CRAFTING SUBVERSION: DIY AND DECOLONIAL PRINT

By Sunil Pun|June 21, 2022|General|0 comments

SOAS’s Brunei Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition by Pragya Dhital of DIY and decolonial print and the simple duplication technology used to produce it, with focus on the ‘Gestetner’ stencil duplicator. Stencil duplicating involves copies being made from a cut-out, patterned or lettered sheet (a stencil), through which paint or ink is applied onto paper. Originally intended for bureaucratic purposes, it was one of a series of Victorian-era

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Memories of Partition – 70 years on by Farzana Whitfield

By rk24|August 24, 2017|Conflict, Culture, India, Pakistan, Politics, Religion|0 comments

Farzana Whitfield is the subject librarian for South Asia and Development Studies at SOAS. Here she looks back on her family’s personal experience and memories of Partition. This article has previously appeared on SOAS’s library blog.  This August marks 70 years of India’s independence from British rule (15th August) giving birth to 2 nations- a Hindu majority India and a Muslim majority Pakistan (14th August). Subsequently there were 3 wars between

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‘Systems in flux: constitution-making, patronage and post-war politics in Nepal and Sri Lanka’ by Jonathan Goodhand and Oliver Walton

By Rosa Vercoe|October 14, 2016|Elections, General, Nepal, Politics, Sri Lanka|0 comments

Jonathan Goodhand is Professor in Conflict and Development Studies in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS University of London where he teaches courses on Development Practice and War to Peace Transitions. Oliver Walton is a Lecturer in International Development  in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. He specialises in NGO politics, conflict and peacebuilding.  Sri Lanka and Nepal may have turned their backs on protracted and

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‘Africa Day’ by Simona Vittorini

By Shreya Sinha|June 20, 2016|Conflict, Education, General, India, Politics|0 comments

Simona Vittorini is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Studies where she lectures undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the comparative politics of Asia and Africa. A diplomatic crisis was narrowly averted last week in Delhi when the African Heads of Missions finally agreed to participate in the Africa Day celebrations organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in New Delhi. A few days

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Borderlands, Brokers and War to Peace Transitions in Nepal and Sri Lanka

By Shreya Sinha|April 25, 2016|Conflict, Development, General, Nepal, Politics, Sri Lanka|0 comments

Jonathan Goodhand is a Professor Conflict and Development Studies at the SOAS Department of Development Studies.   His research focuses on the political economy of conflict, war to peace transitions and increasingly on the role of borderlands, with a particular focus on South and Central Asia. Oliver Walton is a Lecturer in International Development at the University of Bath in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences. His research focuses on

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‘London and Us’ by Subir Sinha

By Jennifer Ung Loh|January 20, 2016|General, India, Media, Politics|0 comments

Shashi Tharoor’s recent op-ed for The Guardian, where he charged PM Modi with damaging India’s reputation worldwide by waging a ‘war on Muslims’ and on tolerance, was slammed by Modi’s fans, accusing him of tarnishing India’s image, and of a PM who works tirelessly to lift India to a position of prosperity and world leadership. To them it amounted to washing the national dirty laundry in the land of the

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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

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“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

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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

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“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