AIPS Conferences 2004-2005

Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting 2004: Pakistan Related Panels

Hyatt Regency, San Francisco, CA
November 20 - 23, 2004

Sunni/Sufi/Shi'i (NP39)

• Chair: Erik S. Ohlander, University of Michigan
• David Pinault, Santa Clara University
  Pluralism, Communal Identity and the Uses of Moghul History: Contemporary Pakistani Views of Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb
• Shafique N. Virani, Harvard University
  Uneasy Bedfellows: Sufism and Ismailism in the Wake of the Mongol Invasions
• Paul E. Walker, University of Chicago
  Imperial Rhetoric: The Public Voice of a Medieval Shiite Dynasty
• Rachel T. Howes, Cal State Northridge
  The Political Strategies of Shi`is in Eleventh Century Iranian Courts

"I Can't Move-I Must Already Be Moving": Maps, Everyday Life, and the Drawings and Un-drawings of a "Muslim World" (P105)

• Organized by Richard Baxstrom, Naveeda Khan, and Sylvain Perdigon
• Chair: Steven C. Caton, Harvard University
• Discussant: Stefania Pandolfo, University of California, Berkeley
• Richard Baxstrom, Johns Hopkins University
  A Web of Worlds to Get Lost In: Local Cartographies of the State and the Spiritual in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Naveeda Khan, Johns Hopkins University
  Roads to Death: Braving Bustrips on the Motorway in Lahore, Pakistan
• Sylvain Perdigon, Johns Hopkins University
  Maps of Despair and Desire: Palestinian Refugees at Checkpoints in Beirut, Lebanon
• Anila Daulatzai, Johns Hopkins University
  Mapping Refugees: Technologies and Terminologies of Expulsion at the Border of Afghanistan and Pakistan

Sufism: Love and Sects (NP38)

• Chair: Qamar-ul Huda, Boston College
• Talia Gangoo, Washington University
  Portraits of the Self: Rumi and Iqbal's Notions of Self-Hood
• Cyrus Zargar, University of California, Berkeley
  Volitional Death and an Existence More Real: Theoretical Suggestions in Kubra's "Aqrab al-Turuq ila Allah"
• Joseph Lumbard, American University in Cairo
  The Development of Love in Early Sufism
• Jawid Mojaddedi, Rutgers University
  Muhammad or Abu Yazid? Rumi's Contribution to the Prophethood-Sainthood Debate

Islam and the State (NP14)

• Chair: Miriam Lowi, The College of New Jersey
• Julie E. Taylor, Princeton University
  The Price of Islamicization: What Egypt Can Learn from Pakistan
• Joseph Nevo, University of Haifa
  Islam and Professional Associations in Jordan
• Tamer Balci, Claremont Graduate University
  Origins of the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis
• Berna Turam, Hampshire College
  Transitions in Turkey and Iran: Affinities and Dissent between Islam and State

20th Annual South Asia Conference
University of California, Berkeley

Report by: Joti Singh, University of California, Berkeley

The Twentieth Annual South Asia Conference at the University of California, Berkeley, drew academics from all regions of the country and a variety of academic disciplines. The conference was held at the International House on February 11th and 12th. The keynote lecturer, Dr. J. Mark Kenoyer, is the Director of the Center for South Asia and Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

His talk drew upon archeological discoveries from over two million years ago to the Early Historical Period, around 300 B.C. He suggested innovative ways of interpreting "models of culture change," including a controversial critique of the Indo-Aryan invasion model. Most of his fieldwork was conducted in present-day Pakistan, the seat of the Indus Valley Civilization. Other highlights of the conference included a panel titled "Who is Muslim? Religion and Politics in Pakistan Fifty Years after the Munir Report (1954)." The panel was chaired by Professor Tariq Rahman, the Quaid-i-Azam Chair of Pakistan Studies at UC Berkeley, and covered topics ranging from modern education in Pakistan to the politics of Sufism.

