1609, 2020

Effects of Covid-19 on Universities: Aligarh Muslim University in Lockdown by Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi

By Sunil Pun|September 16, 2020|Education, General, India, SSAI|0 comments

by Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi Had heard that every cloud has a silver lining! Aligarh Muslim University, and especially its Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, had never been technologically savvy. Most of its Faculty, as well as its students, have always been very conservative and laid back not only in their approach to life but also at adapting to the ways of the modern world. We have always been

2104, 2020

Framing Covid-19 in Nepal by Michael Hutt

By Sunil Pun|April 21, 2020|Nepal, SSAI|0 comments

Michael Hutt All disasters play out in the aftermath of the critical event that has triggered them, and it is rarely possible to state categorically that any disaster aftermath has really come to an end. In most cases it is merely eclipsed by the events that follow it, as history moves on. Nepal is still recovering from the earthquakes that killed 9,000 people and destroyed over 800,000 domestic dwellings in

2104, 2020

Covid-19 in India by Avinash Paliwal and Edward Simpson

By Sunil Pun|April 21, 2020|General, India, SSAI|0 comments

Avinash Paliwal and Edward Simpson ‘You are on mute’ and ‘Once all this is over’, phrases of the pandemic. We learn to do business over the internet, and look to the future as if it were as innocent as the past. These words typify transformations – big and small – in the way we live our lives. Lockdowns, curfews and social distancing have been brought in to restrict the spread

0905, 2018

Snigdha Poonam in conversation with Edward Simpson (Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute) about her book ‘Dreamers: How Young Indians are changing the world’

By Sunil Pun|May 9, 2018|India, SSAI|0 comments

600 million Indians, more than half the population, are under twenty-five. This generation lives between extremes: more connected and global than ever, but with narrow ideas of Indian identity; raised with the cultural values of their grandparents, but the life goals of American teenagers. These dreamers are the face of a new India. Angry, and frustrated with being marginalised by both globalisation and India’s old politics, they place hope in

0905, 2018

Giulia Battaglia in conversation with Edward Simpson (Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute) about her book Documentary film in India: An anthropological history.

By Sunil Pun|May 9, 2018|History, India, Media, SSAI|0 comments

Documentary film in India: An anthropological history maps a hundred years of documentary film practices in India. It demonstrates that in order to study the development of a film practice, it is necessary to go beyond the classic analysis of films and filmmakers and focus on the discourses created around and about the practice in question. The book navigates different historical moments of the growth of documentary filmmaking in India

1112, 2017

When Music, Truly, Is Unbound: By Kunal Purohit

By Kunal Purohit|December 11, 2017|Caste, General, India, Literature, Pakistan, Politics, Religion, SSAI|0 comments

Music and poetry transcend boundaries of time, of space, of culture. This is known. But, not often does a 15th century Kabir effortlessly flow into a 20th century John Lennon creation. Or that you find, in Leonard Cohen’s work, the echoes of Asian poets from the 17th and 13th centuries. Similarly, when injustices of caste and class even in the United Kingdom find articulation in the works of Dalit poets. This, then, is when music, truly,

3003, 2016

SSAI News: Opening of the Everlasting Flame Exhibition at the National Museum, Delhi

By Jennifer Ung Loh|March 30, 2016|Culture, General, India, Religion, SSAI|0 comments

A SOAS Exhibition organized in collaboration with the British Library, National Museum of Iran and UNESCO Parzor Foundation, Delhi The Everlasting Flame Exhibition, which is currently ongoing at the National Museum in New Delhi, was inaugurated on 19 March 2016. The exhibition was originally produced by SOAS, University of London, in 2013. In 2016, to mark SOAS’ centenary year celebrations, the exhibition has been taken to Delhi. Dr. Najma Heptulla, Hon’ble Minister for Minority

0203, 2016

Gurvinder Singh Film Screenings at SSAI by Navtej Purewal

By Jennifer Ung Loh|March 2, 2016|General, India, Media, SSAI|0 comments

On February 4 and 5, 2016, SOAS South Asia Institute was thrilled to host director Gurvinder Singh and screen two of his films: Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan (Alms for the Blind Horse) and Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction). In this blog post, Navtej Purewal transcribes some of the post-film discussion between Gurvinder and Derek Malcolm, former Chief Film Critic of the Guardian and director of the London Film Festival, after

0712, 2015

Panel Discussion with SOAS academics: ‘Assessing Modi’s Track Record Eighteen Months On’

By Jennifer Ung Loh|December 7, 2015|Development, Gender, General, India, Politics, SSAI|0 comments

On 19 November 2015, following Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK, the SOAS South Asia Institute hosted a panel discussion featuring SOAS academics whose own social science research engages with the changes of the new Modi era. The panel was an opportunity to assess Modi’s policies to date and the impacts they have had upon a range of different sectors and aspects of society in contemporary India. Please click on the titles

1911, 2015

“Creating a sustainable relationship in the field of education” by Michael Hutt

By Jennifer Ung Loh|November 19, 2015|Education, General, India, SSAI|0 comments

At the British Council’s India Forum on 27 October the Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute, Professor Michael Hutt, was asked to give his thoughts on how the UK can achieve a ‘sustainable relationship’ with India for 2050 in the field of education. Here is the text of his presentation. ————————————————————————————— 2050 is a generation away. I will use my three minutes to paint a best case scenario for