March 18, 2014 | 6.30 pm
Studio X, Mumbai

Brutalism is a style of architecture which was part of the International Style of Architecture that demanded a different approach towards architectural design. The term New Brutalism was first applied in 1953 by the British architects, Peter Smithson and Alison Smithson. These two architects along with Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson, Richard Hamilton and James Sterling among others, formed the Independent Group, and in the same year, organized the exhibition ‘Parallel to Life and Art’ held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. New Brutalism has come to acquire strong political associations in Sau Paulo and elsewhere, with many architectural projects being conceived in this aesthetic. In some instances, its sublime qualities extend from churches to a flower-shop. The lecture will consider the ideas of New Brutalism in the context of the Group and the ICA, and the limitations of this conception. Expanding on the origin of the term (Jean Dubuffet), and its relation to certain continental preoccupations with age-old aesthetic qualities, the speaker will connect to other movements such as Outsider Art or Art Brut. This presentation will also seek to connect the recent search for a rhetoric of materiality and temporality with age-old preoccupations in art and architecture, and the debates which brought about the demise of some key buildings conceived and executed by Brutalists. References will also be made to the Metabolists, which was a group formed by young Japanese architects and city planners in the late 1950s, and as much pioneers as Le Corbusier. In a certain sense, this presentation is conceived as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the subject, and will also discuss such architecture in England and India.

Yehuda E. Safran studied art, architecture and philosophy at the Saint Martin’s School of Art, the Royal College of Art, and the University College, London respectively. He has lectured and held fellowships at many international universities and published widely in scholarly journals. Currently, he lives and works in New York, where he directs the Potlatch journal and the Research Lab for Art and Architecture and teaches at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Mustansir Dalvi is Professor of architecture at the Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai. He has published in well-known journals such as Domus, Art India, The Economic and Political Weekly, Marg and the Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects, among others. He also writes two columns in Time Out Mumbai and Firstpost, where he observes and critiques.

July 25, 2013 | 6.30 pm
Visitors’ Centre, CSMVS, Mumbai

This panel discussion is an exploration of how the politics of hope play out in differing fields–from the aspirations of India’s poorest inhabitants, to the offices of urban planners and business people–to understand how we aim to achieve progress, creating an ethos of trust and joint risk-taking. How do all sections of society find access to growth, justice, and a part in the development story? The way that events are perceived and experienced, in a world with ever more information and connectivity, shapes outcomes in profound ways. What new forms of cosmopolitanism and relationships have emerged, and how does this define our society? How can we understand globalisation in relation to phenomena such as violence, commodification, nationalism, terror and materiality?

Arjun Appadurai is the Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. During his academic career, he has held professorial chairs at Yale University, the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. He has authored numerous books and scholarly articles including Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger and Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. He has served as a consultant or advisor to a wide range of public and private organizations, UNESCO, UNDP and the World Bank.
Shaina Anand is a filmmaker and artist who has been working independently in film and video since 2001. In 2007 she co-founded CAMP, a collaborative studio that works on interrelated concerns and possibilities of art, technology, archives and the public sphere. CAMP’s artworks are technically intensive and conceptually challenging and have been exhibited at major art venues in recent years including Documenta 13 in Kassel.

Ajit Balakrishnan is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rediff.com, a news, information, entertainment and shopping portal headquartered in Mumbai. He is also Chairman of the Board of Governors of The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and Chairman of the Working Group of Internet Governance set up by the Government of India. He has written a book titled The Wave Rider: A Chronicle of the Information Age and writes a column for Business Standard.

Mick Gordon is the CEO of Ipsos India, a private research think-tank in the fields of media and advertising ranked as the world’s third largest research agency. He focuses on consumer, health and business-focused primary research, analysis, interpretation and consultation. He was formerly Managing Director of Synovate India and Financial Director of Sample Surveys.

Zarina Mehta is the Managing Trustee of Swades Foundation. Previously known as SHARE (Society to Heal Aid Restore Educate), Swades Foundation operates to empower rural India. Mehta is also one of the three Founder-Directors of UTV, one of India’s foremost media and entertainment conglomerates, which is now Disney UTV. She has been featured in Business Today’s Most Powerful Women in Indian Business List for the last three years.