Annual Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies Hyatt Regency, Chicago

The Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies was be held from March 31 to April 3, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago. Pakistan related panels are listed below. For further details, please visit the AAS website.

Thursday, March 31st, 2005

Session 8: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Individual Papers: States, Religion, and Discourses of the "Other"
Chaired by Paula Richman, Oberlin College

• Pakistan's Madrassahs: Teaching the Alphabets of Jihad?
  Ali Riaz, Illinois State University
• Fundamentalism, the Curriculum and National Identity; Lessons from India
  Marie Lall, University of London
• Regressive Anti-Hindutva? The James Laine Affair within and besides Election 2004
  Spencer A. Leonard, University of Chicago
• Between Security and Conflict: Governments and Muslim Minorities in Asia
  Sandra Leavitt, Georgetown University

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005

Session 120: 10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Getting to Rapprochement over Kashmir: Implications for India, Pakistan, and China
Sponsored by the South Asia Council
Chaired by Anita M. Weiss, University of Oregon

• Resolving the Kashmir Dispute: Blending Realism with Justice
  Rifaat Hussain, Quaid-e-azam University
• Kashmiris and the Indian State: History, Politics, and Future Possibilities
  Chitralekha Zutshi, College of William & Mary
• China and the Kashmir Problem
  Jing-dong Yuan, Monterey Institute of International Studies
• Discussants:
  • Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University
  • Husain Haqqani, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Session 138: 2:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Criminalizing Tradition, Legalizing Modernity? Law, Custom, and Modern-ity in Colonial Postcolonial Asia
Chaired by Magnus Fiskesjo, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities

• Civilizing through Legal Change: Law, Custom and Colonial Rule in India
  Sandra der Otter, Queens University
• Evil Practices of the Past: Rethinking and Reconfiguring "Custom" and "Statute" in Meiji Japan
  Ronald K. Frank, Pace University
• Bigamy, Wedding Customs, and the Civil Code in Republican Beijing
  Zhao Ma, Johns Hopkins University
• Islamization vs. Modernization of Laws: Pakistan's Complex of Contradictions
  Abdul Karim Khan, University of Hawaii, Manoa
• The Restorative Process of Indigenous Justice in East Timor: Local Practice and Pragmatism as an End to the Cycle of Militia Violence
  Chris Lundry, Arizona State University
• Discussants:
  • Magnus Fiskesjo, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities
  • Chris Lundry, Arizona State University

Session 161: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Imagining a Region

• Envisaging the Land of the Pure: Imagining Pakistan in the United Province in the 1940s
  Yasmin Khan, University of Oxford
• What is Cutch, Kutch and Kachchh? Newsprint, Territory, and Contest in the Democratic Era
  Edward Simpson, London School of Economics
• Imagining a Hindi Pradesh? Early Formations of the Region in Gangetic North India in the 1890s
  Harriet Bury, SOAS, University of London
• The Idea of Jharkhand: Who Cares about Jharkhand State?
  Alpa Shah, University of London
• Discussant:
  • David Washbrook, University of Oxford

Sunday, April 3rd, 2005

Session 195: 10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Roundtable: Women in World History: A Reappraisal of Approaches to Teaching
Sponsored by the Committee on Teaching About Asia
Chaired by Keith Snodgrass, University of Washington

• Discussants:
  • Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago
  • Anand A. Yang, University of Washington

Session 202: 10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Individual Papers: Popular Culture, Sex, and Religion in South Asia
Chaired by Rakka Ray, University of California, Berkeley

• The (Un)Making of a South Asian Aesthetic: The Consumption of Bollywood in Pakistan and the Pakistani Diaspora
  Ahmed Afzal, Purchase College
• Socks, Shoes, and Toilet Seats: The Commodification of Hindu Imagery in the Western Market
  Tanisha Ramachandran, Concordia University
• First Night: Conservative Sexual Humor in Madras Theater
  Kristen Rudisill, University of Texas, Austin
• Geographies of Contagion: Hijras, Kotis and the Politics of Sexual Marginality in India
  Gayatri Reddy, University of Illinois, Chicago

