Globalisation and the Politics of Hope

Speakers: Arjun Appadurai, Shaina Anand, Ajit Balakrishnan, Mick Gordon, Zarina Mehta, Sheela Patel and Teesta Setalvad
The Future of Asia Series | Edition II: Identity and Culture
In collaboration with Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai

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.