Sheela Patel is the Founder and Director of SPARC, an NGO that addresses the problems of women pavement dwellers in Mumbai. She was the recipient of the 2011 Padma Shri award from the government of India. She was a key figure in the building up of Mahila Milan, a decentralized network of collectives of women living on pavements and in slums in different parts of India. Under Patel’s leadership, SPARC has catalyzed the construction of housing for over 8,500 families and over 500,000 toilets and latrines, with programmes in 70 cities in India.

Teesta Setalvad is an educationist, journalist and human rights activist. She was the recipient of the 2007 Padma Shri award from the government of India. She co-edits Communalism Combat, heads and directs Education for a Plural India programme, and is Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP). Her other awards include the 2003 Nuernberg Human Rights Award, the 2009 FIMA Excellence Award by the Federation of Indian Muslim Associations in Kuwait and the 2000 Human Rights Award of the Dalit Liberation Education Trust.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mohile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent.

January 17, 2013 | 6.30 pm
Auditorium, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai

The discussion will focus on how regional identity has shaped the formation and efficacy of federalism in India, and the extent to which this system of governance has been a success. Ashutosh Varshney will investigate this theme drawing on comparisons with Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Indonesia, and will reflect on how these countries’ governance structures map against respective cultures and identities to reveal ground realities in a new light. He will be joined in a discussion with Pramit Pal Chaudhuri to explore how these elements stand to shape the future of Asia.

Ashutosh Varshney joined Brown faculty in January 2009. Previously, he taught at Harvard and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was the 2008 winner of the Guggenheim fellowship and the Carnegie Scholar awards. His Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India won the Gregory Luebbert Prize of the American Political Science Association. His Democracy, Development and the Countryside: Urban-Rural Struggles in India, in its PhD dissertation form, won the Daniel Lerner Prize at MIT. His research and teaching cover three areas: Political Economy of Development, Indian Politics, and Ethnicity and Nationalism. His academic papers have appeared in prestigious professional journals internationally. In addition, he also contributes guest columns to newspapers and magazines.

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri is the Foreign Editor of Hindustan Times. He specializes in India’s international security and economic policy. His experience includes participating as a delegate in Indo-US Strategic Dialogues, serving as South Asia Fellow at the Henry Stimson Centre, as Visiting Fellow at Cornell University’s South Asia department, and as editorial writer for The Telegraph and The Statesman newspapers. He is also an Associate Fellow at Asia Society.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mohile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent.

July 31, 2012 | 6.30 pm
Auditorium, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai

With the rise of China, India and other Asian countries, new notions of modernity and culture are gaining global prominence. As these forms interact with preexisting ones, particularly with Western cultural ethos and norms, what kinds of adjustments and clashes can we expect to see as countries and individuals define themselves and their relation to the world order? With many slating China to become the world’s largest economy within the next 20 years, what cultural and ideological shifts will be felt within China, among its neighbours including India, and across far reaching corners of the world? How can we expect perceptions of modernity itself to change, and what impact will this have on institutions within these countries? Join Martin Jacques in conversation with Mark Tully in an exploration of these questions, as he argues how China, being civilization-state rather than a nation-state, will pave the way fora fundamentally different tomorrow. The discussion will be chaired by James Crabtree.

Martin Jacques is the author of the global best-seller When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at IDEAS, a centre for diplomacy and grand strategy at the London School of Economics, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He has been a columnist for many newspapers, made several television programmes and is a former Deputy Editor of The Independent newspaper. He is also a Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy, Washington DC. He has previously been a Visiting Professor at Renmin University, the International Centre for Chinese Studies, Aichi University, Nagoya, and Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto. He was formerly the Editor of the renowned London-based monthly Marxism Today, and was Co-founder of the think-tank Demos.

Sir Mark Tully is a leading British broadcaster and writer, and is a recipient of the major British award for journalism, the Bafta Dimbleby Award. He has served as BBC’s Bureau Chief in New Delhi, and was awarded the Padma Shree and Padma Shushan Awards from the Government of India. Tully was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1985, and was knighted in the New Year Honours 2002. He is the author of several books, including Raj to Rajiv: 40 Years of Indian Independence, India: Forty Years of Independence, The Heart of India, India’s Unending Journey, and Non Stop India.

James Crabtree is the Mumbai Correspondent for the Financial Times. He previously worked as policy advisor in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, and is a trustee of the charity mySocietyorg, one of the UK’s most innovative technology organizations.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mobile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent. In the inaugural year of the three-year series had the theme of Migration. This year, speakers will explore the theme of Identity and Culture.