Reforming Education in Pakistan: Constraints and Opportunities

Monday April 4, 2005
9:30am - 4:30 pm
Rome Auditorium
1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

The Johns Hopkins University Universal education equipping citizens to take an active role in Pakistan's political and economic life is widely perceived to be a key prerequisite for a vibrant civil society and for economic development. Many Pakistani governments in the past have put education rather low on the policy agenda, resulting in inadequate funding, which may explain the dramatic rise of private education, including religious schools, during the past decade. Inadequate funding has also kept overall literacy rates, including female literacy, at a low level. Over the past several years, especially since 9/11, the country's educational systems have come under very close - and very critical -- scrutiny. Religious schools, in particular, have been perceived to have a radical disruptive agenda. Another issue is the social impact of low rates of female literacy. There is now a renewed effort, both by the Government of Pakistan and by international donors, to improve the quality of education and to make it more universal. This conference brings together some of Pakistan's best academics and practitioners in the education sector to analyze trends in education, to identify major challenges, and to probe the likely outcomes of various policy options. The goal is to stimulate discussion and debate among the experts and to involve the audience as much as possible in this exchange of views.

Introductory Remarks: 9:30am
Ambassador Jehangir Karamat, Ambassador of Pakistan

Panel 1: Delivery and Content: 10:00-12:30pm

• Moderator: S. Akbar Zaidi, Visiting Scholar, SAIS; Shahid Hafeez Kadar, Education Specialist, Lahore
  "The Changing Educational Landscape"
• Rubina Saigol, Educational Sociologist, Lahore
  "State schools: Are they preparing students to be productive citizens?"
• Bernadette L. Dean, Aga Khan University, Karachi
  "Are there alternative curriculum models that would make students more productive citizens?"
• Anita Weiss, University of Oregon
  "The neglected poor: who will educate them and what will they learn?"
• Tahir Andrabi, Pomona College "Religious school enrollment in Pakistan: A look at the data"
• Saleem Ali, University of Vermont
  "Are Islamic schools compatible with the demands of a modern society?"

Lunch Break: 12:30- 2:00pm

Panel 2: Partners, Communities, Donors & Government: 2:00-4:30pm

• Moderator: Walter Andersen, Associate Director, SAIS
• Hamida Khuhro, Minister of Education, Government of Sindh, Karachi "Government reform in curricula: building on the debris of a half century of neglect"
• Abbas Rashid, Society for the Advancement of Higher Education (SAHE), Lahore
  "Are the teachers qualified? And what will it take to make them better?"
• Shandana Khan, CEO, Rural Support Programmes Network, Islamabad
  "Rural people care about education: the experience with community-managed schools."
• Kathy Barlett, Aga Khan Foundation, Geneva
  "Are schools ready for children and are children ready for school? A look at the high levels of early drop-out of young leaders."
• Vijitha Evango, USAID, Bureau for Asia and the Near East
  "Identifying challenges and defining progress by a major foreign donor: the experience of USAID"
• Ambrin Hayat, Advisor, The Citizens Foundation
  "Pushing the envelope on education: efforts of private citizens"

Pakistan After 9/11: The Turnaround

Wolfson College
Cambridge University
April 21 - 22, 2005

Wolfson College, Cambridge University will host a conference on Pakistan in collaboration with Allama Iqbal Fellowship and the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad.

Sessions include:

• Redefining National Security
• Major Strands of Foreign Policy
• Evolution of Pakistan State and Society: Political and Economic Issues
• Evolution of Pakistan State and Society: Education, Media, and Women's Issues

Please use our website for details including a full program.

