Autumn Term 2024

FACT & FICTION

SRI LANKA: Elections & Political Change

Wednesday | 30 October 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 8.30pm Sri Lanka

A panel discussion focused on Catch-All Parties and Party-Voter Nexus in Sri Lanka (2022) on elections and change in Sri Lanka, including the recent Presidential elections that brought a non-'dynasty' political party to power, and the forthcoming parliamentary elections in mid-November.

SPEAKERS: Farzana Haniffa (@FaraFarout) is Professor of Sociology, University of Colombo, and Member, Human Rights Commission, Sri Lanka; Dr Pradeep Peiris (@pnpeiris) is Senior Lecturer in Political Science & Public Policy, University of Colombo, and author of Catch-All Parties and Party-Voter Nexus in Sri Lanka (2022); S. I. Keethaponcalan (@SKeethaponcalan) is Professor of Dispute Analysis & Conflict Resolution, Salisbury University, Maryland, USA, and author of Electoral Politics in Sri Lanka: Presidential Elections, Manipulation and Democracy (2022).

DISCUSSANT: Dr Alan Keenan (@akeenan23) is Senior Consultant for Sri Lanka, International Crisis Group, London, where he coordinates & contributes to research, advocacy & publications on Sri Lanka.

CO-CHAIRS: Naufel Vilcassim is Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE) & Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management, LSE; Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE).

This event is part of our 'Fact & Fiction' series.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

AFGHANISTAN: Life with Taliban Laws

Wednesday | 23 October 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 6.30pm Afghanistan

As the Taliban announces new sets of laws further curbing girls'/women's rights, what are things really like on the ground, how do we all engage with them, and what does the future look like now?

SPEAKERS: Kathy Gannon (@Kathygannon) was News Director of Associated Press for Pakistan & Afghanistan for more than 3 decades, was most recently Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, and is author of I is for Infidel: From Holy War to Holy Terror -- 18 Years Inside Afghanistan (2006); Parasto Hakim (@Parasto_Hakim) is founder of SRAK Afghanistan (an educational charity working in Afghanistan), and an education rights activist fighting the Taliban ban on girls'/women's education currently living in Europe; Ali M. Latifi (@alibomaye) is a journalist based in Kabul, and currently Asia Editor at The New Humanitarian; Saad Mohseni (@saadmohseni) is Director of MOBYgroup which produces & broadcasts TOLO News in Afghanistan, and author (with Jenna Krajeski) of Radio Free Afghanistan: A Twenty Year Struggle for an Independent Voice in Kabul (2024); Mahbouba Seraj (@SerajMahbouba) was until recently Director, Afghan Women Skills Development Center (@AWSDC1) and Founder & President, Organisation for Research in Peace & Solidarity -- and lives in Kabul.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE).

Image © Farid Ershad, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2022, Unsplash.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

FACT & FICTION

BANGLADESH: The Gender Paradox

Wednesday | 16 October 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 8pm Bangladesh

An online panel discussion on the recently published Renegotiating Patriarchy: Gender, Agency and the Bangladesh Paradox (2024), focusing on the country's remarkable pro-poor & gender-equitable social progress despite poverty, poor governance, patriarchy and rising Islamic conservatism.

NOTE: This book is Open Access from LSE Press; please click here to download.

SPEAKERS: Dr Sajeda Amin (@sajedaamin) is an independent researcher with research interests in gender, work, poverty & family in the developing world; until recently, she was Senior Associate for the Poverty, Gender & Youth Program at the Population Council, New York; Dr Urvashi Butalia is an author, founder of Zubaan Books (India's premier feminist publishing house), Reader at the College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi & Visiting Faculty at the Young India Program, Ashoka University, India; Naila Kabeer (@N_Kabeer) is Professor of Gender & Development at LSE, Faculty Associate at LSE International Inequalities Institute, and currently Richard von Weiszäcker Fellow at Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, and author of Renegotiating Patriarchy: Gender, Agency and the Bangladesh Paradox (2024); Dr Ayesha Khan (@ayeshanorakhan) is Senior Research Fellow in Gender Equality & Social Inclusion at the Overseas Development Institute in London, and is author of Women's Movement in Pakistan: Activism, Islam & Democracy (2018).

DISCUSSANT: Hilary Standing is Professor & Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, an expert on gender and equity of health systems and has studied and published extensively on Bangladesh.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE).

This event is part of our 'Fact & Fiction' series, and is in collaboration with LSE Press.

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

SOUTH ASIA: Paternalism & Public Healthcare

Wednesday | 9 October 2024 | ONLINE

3.30pm UK / 7.30pm Pakistan / 8pm India & Sri Lanka

An online panel discussion on prevalent forms of paternalism (especially vis-a-vis women patients) in medical practice/care in South Asia –- looking at its impact on doctor-patient communication, decision-making, exploitation (financial), cultural-patriarchal factors, and what may be a path forward towards a more patient-centred healthcare approach.

SPEAKERS: Dr Aisha Jalil (@DrAishaJalilH) was Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust Visiting Fellow at the LSE South Asia Centre in Jan-Apr 2024; a sociologist, her doctoral research & publications have focused on patient satisfaction in public clinics in Lahore. She is currently Deputy Director, International Strategies & Partnerships, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad; Indika Karunathilake (@IndikaMaheshKa1) is Professor & Head, Department of Medical Education, University of Colombo, and has worked extensively (in English and Sinhala) on public health practices in contemporary Sri Lanka; Deen Dayal Reddy is Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Ethics, a retired professional with over 4 decades of experience in clinical research (biopharma) and research ethics; he is currently affiliated with the Ethics Committee at St. Joseph Medical Center, Bellingham, WA, USA.

DISCUSSANT: Dr Rishita Nandagiri (@rishie_) is Lecturer in Global Health & Global Medicine at King's College London, and LSE 100 Fellow; her interdisciplinary research on abortion practices in India is underpinned by feminist & reproductive justice approaches, interrogating how power and politics manifest and are wielded at individual, interpersonal, community, and macro levels.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, LSE South Asia Centre (@SAsiaLSE).