Please visit our Vimeo page to go directly to seminars from the current Fall 2011 Semester. More details, event video, images and event information on each event coming soon.
SAI Symposium in New Delhi
January 23, 2012
Higher Education in South Asia: Enhancing Access and Quality through Innovative Solutions
Welcome by Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust
For a full schedule of the panels and to view an exhibit of organizations working in education presented at the symposium, please visit the Higher Education in South Asia website.
Speakers included Manzoor Ahmed, Jacqueline Bhabha, Howard Gardner, Meenakshi Gopinath, Tarun Khanna, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, M. Omar Rahman, and Nikhil Sinha
Video coming soon.
2011 Harish C. Mahindra Lecture
September 27, 2011
"Empowering 3 Billion"
Distinguished Guest, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Eleventh President of India
Chaired by Tarun Khanna, Director of SAI and Jorge Paolo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School
The full lecture can be viewed here.
Urbanization
Seminar Series
Friday, February 3 - 2:30-6:00pm and
Saturday, February 4 - 10:00am-4:00pm
Stubbins Room, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
Urban Design Conference: Conditions and Projections
Sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Co-sponsored by the South Asia Initiative, The Andes Initiative at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, Swissnex Boston, Switzerland's science and technology outpost in Boston, and the Loeb Fellowship Program, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Event Description
The contemporary conditions that are shaping the built environment globally are of an unprecedented scale and complexity creating the need for a critical evaluation of the methods, tools, and the broader design culture that surrounds the practice of Urban Design. The focus of the conference is to explore the state of urban design globally, and to critically appraise the discipline’s legacy throughout the course of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the conference hopes to propel a discussion about the unfulfilled potential of the practice of urban design and the role it can play in mediating the different disciplines and forces that eventually mold the built environment in our cities, suburbs and peri-urban conditions - the larger landscape that comprises the objects of human interventions of various kinds. It is the objective of the conference to both calibrate the nature of these shifts as well as to speculate about the potential trajectories the practice of urban design could take in the future.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - 6:30 pm
Co-sponsored with the Harvard Graduate School of Design
"Planned Neighborhoods: The Long-term Account of an American Design Concept in Independent India"
Sanjeev Vidyarthi, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning & Policy
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chaired by Rahul Mehrotra, Professor and Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Stubbins Room, Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
View the seminar through Vimeo, here.
Friday, October 21, 2011, 6 pm
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD)
"The Future of South Asia: A Landscape of Pluralism"
Rahul Mehrotra, Professor and Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Chaired by Hiteshkumar Hathi, Producer of NPR's 'Here and Now'
Piper Auditorium, Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
Watch this seminar here.
Thursday, September 22, 2011, 6:30 pm
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD)
'Are Indian Cities 'Global'? Assessing Recent Research on State, Space and Citizenship'
Gavin Shatkin, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Michigan
Chaired by Rahul Mehrotra, Professor and Chair, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Piper Auditorium, Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
View the seminar on the GSD website, here.
Water Seminar Series
Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 2:30 pm
Co-sponsored by The Water Security Initiative at Harvard
'Water as a Platform for Development: A Student Panel from a Summer in Pakistan'
Chaired by John Briscoe, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Environmental Engineering Harvard University
Harvard Student Panelists: Laila Kasuri, Anjali Lohani, Erum Khalid Sattar, and Hassaan Yousuf
CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room, S020, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
View the full discussion on Vimeo.
Social Entrepreneurship Seminar Series
Monday, October 3, 2011, 5:30 pm
'Achieving Universal Quality Education in India: Challenges and Opportunities'
Karthik Muralidharan, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
University of California, San Diego
Chaired by Asim Khwaja, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
CGIS Knafel, Room K262, 1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Thursday, October 27, 2011, 4:00 pm
'Public Health Messaging'
Chair: David Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics
Panelists: Marc Mitchell, Lecturer on Global Health, Harvard School of Public Health
The Use of Mobile Technology to improve Health Care in South Africa
Glorian Sorensen, Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health
Tobacco Cessation of Indian School Teachers and Manufacturing Workers
Karl Hofmann, President and CEO, PSI, Washington DC, Former Ambassador to Togo
Social Marketing to Improve Health Outcomes
Watch the discussion on Vimeo.
