0303, 2015

“Introducing the South Asia Institute in India” by Michael Hutt

By Heewon Kim|March 3, 2015|Education, General, India, SSAI|0 comments

During the first two weeks of February, Michael Hutt (Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute) and Matthew Gorman (Director of Development and Alumni Relations) visited Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai to introduce the new South Asia Institute to alumni, offer holders, business leaders, philanthropists and friends of SOAS, and to both longstanding and potential new partners. In each city, friends of SOAS hosted alumni gatherings at which Michael Hutt gave

1602, 2015

“Debating Higher Education in South Asia” by Michael Hutt

By Heewon Kim|February 16, 2015|Education, General, SSAI|0 comments

A one-day roundtable meeting on higher education in South Asia (‘Revolution and Realities in the New Economic Order’) was held at the British Academy on 22 January 2015. The new South Asia Institute at SOAS, of which I am Director, partnered with the British Academy and the British Council in the organisation of this event, which was the first of a series of five ‘Global Education Dialogues’ on higher education

1202, 2015

“Power and Pageantry in Modi’s India” by Simona Vittorini

By Heewon Kim|February 12, 2015|General, India, Politics|0 comments

We live not according to reason but fashion – Seneca. In a recent piece, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor aptly called Modi ‘a master communicator at work’ coming up with new slogans, sound-bites, photo ops in quite an unparalleled way. Prime Minister Modi certainly showed his communication skills when US President Barak Obama visited India as chief guest to India’s Republic Day Parade last January. The visit (a highly anticipated and media-crazed

1202, 2015

‘Momentous point’ for South Asian sectors, British Council event hears

By Heewon Kim|February 12, 2015|Education, General, SSAI|0 comments

As a part of British Council’s ‘Global Education Dialogues’ series on higher education in South Asia, on 22nd January 2015 the SOAS South Asia Institute co-organised an event in collaboration with British Council to debate the future of higher education in South Asia. The roundtable brought together distinguished experts, education ministers and delegates from the South Asian region, and policy-makers working in education sector from South Asia and UK to reflect on issues

2701, 2015

“Past in the Present: Sri Lanka after Rajapaksa” by Suthaharan Nadarajah

By Heewon Kim|January 27, 2015|Conflict, General, Politics, Sri Lanka|0 comments

The sudden collapse of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime following his shock defeat in Sri Lanka’s presidential polls on January 8 has been heralded as a potential sea change in both domestic governance and foreign relations. Under Rajapaksa Sri Lanka’s relations with the United States and other western states, which had been excellent since the late seventies (i.e. throughout the three decade armed conflict), had deteriorated sharply in recent years. Relations

0501, 2015

“The Futures of India’s Past” by Subir Sinha

By Heewon Kim|January 5, 2015|Education, General, India|0 comments

In the on-going annual conference of the Indian Science Congress at the University of Mumbai, one panel that has attracted high interest in the press and in social media is entitled ‘Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit’. Presenting his paper on Ancient Indian Aircraft, Captain Anand Bodas, a retired principal of a pilot training school, asserted that Indian aeronautical sciences are 7000 years old, that ancient Indian aircraft were capable of not

2212, 2014

“Children Caught in the Crossfire: Reflections on the Peshawar Tragedy” by Navtej Purewal

By Sana Shah|December 22, 2014|Conflict, General, Pakistan|0 comments

Attacks on school children by the Taliban in Pakistan are a familiar news item. The bewilderment that has been felt across the world highlights how complex the picture really is. The brutal attack on the school in Peshawar on the 16th of December 2014 in which 132 children and 9 staff died two years after the shooting of Malala Yousafzai on her way to school in October 2012 highlights the

2212, 2014

Amnesias and Remembrances of 1984: The Spins of Commemoration in the year of ‘lest we forget’ by Navtej Purewal

By Sana Shah|December 22, 2014|Conflict, General, India, Politics, Religion|0 comments

2014 has been a year of commemorations and remembrances of the events of 1984. June 2014 marked the 30th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, the code name for the Indian army storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Operation Blue Star is also referred to as the second ghallughara (transl. carnage, holocaust).[1] November 2014 marked the 30th anniversary of the anti-Sikh pogroms which followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi who

1212, 2014

“The SAARC summit and the Kathmandu facelift” by Michael Hutt

By Heewon Kim|December 12, 2014|Development, General, India, Nepal, Pakistan|0 comments

On 25 November I was contacted by Monocle Radio, who wanted to hear my views on the massive cleanup of Kathmandu that took place during the run-up to that city’s hosting of the 18th SAARC summit (see http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/11/pictures-kathmandu-20m-facelift-2014112392617611.html). The interviewer asked me where the Government of Nepal might have found the $20m it is said to have spent on this project, and I think I disappointed him by saying that

0812, 2014

“BJP appeasing non-Hindutva voters to broaden support base” by Lawrence Sáez

By Heewon Kim|December 8, 2014|Elections, General, India, Pakistan, Politics|0 comments

Prof. Lawrence Sáez (Professor in the Political Economy of Asia at SOAS) delivered a talk on ‘The 2014 Indian elections and their impact on the region’ at Pakistan Institute of International Affairs. Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014. http://www.dawn.com/news/1146860/bjp-appeasing-non-hindutva-voters-to-broaden-support-base

SOAS South Asia Institute (SSAI) represents the most extensive and diverse community of scholars working on South Asia of any university in Europe.

SSAI has a growing number of partnerships with universities and research institutes in South Asia which provide a basis for mutually beneficial collaborations in both teaching and research.