Programme

SANR - South Asia across the Nordic Region │ 27-28 May 2021

27 May

9:00-9:15* Welcome and Introduction
Ravinder Kaur
9:15-10:45 Authoritarian Populism in South Asia (1)
Chair: Kenneth Bo Nielsen
Arild Engelsen Ruud, Zaad Mahmood and Niladri Chatterjee: Mamata Banerjee as a strong(wo)man leader
Sten Widmalm: Was democracy doomed from the start? - Autocratization and regime convergence in South Asia
Ravinder Kaur: Bhakt. The history of a political category
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-12:30

Histories of Transformation
Chair: Atreyee Sen
Shalini Attri: Women Narratives and History: The Question of Nation and Anti-colonial Resistance
Nabhojeet Sen: Punishment, Labour and Society: Western India, 1720s-1800s
Pradeep K. Choudhury: Who Gets Access to Higher Education in India? Rethinking the Role of Household’s Capacity to Pay
12:30-13:30 Break
13:30-15:30

Authoritarian Populism in South Asia (2)
Chair: Ravinder Kaur
Samaira Khan: Did populist strategy help Imran Khan win the 2018 general election in Pakistan?: PTI, authoritarianism and the military
Ayan Das and Debajit Goswani: Populism as Alterity: Study of Two Political Parties in West Bengal, India
Ka-Kin Cheuk: “Modi should learn more from Xi!”: The everyday ethics of authoritative populism among Indian diasporic traders in Southeast China
Peter DeSouza: The Politics of Othering: Explaining the dynamics of democracy in India 2009-2019
15:30-15:45 Break
15:45-16:45

Keynote address by Nosheen Ali, New York University

Sarzameen-e-Be-Aain (My Land without the Constitution): Nature and Delusion in Gilgit-Baltistan 
16:45-17:00 Break
17:00-18:30

Authoritarian Populism in South Asia (3)
Chair: Sten Widmalm
Kenneth Bo Nielsen and Anwesha Dutta: Authoritarian Populism and Environmental Governance in Contemporary India
Lisa Bjørkman: Natak: Political Theater and Political Deceit in Mumbai
Tiyasha Sengupta: The Naming Game: Exploring the Vocabulary of Fear in India


28 May

9:00-11:00

The social life (and afterlife) of extractive resources – everyday extractivism in India
Chair: Anwesha Dutta
Patrik Oskarsson
Kenneth Bo Nielsen
Bengt Karlsson
Anwesha Dutta
11:00-11:15 Break

11:15-12:45

Two parallel sessions 

Peace and conflict
Chair: Henrik Chetan Aspengren
Naheed Shabbir: How to address the Growing Phenomenon of Islamophobia - Exploring Connection with Global Immigration
Syed H. S. Soherwordi: A Triangular Afghan Peace Process between the Taliban, the US and the Kabul Regime: From Prelude to Epilogue with a Holistic Approach

Politics of Governance
Chair: Dan Hirslund
Nilamber Chhetri: Contested Belongingness in Himalayan Borderlands: Roadside Settlements and Urban Expansion in Kalimpong 
Hanna Geschewski: “They only talk about the trees” An analysis of relations of power and justice in the (de)construction of Nepal’s Second International Airport
Anwesha Dutta, Harry Fischer and Syed Shoaib Ali: Governing shock: Local institutions and state support in the context of Covid-19 and beyond
12:45-13:45 Lunch break with discussion: Nordic collaboration on South Asia
13:45-15:45

Writing Self, Writing Violence
Chair: Monika Browarczyk
Monika Browarczyk: Ants Among Elephants. (Autobiographical) Writings of Meena Kandasamy, Sujatha Gidla and Yashica Dutt
Maria Skajuj-Puri: Punjabi Poetry and the Trauma of 1984
Alessandra Consolaro: Childhood, mystery and the idea of a self in memoires by Uday Prakash
Alaka Chudal: Why do they recite the story? 
15:45-16:00 Break
16:00-17:30

Asian Futures panel debate
The Viral Condition: Vaccines, Public Health, and Infrastructures of Inequality
Speakers:
Dwai Banerjee
Emilija Zabiliute
Ayo Wahlberg
Chairs:
Ravinder Kaur
Jørgen Delman
17:30-17:45 Wrap up

*CEST/Copenhagen time