Talk by Rahul Sagar (Political Science, NYU Abu Dhabi)

Letters to an Indian Raja (1891) was the first work of political theory to be published in modern India. It advised Maharajas to introduce liberal values and constitutional government in the self-governing Native States. Such reform would, it argued, make Indians freer and happier than they were in British India, and thus allow Maharajas to credibly challenge colonial rule. The rediscovery of this long-lost text overturns the long-held belief that Indian liberals merely borrowed their ideas from Britain and were eager to collaborate with the British. On the contrary, it reveals that they sought to make the Native States less vulnerable to both domineering Britons and despotic Maharajas—and that they were the first to discern how difficult it is to uphold liberal values in multicultural societies.

Rahul Sagar is a Global Network Associate Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi. His most recent books include The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao’s Hints on the Art and Science of Government (Oxford University Press, 2022) and To Raise A Fallen People: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Indian Views on International Politics (Columbia University Press, 2022). He received his BA from Oxford and his PhD from Harvard and has previously served on the faculty at Princeton and NUS.

The Southeast Asia Program’s annual graduate conference offers a space for scholars of Southeast Asia to share new work, receive feedback, and engage with peers and faculty across disciplines.

This year’s special-format conference will feature a mix of panel presentations and individual talks from current SEAP graduate students, creating room for discussion and reflection on emerging scholarship in Southeast Asian studies.

Faculty organizers encourage speakers to explore intersections across their projects as they prepare their presentations. Abstracts and titles from presenters are due January 21, 2026.

Photo contributed by Anna Koshcheeva, from the Buddha Park near Vientiane, Laos.

Join us for a teach-in on how the political legacies of war continue to shape governance, identity, and everyday life in Southeast Asia. The session focuses on Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines, and will be led by student presenters from the collaborating organizations and CDM law professor and human rights educator Dr. Su Yin Htun.

This event is a collaboration between the Asian & Asian American Center, the Cambodian Student Association at Cornell, the Cornell Filipino Student Association, and the Southeast Asia Program.

Dinner from Taste of Thai will be provided. All are welcome. Please RSVP: https://cglink.me/2ee/r2295106

The Cornell Gamelan Ensemble is joined by singer and composer Peni Candra Rini for a concert held in memory of the ensemble’s founder, Marty Hatch, who passed away in August. The program features Rini’s compositions along with some of Hatch’s favorites from the standard repertoire.

Speaker: Dr. Patrick Hällzon, Postdoctoral, Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics

Talk Description: Swedish archives host some of the world’s largest collections of early-20th-century Uyghur material culture and written sources. This consists of manuscripts, printed books, photographs, as well as artifacts including medicine and seed collections. Many of the sources have been digitized and are freely accessible online for the general public. In the presentation I will discuss how I have used these sources in my current research project and what they can tell us about oasis life in Eastern Turkestan before the area became incorporated into the People’s Republic of China under the term Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Any poem, any language! The Language Resource Center celebrates National Poetry Month. Sweet Poetry is an evening event in April named for enjoying tasty treats while sharing poems in different languages.

Join us on Wednesday, April 15, 2026 at 5:30 pm in the Klarman Hall Atrium. During the event, Cornell community members are invited to watch live poetry recitations in multiple languages. The event booklet, available digitally, includes transcriptions of each poem along with approximate English translations.

We look forward to an amazing lineup of poetry readings/signings this April and are excited to celebrate National Poetry Month together!

This year's Sweet Poetry is part of The Asian & Asian American Center's APIDA Heritage Month celebration.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Asian Studies, the Department of Linguistics, and the Department of Romance Studies.

If you are interested in reading or signing a poem at the event, complete the form at https://forms.gle/TwQkpVkg4BgU7wKP9 or reach out to LRC Engagement and Outreach Coordinator, Ashley Griffith by Friday, March 27.