Publish and Perish: Denial and Refutation on Tabarra-bazi in Nineteenth Century North India
Wednesday, October 25, 2023 | 2-4PM | Room 4207 | Maanjiwe Nendamowinan (MN) Building
Description
The focus of the workshop will be to look at how the print revolution in the latter half of the 19th Century led to the public sphere being reconfigured by those who read and wrote in northern India. Zaidi's focus is on Muslims writing in Urdu, and those who heard the printed words being read out aloud.
How much did it matter to be printed, to respond, to be read? And why? The north Indian (Hindustan) Urdu print public sphere will be the backdrop in which we will look at how tabbara-bazi (the supposed ritual by the Shia of cursing the first three caliphs), was being negotiated by writers, and since it mattered to how reputations were made and unmade, writers retracted or defended their writings on such themes.
Readings
We used Chapter 3, preferably, or if it seems too long, then pages 155-70, of Making A Muslim: Reading Publics and Contesting Identities in Nineteenth-Century North India, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Another required reading was "Beyond Colonial Rupture: Print Culture and the Emergence of Muslim Modernity in Nineteenth-Century South Asia".
Sobers-Khan, Nur, Layli Uddin, and Priyanka Basu. "Beyond Colonial Rupture: Print Culture and the Emergence of Muslim Modernity in Nineteenth-Century South Asia." International Journal of Islam in Asia 3.1-2 (2023): 1-20.
Arvind Pal Mandair - Graduate masterclass
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023 | 12-2PM |CDRS, Room 3230| Maanjiwe Nendamowinan (MN) Building
Description
Prof. Arvind-Pal S. Mandair will focus this masterclass around a reading of the 'Introduction' to my forthcoming book "Geophilosophical Encounters: Diasporicity, Decolonial Praxis & Sikh Thought". This is part of a broader project in which he is experimenting with methods in cross-cultural philosophy. In this book, the experiment is staged as an encounter between gurmat concepts and Western thinkers (in this case Deleuze & Guattari) whose work seeks to dislocate us from the limiting and interdictive presuppositions of the subject-object relation. Titled "Thinking-Dwelling Between Cultures", the introductory chapter read by participants provided some broad context into why he is engaged on this topic and how he is approaching it.
Politics of Memory and Memorialization
Graduate workshop with Professor Thomas Blom Hansen
March 19, 2023 | 1PM-3PM, CDRS, room 3230, MN building at UTM campus
Description
Graduate workshop with leading anthropologist on Hindutva politics, Thomas Blom Hansen. The workshop will focus on the politics of memory and memorialization. The master class will cover issues pertaining to historical memory, symbolism and narrative frames, and will be of interest to students of Anthropology, Religion, and History, among others. We will be reading a couple of texts, one on memory politics in Aurangabad and another forthcoming text (in the journal History and Anthropology) on memory politics and expulsions in Durban, South Africa.
Readings:
Hansen, Thomas Blom. Chapter 3 "When the Past is Tense: a democratic history of monuments in an Indian city.” in State of Democracy in India: Life and Politics in Contemporary Times: (2019). Edited by Manas Ray. Delhi: Primus Books
Hansen, Thomas Blom. "Expelled from public memory: Cato Manor and the segregation of memory in South Africa." History and Anthropology 35.5 (2024): 1117-1136.
Making a book out of memory
Creative writing workshop with Mohammed Hanif
March 14, 2023 | 2PM
Description
Uncover the Touching Tale of Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, a Catholic woman's struggle in Pakistan. Be transported by Mohammed Hanif's signature wit, humor, and wisdom as he explores the challenges faced by a marginalized religious group. Join the journey of a woman who courageously navigates a society steeped in anti-Christian sentiments and misogyny.
CSACH invited interested students to an interactive creative writing workshop with a renowned Pakistani author, Mohammed Hanif. Our creative writing workshop will follow Hanif's presentation of his experience of transforming a childhood memory into an art form, followed by an interactive creative writing session with participating students.
We encouraged participants to read Our Lady of Alice Bhatti to enjoy the workshop fully with Hanif.