Description:

In Afghanistan, poetry operates as a common idiom, appearing frequently in everyday speech by those who have and have not received formal education. In this talk, I explore the idea of a communal self that emerges through the composition of poetry in the service of jihad as seen in Afghan resistance literatures written during the 1980s war with the Soviets. This is evidenced partially through the publication of anonymized poetry and the obfuscation of the authorial voice. I argue that when poetry is composed on behalf of jihad, it is no longer written only by and for the self, but becomes part of a broader campaign, therein gesturing to something larger.

Biography

Seema Golestaneh is Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell. Her research, situated at the nexus of anthropology and religious studies, is focused on expressions of contemporary Islamic thought in the Persian-speaking world, with particularly interest in how metaphysical experiences make themselves known in the socio-material realm via aesthetics and epistemology. Her forthcoming book, Unknowing and the Everyday: Sufism and Knowledge in Iran, examines the social and material life of gnosis (ma’arifat) for disparate Sufi communities in Iran. Essentially an anthropology of the imagination, my work also relies heavily on textual ethnography and analysis, emphasizing the importance of hermeneutics within the Iranian socio-theological sphere. Prof. Golestenah is currently at work on a project tentatively entitled Utopia Lost?:Afghan Theories of Radical Poetics and Islamic Governance. Drawing largely from archival materials and oral histories, Utopia Lost investigates the dreams and aspirations of Afghan intellectuals in the late 1980s and 1990s for forms of government that did not come to pass.

In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, Mira is a successful student shouldering high expectations from her parents and her teachers. But as she wrestles with new desires and ample curiosity inspired by the handsome transfer student Sri, she finds herself at odds with the schoolÕs strict rules and her motherÕs incessant involvement in her new romance. As Mira strives to escape the watchful eyes of her teachers, mother and fellow students and find time alone with Sri, Mira approaches learning about love with the same dedication that she applies to her studies, resulting in sometimes comic and shocking conclusions.

A beautiful coming-of-age story directed by Shuchi Talati, the romance between the lead protagonists is also a sensitive exploration of female desire that observes how conservative cultures entrap women under strict expectations and norms.

Girls Will Be Girls screens as part of our "Worth a Watch" series. Courtesy of Juno Films.

Master calligrapher and contemporary artist Hakim Karimzada will discuss his work, on view in the exhibition "Herat and Me," in conversation with Dr. Seema Golestaneh, associate professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

Born in Afghanistan in 1972, Karimzada is known for bold and daring pieces that express his own experience of migration. For him, calligraphy celebrates his beloved hometown of Herat and through it he introduces the ancient culture and civilization of its people.

Dr. Golestaneh’s research is situated at the nexus of anthropology and religious studies. Her current project investigates the dreams and aspirations of Afghan intellectuals in the late 1980s and ’90s for forms of government and collectivity that did not come to pass.

Click here to join the webinar (pass code: 911500)

Support for this program was provided by the Stoikov Asian Art Lecture Fund.

From the beginning of the student-led quota reform movement on June 6th across the creation of an interim government upon the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5th, a lot has been happening in Bangladesh recently. This virtual panel brings together scholars in New York and activists in Bangladesh to help add personal texture and academic analysis to the headlines and provide an opportunity for questions and discussion. What has happened? What does this mean for Bangladesh and the region? What might come next?

Participants in this virtual roundtable organized by the Cornell-Syracuse South Asia Consortium include:

Farhana Sultana, Professor of Geography, Syracuse UniversityDina M. Siddiqi, Clinical Professor, Global Liberal Studies, New York UniversityMuhib Rahman, Postdoctoral Associate in Government, Cornell UniversityKazi Farzana Shoily, PhD Candidate in History, Syracuse UniversityTasnuva Helal Bidita, Student and Human Rights & Climate Activist, BangladeshAmmar Bin Asad, Student, Photographer, and Activist, Jagannath University, BangladeshModerated by Mona Bhan, Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies & Director, South Asia Center, Syracuse University

Photo by Rayhan Ahmed

The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies funds international graduate student research!

Research travel grants provide international travel support for graduate and professional students to conduct short-term research or fieldwork outside the United States.

Global PhD Research Awards fund fieldwork for 9 to 12 months of dissertation research.

Register for the virtual session.

Can’t attend? Contact einaudi_center@einaudi.cornell.edu.

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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Talk by Bhavani Raman (History, University of Toronto)

The laws that authorize modern state impunity, such as martial law, sedition, disturbed areas, and preventive detention, were first given statutory authority by a colonial corporation, the East India Company consolidating its conquest of India. Why was this the case and why has this history been forgotten by historians of law, colonialism, and South Asia? While the British East India Company's conquest of India through techniques of pacification, property rights, and culturally inflected governance are well-documented, it is less widely known that it was unable to successfully define treason through its entire existence. My paper recounts this history, focusing in particular on the Company criminal legal system which was predicated on Islamic legal principles. Islamic legal practitioners in these courtrooms challenged the Company’s desire to punish treason with death, thereby challenging the colonial regime's claims to sovereignty and plunging it into periodic crises. The Company responded by installing the statutory foundations of emergency and state security. Yet its inability to sufficiently define treason has left us a prism of legal debate and an unfinished state authority through which to understand the present and the past of the relationship between right to rebellion and racialized state violence.

Talk by Kaveh Yazdani (History, University of Connecticut)

How, when, and why did the Parsis of Gujarat become among the foremost brokers and entrepreneurs in 18th -and 19th-century India? What are the different phases of their ascendancy and success, especially concerning their socio-economic activities in Gujarat? In order to shed light on these questions, first, I briefly touch upon the early history of Zoroastrians in Gujarat, including their socio-economic activities between the 10th and 17th centuries. Then, I shortly examine some of the devastating effects of the famine of 1630-31. The main focus, however, is on the socio-economic rise of the Parsis in Gujarat between the late 17th and 19th centuries, including some of the tensions that ensued from within and without their community. Lastly, I also discuss some of the negative views circulating about Parsis in the late 18th and early 19th centuries through the examples of Joseph Tieffenthaler (1710–1785) and Abu Taleb (1752–1806).