South Asia Program
Central Bank Digital Identity
Eswar Prasad, SAP
Eswar Prasad, senior professor of trade policy and professor of economics, told the British Parliament’s House of Lords Economic Affairs “Committee that the UK has an effective payments system and there is no strong consumer case for a British CBDC.” But he also noted that “one could still make the user case in terms of the CBDC catalyzing additional innovation”.
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"Why Do Buddhist Caves Feature Meditation Images?"
May 3, 2022
2:00 pm
Please join us for a talk by Eugene Wang (Harvard).
A Buddhist cave decorated with scenes of meditation at once makes perfect sense and no sense at all. It makes sense in view of the centrality of meditation in Buddhist imagination and practice. It makes no sense in that nowhere in Buddhist discourse do we ever find the instruction that meditation involves looking at wall paintings about meditation. Current scholarship is also polarized into camps of either affirmer and deniers. Affirmers regard meditation as the central function of decorated caves. Deniers see them as sites of mortuary function, having nothing to do with meditation. Meditation and memorial are thus seen as mutually exclusive. It will be shown that they are actually mutually dependent. Meditation is not the function of decorated Buddhist caves, but its narrative frame; memorial is essential to such caves, only that it often takes the narrative form of meditation.
The Cornell Buddhist Studies Seminar Series is co-sponsored by the GPSA-FC, the Departments of Anthropology, Asian Studies and Philosophy, by the South Asia Program, and by the Society for the Humanities. The Department of the History of Art and Visual Studies also generously co-sponsors Prof. Wang's talk. The talk is open to all members of the Cornell community; for accessibility queries please contact buddhiststudies@cornell.edu
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Program
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
South Asia Program
Two Indian Half-Sisters are the Talk of 'Bridgerton' -- and of Modern-day India, too
Durba Ghosh, PACS and SAP
“While it’s impossible to say how many, there would have been South Asian aristocrats in these circuits as well. There are cases of [Indian] women who have traveled to Britain with their partners and who are a part of society and who have raised their children,” says Durba Ghosh, professor of history.
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European Leaders Again Reject Russia's Demand That Gas Deliveries Be Paid in Rubles
Eswar Prasad, SAP
“Putin seems determined to show that he can dictate terms and force countries that are dependent on his country’s natural gas exports to sing to his tune,” says Eswar Prasad, professor of international trade policy. The piece syndicated to The Boston Globe.
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Deprovincializing the Dhamma: Internal Conversions, and the Micropolitical Management of ‘Harmony’ via Inter-Asian Buddhist Movements."
April 15, 2022
12:00 pm
Rockefeller Hall, 374
Please join us for a talk by Neena Mahadev (Yale-NUS).
The Cornell Buddhist Studies Seminar Series is co-sponsored by the GPSA-FC, the Departments of Anthropology, Asian Studies and Philosophy, by the South Asia Program, and by the Society for the Humanities. The talk is open to all members of the Cornell community; for accessibility queries please contact buddhiststudies@cornell.edu
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Program
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
South Asia Program
Media Studies Colloquium: Iftikhar Dadi
April 15, 2022
1:30 pm
Uris Library, 311
Please join us for the media studies colloquium on Friday, April 15, 1:30-3:00pm, in Uris Library 311. If you need remote access, please pre-register for the Zoom link here.
Iftikhar Dadi (History of Art and Visual Studies) will be discussing an exhibition and writing project on “Pop Art and South Asia: Aesthetics and Politics.” There is no pre-circulated material.
Please feel free to get in touch with the event organizer if you encounter any technical difficulties or have any questions about the event.
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
South Asia Program
Cryptocurrency Could Help Governments and Businesses Spy on Us
Eswar Prasad, SAP
Eswar Prasad, professor of international trade policy, writes this opinion piece about how governments and businesses could use cryptocurrency to spy on people.
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Program
"Bridgerton" Hasn’t Solved Its Diversity Problem
Durba Ghosh, SAP/PACS
“It was more common for men to return to England and settle down, leaving behind their children and the Indian women who’d given birth to them,” says Durba Ghosh, professor of history.
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Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee: Forging Lasting Peace
May 3, 2022
5:00 pm
Alice Statler Auditorium
Forging Lasting Peace: Movements for Justice in a Pluralist World (Bartels World Affairs Lecture)
In our ethnically, racially, linguistically, and religiously diverse world, how do we find common ground? Amid ongoing conflict and violence, how do we foster lasting peace? In our world full of inequalities, what practices of activism and solidarity lead to transformative change? Drawing on her experiences of mobilizing, demanding, and brokering peace, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee shares how action and activism can shape a just world.
A book signing and reception with refreshments will follow the lecture.
Lecture: 5:00–6:30 p.m. | Alice Statler AuditoriumBook signing and reception: 6:30–7:30 p.m. | Park AtriumFree ticket required for in-person attendance: Reserve your ticket. Join the lecture virtually by registering at eCornell.
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Learn more about our distinguished speaker by reading her book, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. Pick up your copy from The Cornell Store and bring it to the book signing! Buffalo Street Books will also have copies for sale at the event.
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How did Leymah Gbowee's protests lead to lasting peace? Read a Bartels explainer by Naminata Diabate.
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About Leymah Gbowee
Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, and women's rights advocate. She currently serves as executive director of the Women, Peace, and Security Program at Columbia University's Earth Institute and is the founder and current president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, founding head of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative, and cofounder and former executive director of the Women, Peace, and Security Network Africa. She is also a founding member and former Liberian coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding.
Host and Sponsors
The Bartels World Affairs Lecture is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Part of Einaudi's work on Inequalities, Identities, and Justice, this year's lecture is cosponsored by Einaudi's Institute for African Development and Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, in cooperation with Peace is Loud. To learn more about Peace is Loud and discover other empowering women peacebuilders, visit www.peaceisloud.org.
Bartels World Affairs Lecture
The Einaudi Center’s flagship event brings distinguished international figures to campus each academic year to speak on global topics and meet with Cornell faculty and students, particularly undergraduates. The lecture and related events are made possible by the generosity of Henry E. Bartels ’48 and Nancy Horton Bartels ’48.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
Institute for African Development
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
What Would Paying for Natural Gas in Rubles Mean?
Eswar Prasad, SAP
“Either Putin is getting terrible economic advice or he is going further off the rails in his hatred for the West,” says Eswar Prasad, professor of international trade policy. “It would be cheaper for foreign importers to pay for Russia’s exports in a currency that is collapsing in value, but it is difficult to acquire rubles and make payments in a manner that avoids the sanctions.”