South Asia without Borders
Seminar Series
Thursday, September 8, 2011, 4:00 pm
'Peace, Harmony & Development, the AAA Doctrine of Jainism'
Shugan Jain, Director of International School of Jain Studies
Chaired by Parimal Patil, Professor, Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room S020, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Friday, September 23, 2011 - 4 pm
'Early Roman Contacts with South Asia'
Dr. S. Suresh, State Convener, INTACH, Tamil Nadu, India and Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, National Trust for Historic
Preservation and University of Maryland
Chaired by Richard Meadow, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium S010, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Friday, October 28, 2011 - 4 pm
Co-sponsored with the Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
Dispersed Radiance: Caste, Gender, and Modern Science in India
Abha Sur, Lecturer, Program in Women's & Gender Studies, MIT
Chaired by Parimal Patil, Professor Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
CGIS Knafel, K262, 1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 – 5:30 pm
Special Film Screening Event:
India by Song, a film by Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh, Film Director
Chair: Parimal Patil, Professor Department of South Asian Studies, South Asian Studies, Harvard University
Yenching Auditorium, 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA
Pakistan Seminar Series
Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 4 pm
Co-sponsored with the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University
'Demystifying Pakistan'
Saadia Toor, Associate Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, College of Staten Island, The City University of New York
Chaired by Diane L. Moore, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies and Education and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School
CGIS Knafel, Room K262, 1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Video of this seminar can be found here.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 12:00 pm
Co-sponsored with the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University
'Progressives and 'Perverts': Partition Stories and Pakistan's Future'
Kamran Asdar Ali, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Chaired by Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Harvard University
CGIS South, Room S050, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
View the event on Vimeo here.
Monday, November 14, 2011, 4 pm
Co-sponsored with the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University
"Environmental History and the Creation of Pakistan"
David Gilmartin, Professor, Department of History, North Carolina State University
Chaired by Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Harvard University
CGIS South, Room S354, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Watch the seminar here.
Book Talk Series
Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 5 pm
'India: A Portrait, Patrick French'
Chaired by Tarun Khanna, Director of SAI & Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School
CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room S020, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 5 pm
'The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism, Deborah Baker'
Chaired by Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Fredric Werthham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Divinity, Harvard University
CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room S020, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Video of her lecture can be found here.
Monday, October 24, 2011 5:30 pm
'Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War,' Sarmila Bose
Chair: Richard Cash, Senior Lecturer on Global Health, Department of
Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health
Comments by
Dina Mahnaz Siddiqi, Visiting Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies Program,
Hunter College, CUNY
CGIS South, S354, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Science Technology Environment and Medicine Seminar Series
Friday, October 7, 12:00 pm
'Public Health Response to the Epidemic of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in South Asia'
Dr. Srinath Reddy, Director of the Public Health Foundation of India and a Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
Chaired by Richard Cash, Senior Lecturer on Global Health
CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room S020, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Video of this lecture is on Vimeo, here.
Tuesday, October 18, 4:00 pm
'Project Prakash: Combining Service and Science'
Pawan Sinha, Professor, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Chaired by Venkatesh Murthy, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room S020, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Tuesday, December 6, 2011, 4 pm
'Obesity and Health in South Asia: Discussion on Strategies to Prevent Diabetes and Cancer'
Chair: Aditi Hazra, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Discussants: Walter Willett, Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Chair, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
Robert Paarlberg, Adjunct Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Betty Freyhof Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College
Harvard School of Public Health, Building FXB, Room G13, 651 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
View the presentation here.
Co-sponsored Events
Friday, February 3
58 East 68th Street, New York City, NY
SAI, in its inaugural collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations, is pleased to present:
Innovation in India: Prospects for the Future and Opportunities for America
This event is the first of the Council on Foreign Relations' “Technology, Innovation, and American Primacy” roundtable series, developed with the South Asia Initiative.
Guest speaker: Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Moderated by: Tarun Khanna, Director, South Asia Initiative and Jorge Paolo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School
By invitation only.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011, 12:00-1:15pm
Sponsored by the Harvard International Negotiation Project (HINP), co-sponsored by the South Asia Initiative, Harvard Global Health Institute, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
'Negotiating Identities and Emotions: Ethnopolitical Conflict in Sri Lanka'
A Guest Lecture by:
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga -
Former President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005)
Opening Remarks by
Daniel Shapiro, Ph.D., Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program
For over two decades, ethnopolitical conflict tore at the seams of Sri Lanka. Civil war between the two main ethnic groups - the Sinhalese and the Tamils- threatened the stability of this small island country. Amidst waves of violence, President Kumaratunga sought a political solution through negotiation and ceasefire agreements. Join us to hear firsthand how President Kumaratunga navigated the emotional and identity-based complexities of the conflict, as well as the interplay of religion, culture, and ethnicity.
CGIS South,Tsai Auditorium, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 – 12-2 pm
Globalization Lawyers and Emerging Economies (GLEE)
Co-sponsored by Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School
Globalization, Lawyers and Emerging Economies: Indian Perspectives
Chair: David Wilkins, Lester Kissel Professor of Law; Director, Program on the Legal Profession
Presenters: Mihaela Papa, HLS GLEE Research Fellow
Vic Khanna, GLEE Project Team Member
Dave Trubek, GLEE Project Team Member
Harvard Law School's GLEE project project investigates the impact of globalization on the corporate legal sector in major emerging economies and the effect of changes in this sector on other parts of the legal order, including legal education and the provision of legal services to underrepresented populations.To learn more, visit their website.
Thursday, December 8, 2011, 4pm
The FXB Center at Harvard presents a conversation on:
The Social and Political Cost of Inaction
Co-sponsored in part by the South Asia Initiative
Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor
and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University
Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director
Facilitated by Jacqueline Bhabha, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Lecturer in Law, Harvard Law School and Lecturer on Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
