Southern Asian Institute

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About the Southern Asian Institute

Art - Two Female Figures The Southern Asian Institute coordinates the many activities at Columbia University that relate to South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.) SAI's conferences, seminars, exhibits, films, and lecture series bring together Columbia's tremendous South Asianist faculty and students from widely varying interests and backgrounds. The Institute also has lively ties with the United Nations, the diplomatic community, international agencies, and New York City's South Asian diaspora community (the largest in North America.) In addition, the Institute's outreach activities provide a broad range of resources for K-12 teachers interested in South Asia. For more information about the Southern Asian Institute please click here.

Southern Asian Institute is located on the 11th floor of the International Affairs Building (IAB) at 420 West 118th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive in New York, NY.

Join the SAI Listserv for important news and upcoming events. Please send an email to southasia@columbia.edu

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2007
Annual
Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Sept 18 - Dec 13, 2008 Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj

An exhibition curated by Vidya Dehejia, with Dipti Khera and Yuthika Sharma

Dates: September 18 through December 13
Location: Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, 826 Schermerhorn Hall, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue
See Gallery website for full information at http://www.learn.columbia.edu/delight/

Sept 24 - Dec 4, 2008 The British Raj on Film

A film series to accompany the exhibition Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj

Dates: Wednesdays, September 24 through December 4 (no screening November 26)
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Room 832, Schermerhorn Building, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue
Wednesday, October 15 screening: Lagaan, Once Upon a Time in India
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker (2001), 225 minutes.

Wednesday, October 15 Gallery Tour and Talk

"Designs to Suit Every Taste" by Dipti Khera (Columbia University)

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, 826 Schermerhorn Hall, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue

Join Dipti Khera at the Wallach Gallery to view "Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj" and learn how "native" craftsmen produced silver for British use, and then move to the adjoining Room 832 to view the film "Lagaan," in which "natives' learned the game of cricket and beat their masters at their own game!" Coffee and cookies will be served after the gallery talk for those staying on for the film screening.

Wednesday, October 15 Brown Bag

A talk by P. Chengal Reddy on "The Indian Agricultural Economy since Economic Liberalization"

Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Room 1128 International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th Street

P. Chengal Reddy will speak about the evolution of the Indian agricultural economy and the situation of Indian farmers since the onset of economic liberalization in 1991, and the role of farmers' movements in influencing national and international policies. Dr. Reddy is an affiliate of the Federation of Farmers Associations (FFA), Andhra Pradesh, India; and the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association and will visit SIPA immediately following his participation in a World Bank "International Conference on Nonrenewable Groundwater Resources."

Wednesday, October 22 Brown Bag

Brown Bag talk by Himanshu Burte on his recent book, "Space for Engagement: the Indian Artplace and a Habitational Appproach to Architecture"

Why do we feel engaged with some places and not with others? How can architecture foster an engagement between people and public places? Spurred by questions like these, this book focuses on contemporary Indian cultural institutions, or artplaces, as a special kind of public place. Offering a critique of contemporary architectural and institutional approaches to "place-making," this volume proposes an alternative approach to thinking about architecture centered on our experience of inhabiting spaces. Such a habitational approach is crucial if architecture (and, by extension, urban design) is to help nurture a larger engagement between people and their social environment.

Himanshu Burte is an architect and writer based in Goa. He has written extensively on architecture and urban issues. His current research interests include contemporary Indian architecture and public space, sustainable technology, and the design of theater spaces.

Time: 12:30pm
Location: Room 1134 International Affairs, 420 West 118th Street.

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