Pakistan in World-Historical Context

AIPS sponsored and organized the Second Biennial International Conference of Pakistan Studies from April 29th - May 1st, 2005 in Philadelphia.

View or download a full program.

South Asia in Crisis: U.S. Policy, 1961-1972

The Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, hosted a conference on the history of United States policy in South Asia during the 1960s and early 1970s, at the Department of State, Washington D.C. on June 28-29, 2005. The conference complemented the then-forthcoming release of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, volume XI, South Asia Crisis, 1971. The conference also drew upon two earlier volumes: Foreign Relations, 1961-1963, volume XIX, South Asia and Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, volume XXV, South Asia. Themes included:

• Impact of U.S.-South Asian relations on the Cold War, and impact of the Cold War on U.S.-South Asian relations;
• Regional conflicts during the 1960s and early 1970s (e.g., Rann of Kutch, Kashmir, India-Pakistan Crisis, 1971);
• Influence of non-state actors in the region (e.g., AFL-CIO, International Red Cross, Ford Foundation);
• Continuity and change in U.S. policy toward South Asia during the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations;
• Role of religion and culture in shaping South Asian conflicts;
• Economic development policies and humanitarian assistance (e.g., debt relief, food aid).

The Kashmir Dispute and Building a Peaceful South Asia

Cannon House Office Building
Cannon Caucus Room (345)
Thursday July 14, 2005

Sponsored by: Association of Humanitarian Lawyers & Kashmiri American Council

Program

8.00 a.m. Registration & continental breakfast

9.00 a.m. Inauguration

• Welcome : Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai
• Ms. Karen Parker, Esq.
• Remarks: Congressional Hosts

9.30 a.m. First Session
India - Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock over Kashmir

• Moderator: Khalid J. Qazi, M.D.
• Prof. Stanley Wolpert, Department of History, UCLA
• Amb. Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan Ambassador to the U.S.
• Mr. Ejazul Haq, Member, National Assembly
• Mr. Gautam Navlakha, Economic & Political Weekly, New Delhi
• Sardar Sikander Hayat Khan, Prime Minister, Azad Kashmir

11.00 a.m. Second Session
Resolving Kashmir Conflict: Alternative Models

• Moderator: Mr. Sareer Fazili, Esq.
• Dr. Subramanum Swamy, President, All India Janata party
• Amb. Riaz Khokhar, Former Pakistan's Foreign Secretary
• Mr. Makhdoom Faisal Hayat Khan, Minister, Kashmir Affairs
• Prof. Robert Wirsing, Department. Of Regional Studies, Honolulu
• Amb. Yusuf Buch, Former Advisor to the UN Secretary General

12.30 p.m. 1.30 p.m. Lunch break [Lunch will be at Cannon Caucus Room # 345]

1.30 p.m. Third Session
Kashmir Centric "CBM's: Help or Hindrance"

• Moderator: Mr. Farooq Siddiqui
• Dr. P. Ambegaonkar, President, Bridging Nations, Washington, D.C.
• Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President, World Kashmir Freedom Movement
• Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, President, AJK Muslim Conference
• Dr. Douglas Johnston, President, International Center for Religion & Diplomacy
• Barrister Majeed Tramboo, Executive Director, Kashmir Center, Brussels

3.00 p.m. Fourth Session
Kashmir: Human Rights Dimension

• Moderator: M. Akram Dar, M.D.
• Dr. Vijay Sazawal, Indo-American Kashmir Forum [Kashmir: A Way Forward]
• Dr Hameeda Banu, Department of English, Kashmir University
• Ms. Karin Parker, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers
• Sheikh Tajamul ul Islam, Editor, Kashmir Media Service
• Mr. Lars Rise, member, Norwegian Parliament
• Mr. T. Kumar, Amnesty International
• Dr. Khalid J. Qazi, Sister's Hospital, Buffalo
• Prof. Nazir Shawl, Kashmir Center, London

5.00 p.m. Concluding Remarks