News and events
Australian National University
Conference: Childhoods in South Asia: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
18-19 July 2013
Australian National University
Theatre 1 and 2, Hedley Bull Centre (Building no. 130)
Poster
Registrations are now open on the conference web page. See URL details below.
The conference Childhoods in South Asia: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives will provide an interdisciplinary platform for scholars and NGO representatives who work in the areas of childhood and education in South Asia. While there is increasing theoretical and development interest in children in South Asia, children’s experiences and perspectives are still underrepresented in political, social and economic debate. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to foreground children’s experiences in light of changing conceptual discourses of childhood in historical and contemporary South Asia. While acknowledging the ways children are situated within structures of power, the conference will focus on South Asian children’s stories and agency.
We will explore children’s interactions with institutions of modernity, social constructs and social structures—including age, gender, family, class, community and caste—that often marginalise children in multiple ways. We aim for a convergence of innovative ideas around childhood, recognising that this category is contested and raises important dilemmas for interdisciplinary studies.
The conference offers a forum within these two days to identify and develop convergences, conflicts, and aspects that may have been overlooked by one discipline, but explored in another. Our inclusion of historical and contemporary scholarly perspectives aims to contextualise and historicise issues. A significant objective of the conference will be to highlight the methodological implications of research into the perspectives and experiences of children.
Sponsored by: ANU South Asia Research Institute; Australia-India Council, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; ANU Research School of Humanities and the Arts; and the ANU Gender Institute.
Program details and registration can be found at http://archanth.anu.edu.au/events/childhoods-in-south-asia.
For more information please contact Dr. Zazie Bowen (zazie.bowen@anu.edu.au) or Jessica Hinchy (jessica.hinchy@anu.edu.au).
Enquiries: Dr. Zazie Bowen (Zazie.Bowen@anu.edu.au) or Jessica Hinchy (Jessica.Hinchy@anu.edu.au ).
Australia-India Institute
Tiffin Talks: 23 May 2013 12:45–2:00 pm: India and China: Rivals, Friends or Foes? by Swaran Singh Details
30 May 2013 12:45–2:00 pm: Indian Diaspora in Australia and Racism: A Journalist’s Perspective by Sushi Das Details
13 June 2013 12:45 pm to 2:00 pm: “The caste system and women entrepreneurs in India” by Dr Roshni Narendran Details
Other Event Listing
Indian Ocean & South Asia Research Network
South Asia Studies Association website
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Publications
India, Australia and the Asian Century, Hamish McDonald (The Fearless Nadia Occasional Papers on India-Australia Relations, Autumn 2013, Vol. 1) Melbourne: Australia India Institute, 2013. Link
Enriched Relations: Public Diplomacy in Australian Indian Relations, edited by David Lowe and Amit Sarwal (Delhi: Readworthy Publications, 2013),
About the book: Public diplomacy is by its very nature a multidisciplinary field of study, with conceptual links to several branches of the humanities and social sciences. In this book, leading scholars in various fields from both India and Australia are brought together to highlight public diplomacy practices that are rapidly becoming the focus of government initiatives in the two countries. Given the need for breadth and multiple layers of tissue in a growing bond, especially one that has been shown to be vulnerable to sudden shocks, it is time to explore the significance of public diplomacy in the Australian-Indian relationship, both past and present. The book expounds a strong belief that the future of Australia-India relations and positive engagement lies in public diplomacy practices that the two countries adopt. Within this context of Australian-Indian relations, the chapters in this collection also evaluate the very nature of public diplomacy, its methodologies and the issues at stake. Both Australia and India are emerging global forces in their very own different ways and this focussed study will certainly inform the international debate on public diplomacy.
About the authors: David Lowe is the Director of the Alfred Deakin Research Institute, and a leader of humanities and social science research that informs policy and practice. He is a co-founder of the Australian Policy and History Network and a member of the Australian DFAT Editorial Advisory Board. His latest publications include, Australian between Empires (2010).
Amit Sarwal is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Rajdhani College (University of Delhi) and Founding Convenor of Australia–India Interdisciplinary Research Network, New Delhi, India. He has edited a number of books in the field of Australian studies, prominent being: Wanderings in India: Australian Perceptions (2012) and Bridging Imaginations: South Asian Diaspora in Australia (2013).
Contents: Foreword by Lachlan Strahan; Introduction by David Lowe and Amit Sarwal; The Historical Roots of Public Diplomacy and Their Significance for Australia and India – David Lowe; Public Diplomacy and India-Australia Relations: A Potential Game-Changer? – Prithvi Ram Mudiam; Public Diplomacy in a Post-imperial World: Menzies and Nehru in the 1950s – Auriol Weigold; Conspicuous Hospitality: Cultivating a New Racial Etiquette in Australia, 1930–1960 – David Walker; Journalists and Australian Stirrings in Public Diplomacy in the 1950s and 1960s – David Lowe; Diggin’ on the East: The Hippie Trail and Australian-Indian Relations – Agnieszka Sobocinska; South Asian Immigrants, Sports Culture, and Public Diplomacy in Australia – Amit Sarwal; Education in the Bilateral Relationship between India and Australia – Eric Meadows; The Missing Link: Exploring the Cultural Dimensions of Australian Public Diplomacy in Asia – Sally Percival Wood; Contributors; Index
Bridging Imaginations: South Asian Diaspora in Australia, edited by Amit Sarwal (Delhi: Readworthy Publications, 2013). Flyer
Coming June 2013 From Yale University Press:
Dancing with the River: People and Life on the Chars of South Asia By Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Gopa Samanta (Yale Agrarian Studies Series)
Indian Herald E paper
Indian Herald is a monthly variety features news magazine focussing on news and developments related to India and Australia. You can read the Indian Herald January 2012, Epaper by clicking here.
India Chronicle – a monthly e-newsletter from the High Commission of India in Australia
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Routledge Handbook of South Asian Economics, edited by Raghbendra Jha. Published May 2011. Click here for more information
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Pragati – The Indian National Interest Review – available for download from Pragati website
Courses and programs
Tasmanian Buddhist Studies in India Program
The School of Philosophy at University of Tasmania runs the Tasmanian Buddhist Studies in India Exchange Program. Under this banner every year they, in collaboration with the Five Colleges Buddhist Studies Program in the US, coordinate a special exchange unit (HPA297/397 Indo-Tibetan Philosophy, History and Culture) in India, (Sarnath) in late December and January.
It is a four week program: three-weeks of intensive academic courses offered at Central University of Tibetan Studies followed by a one week site-seeing tour around some of India’s best historical destinations.
The School of Philosophy at University of Tasmania invites applications from the students of any university across Australia and New Zealand.
