforced through the threat of social ostracism, economic boycotts, and even physical violence. The effective eradication of caste-based discrimination remains a major human rights challenge of our time.Please join us on Tuesday, October 7th for a roundtable discussion about social justice in South Asia and the world.

Learn about the social and political obstacles faced by Dalit communities (formerly known as “untouchables”) in Nepal and IndiaEngage with scholars, media producers and activists who have brought awareness to issues concerning Dalits through traditional and social media outletsDevelop tips and tools you can use for your own research and social activism initiatives

Some of the questions this event hopes to explore include:

What skills/lessons can Dalit and American students, scholars and activists learn from each other?

How do experiences of marginalization and /or oppression compare in different countries?

How have social justice organizations use the law, media and education as tools to raise awareness and create change?

Prominent academics, media producers and social activists will participate in a roundtable discussion. Our guests will include:

Smita Narula: currently a visiting Research Scholar at Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College and formerly a U.N. legal adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and Faculty Director at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. She has been working in human rights for more than 17 years. In both her scholarship and her practice, Narula has focused on the rights to equality and non-discrimination; economic and social rights; and the impact of economic globalization and counter-terrorism policies on human rights. She has authored numerous reports and academic articles on these subjects, and has helped formulate policy, legal, and community-led responses to these issues worldwide.

Sarita Pariyar: a graduate student of sociology at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, where she also received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and English literature. She is an emerging social justice leader and serves as a board member of the Samata Foundation, a respected think-tank that works for the rights and dignity of Dalits in Nepal. In addition, she is involved with several activist groups in Nepal and regularly participates in various forums for social justice, democracy, and media within and outside of Nepal.

Padam Sundas: a social worker from a Dalit community who has been working for the upliftment of the Dalit community and for Human Rights for over 40 years through intellectual writings and knowledge production. A founding member and the executive chairperson of SAMATA foundation and the Asian Dalit Rights Forum, the only Dalit centric research center and think tank in Nepal. He also served as a member of the National-Level Advisory Committee under the Office of Prime Minister for the Eradication of Caste Based Discriminations and Promotion of Dalit Rights.

Rem Bishwokarma: co-founded Jagaran Media Center (JMC) to lead media advocacy against caste-based discrimination and untouchability. JMC produced the popular television series called Dalan that raised awareness on Dalit issues. JMC has established itself as a media hub on Dalit issues, inclusion and social justice in Nepal and abroad. He was awarded the Australian Leadership Award in 2010, Media International Social Awareness Award in 2013 and Ambedkar Kalashree National Award in 2013.

Each participant will speak for ten minutes on their personal work and experience. Afterwards, broader discussion on Dalits and social justice will be opened up and moderated by Smita Narula.

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.

New Perspectives on Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture in Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century
2014-05-17 | Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10028, USA
New Perspectives on Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture in Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century

Saturday, May 17th

The Metropolitan Museum of Art1000 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY

Noted curators and scholars explore issues relating to the exhibition Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century in this daylong public symposium.

This program is made possible by The James H. W. Thompson Foundation.

Above: Buddha (detail). Provenance unknown, central Thailand, the second half of the 7th century. Sandstone; H. 67 3/8 in. National Museum, Bangkok​Free with museum admission.

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

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).

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

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

WULUN.Org Launch Event / New Media Art Show
2014-04-04 22:00 - 2014-04-05 01:30 | Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, New York, NY, 10011, USA

Sacred Geography: Tibet and Himalaya Photographs
2014-03-31 09:00 - 11:00
Sacred Geography: Tibet and Himalaya Photographs

Photography by David Zurick

Monday, Mar. 31st to Friday, Apr. 18th65 W. 11th St., 3rd Fl., Skybridge(between 11th and 12th St. buildings overlooking Lang Courtyard)

More details will be posted soon.

Sacred Geography: Tibet and Himalaya Photographs Exhibit w/ David Zurick
2014-03-31 - 2014-04-16
Sacred Geography: Tibet and Himalaya Photographs

Photographed by David ZurickSupported by Eugene Lang College and the Rubin Foundation

Monday, Mar. 31st to Wednesday, Apr. 16th65 W. 11th St., 3rd Fl., Skybridge

David Zurick’s Sacred Geography exhibition draws from his decades of experience as a geographer, photographer, and explorer of the Himalaya, with twenty large black and white photographs of divine places undergoing change. The images featured in this exhibition are drawn from his new book Land of Pure Vision, and cover the full geographical reach of Tibet and the Himalaya. It features many iconic natural places, such as the Source of the Ganges and sacred Mount Kailash, as well as numerous cultural sites including pilgrimage routes and famed sacred architectures. A visual evocation of holy places, the Sacred Geography exhibition portrays a world of mystery, magic, and beauty, where the human spirit is in synchronicity with natural forces while it also addresses the inevitability of landscape change. Modern intrusions threaten the visual character of some sacred sites, but such transformations do not necessarily imperil their cultural role, suggesting that change and dissolution—hallmarks of local religious belief—may apply equally to the human consciousness and to the landscape.

Bio: David Zurick left home in 1975 to journey on the Overland Trail from Europe to Asia and hasn’t looked back. He completed his PhD in Geography at the University of Hawaii and East-West Center, Honolulu, and has written extensively about Asia and the Pacific, with a special focus on the Himalaya region. His writing and photography have won numerous awards, including the National Outdoor Book Award in 2006 for Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya and the “Mt Everest Award” in 2009 for his Himalaya studies. The subject of much of his writing and photography is the contemporary cultural landscape.

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