December 9, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Forum Room, Taj President Hotel, Mumbai

The defining feature of this century is the rise of the Asia Pacific: economic, political, military and strategic influence is moving to our part of the world. The reality of this power and influence has arrived faster than many expected or are prepared for. This landscape also includes non-traditional security challenges such as terrorism, piracy, maritime security and natural disasters. For these reasons, Australia and India share a number of strategic interests. Indian Ocean region maritime security issues, and regional security architecture provide opportunities for increased engagement, to tackle the challenges of the regional strategic environment.

The Australian Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, and Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Foreign Editor of Hindustan Times, discuss defence and strategic issues of mutual interest for India and Australia in the Asia Pacific Century.

Stephen Smith was sworn in as Australian Minister for Defence in 2010. He has also served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Principal Private Secretary to the Attorney-General of Western Australia, and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, among other positions.

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri is the Foreign Editor of Hindustan Times. He specializes in India’s international security and economic policy. His experience includes participating as a delegate in Indo-US Strategic Dialogues, serving as South Asia Fellow at the Henry Stimson Centre, as Visiting Fellow at Cornell University’s South Asia department, and as editorial writer for The Telegraph and The Statesman newspapers. He is also an Associate Fellow at Asia Society.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mohile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent.

December 7, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Cama Hall, K.R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai

Almost everything around us appears to be disintegrating–institutions, beliefs, values and even individuals. The authority of the Parliament is being challenged by civil society, caste-based khap panchayats are violating the constitution and the Lokpal is likely to become a power centre, larger and stronger than parliament, judiciary and bureaucracy. The idea of ‘linguistic states’ has come into conflict with the advocates of smaller states and while the collapse of socialist ideology was to establish the capitalist principle there is greater inequality and conflicts in the liberalized and globalised scenario. Liberal Democracies were to put an end to fundamentalist ideologies and intolerant attitudes; in reality, both have grown. It is a world with borders and conflicts where individuality is replaced by individualism; idealism is replaced by cynicism and ethics by pragmatism. The spectre of anarchy is an overwhelming reality; are there any alternatives to the problems of our times?

Kumar Ketkar is the Chief Editor of Dainik Divya Marathi of DNA Group. Earlier, he served as the Chief Editor of Loksatta, the leading Marathi Daily of the Indian Express Group. He also served as the Editor-In-Chief, Lokmat and Maharashtra Times and is the recipient of many prestigious awards. He is known for his social and cultural concerns and has personally been engaged in theatre, literature and environmental activities. Ketkar has a keen interest in history and anthropology; particularly in music, cinema, painting, architecture and language.

September 8, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Rangswar Hall, Y. B. Chavan Centre, Mumbai

Ashis Nandy will trace how the ideas of an Asian future–note the singular–and that of the diverse but compatible futures of Asian societies during colonial times have gradually given way to a uniform, steamrolled future created through a globalized idea of development where even isolated, impotent, symbolic dissent from such a future is feared as dangerous threat and a security hazard. The example and success of Japan has prompted China and India to opt for a similar model of development and they too have been conspicuously successful in their efforts in recent times. But the success have given them rather limited self-confidence—limited by the standardised vision of a post-Westphalian nation-state. Can we be ourselves in our official idea of a future world? Can the deepening of democracy be a protection, at least in India? Do cultures exist for States or States exist for cultures? Is there life beyond strategic studies and comparative economic growth?

Ashis Nandy is a political psychologist, a social theorist, and a contemporary cultural and political critic. His body of work covers a variety of topics, including public conscience, mass violence, and dialogues of civilizations. He was Senior Fellow and Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi for several years. Today, he is a Senior Honorary Fellow at CSDS and the Chairperson of the Committee for Cultural Choices and Global Futures, New Delhi. He has been also a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, and Regent’s Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles.

Kumar Ketkar is the Chief Editor of Dainik Divya Marathi of DNA Group. Earlier, he served as the Chief Editor of Loksatta, the leading Marathi Daily of the Indian Express Group. He also served as the Editor-In-Chief, Lokmat and Maharashtra Times and is the recipient of many prestigious awards. He is known for his social and cultural concerns and has personally been engaged in theatre, literature and environmental activities. Ketkar has a keen interest in history and anthropology; particularly in music, cinema, painting, architecture and language.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mohile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent.

May 05, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Venue: Rangswar Hall, Y. B. Chavan Centre, Mumbai

James Farrer will discuss how migratory shifts have led to a more cosmopolitan society in China, and lessons China holds for Asia overall. Access to wealth and influence from outside cultures is changing the fabric of China’s society. In a country where emphasis on the homogenous Han Chinese culture has remained dominant, centuries old mores are being tested by the influx of popular culture from around the world. Issues like the one child policy and censorship have had a profound impact on this generation, and the youth of China grapple with increased access to information and economic parity on the world stage. What makes Chinese youth culture unique today? How has it borrowed from its neighbors, and what remains exclusive to Chinese culture? What has caused the surge in youth culture and creativity, and how does this movement help to set them apart from their parents’ generation? How have the modern and ancient fused to create new patterns of social interaction?

James Farrer, Professor of Sociology at Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan), is a sociologist and expert in Chinese youth culture, Shanghai urban culture, gender, and sexuality in China and Japan. More recently he has done sociological research on expatriates living and working in Shanghai and Tokyo. Farrer also writes for general media, including the Lonely Planet Guides, the Asian Wall Street Journal, YaleGlobal Online, and Global Asia. He has many publications including Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai and Globalization, Food and Social Identities in the Pacific Region.

Gracia Liu-Farrer is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan. Her research examines the economic, social, and emotional lives of contemporary Chinese immigrants in Japan and their transnational career practices and living arrangements. She also investigates the labor market outcomes of international students in the Asia-Pacific. Gracia Liu-Farrer holds a Ph.D in sociology and an M.A. in education from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in English from Fudan University, China.

The Future of Asia series, co-produced by Mohile Parikh Center and Asia Society India Centre, brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent.

February 3, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Goethe Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai

What kind of conceptualization did Marxism represent? And how to revisit that to achieve a reflective relationship to the present? Vivek Dhareshwar will set out a framework for understanding the trajectory of Marxism in India through a deliberation on the three terms of the title: Critique, Genealogy and Reflective Action.

Vivek Dhareshwar is an independent scholar based in Bangalore. He was a Senior Fellow and Director of Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore. Dhareshwar has contributed in many scholarly journals and publications and is the co-editor of ‘Interrogating Modernity: Studying Culture in India’. He is currently working on two book projects – ‘A philosophical exploration of the relationship between norms and experience’ and ‘the idea of multiple sites of ethical learning in Gandhi’.

Street Scholars seeks to initiate discussions that bring a certain kind of reflection to bear on our varied practices, our ways of engaging the world, (artistic, political or academic). Street Scholars emerged from conversations between Indira Chowdhury, Vivek Dhareshwar and Lata Mani with the belief that scholarship should be alive, like the streets, to questions and to ways of reflecting on them.

January 13, 2011 | 6.30 pm
Rangswar Hall, Y. B. Chavan Centre, Mumbai

Legacies of historic migrations have had a profound impact on life in Asia, whether they be in small or large numbers, triggered by war, politics or economic necessity. Today, movements within and between countries have increased manifold, magnifying previous effects and creating new ones. Sugata Bose will contextualize migration in the Indian Ocean region during the 19th century, and address how this movement of people has, and will continue to, influence the future of Asia.

As countries in Asia experience unprecedented economic growth, they are also grappling with capacity challenges in areas extending from housing, food and water security, to education. Moving forward, Asia’s challenge will lie in remaining cognizant of this dichotomy, and in adapting to ensure its goals for economic and human development are both met. Where does the future of Asia lie? How can it address its multiple challenges, optimize its progress, and apply lessons from other regions?

Sugata Bose is Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs and Director of the South Asia Initiative at Harvard University (Massachusetts, USA). He is a specialist in modern South Asian and Indian Ocean history. He is the author of several books on the economic, social and political history of modern South Asia, and has pioneered work in historical studies emphasizing the centrality of the Indian Ocean. He published works include A Hundred Horizons: the Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire; Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy; and South Asia and World Capitalism.

Kamala Ganesh is Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai. Her areas of interest include Indian Diaspora Studies, Gender and Society, Culture and Identity, and Feminist Theories and Methodology. She has authored books on Culture and Citizenship, Caste and Women and has co-edited books on the city of Bombay, Identity in Contemporary India, Labour Movement in India and Gender and Kinship.

The Future of Asia Series brings together a diverse group of speakers from across the world to explore the Future of Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each speaker addresses this theme through a distinct lens provided from his or her discipline, offering unique insights into what we can expect for Asia, and how we can shape a positive, sustainable future for the continent. In the inaugural year of the three-year series, three speakers will share their expertise on Migration and its impact on the future of Asia.