Michaelmas Term 2022

FACT & FICTION

NARRATING DEMOCRACY: Peoples & Futures of Myanmar

A panel discussion on the futures of democracy in Myanmar, focused on the recently published 'Narrating Democracy in Myanmar: The Struggle between Activists, Democratic Leaders and Aid Workers' (2021).

Date/Time: Wednesday, 23 November 2022, 3.30pm UK | 10pm Myanmar

Panelists: Richard Roewer (@RoewerRichard)has worked on Myanmar for several years, and is currently Chairman, Initiative Austausch e.V. (Exchange Initiative), a registered, independent, non-profit organisation focusing on political education in Myanmar. He is also reading for his DPhil in politics at St Antony's College, Oxford; Dr Ashley South is an independent author & researcher, and Research Fellow at Chiang Mai University. His research interests are in ethnic conflict, self-determination struggles and peace processes in Myanmar & Mindanao amongst others, and is author, most recently, of 'A New Look at Federalism in Myanmar' (2022); Minn Tent Bo (@tent_bo) is an independent analyst working on human rights and democracy in Myanmar. He has over 15 years of experience working on Myanmar and Southeast Asia for international organisations and embassies; his research interests include majoritarian nationalism, gender-based violence, and legal frameworks; Dr Tamas Wells (@TamasWells) is Research Coordinator at the University of Melbourne, and author of Narrating Democracy in Myanmar: The Struggle between Activists, Democratic Leaders and Aid Workers (2021).

Discussant: Dr Gerard McCarthy (@gerardtmccarthy) is currently Visiting Fellow at the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, and Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

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

This event is in collaboration with the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre.

Image: Enchax Creative, '"Nothing burns like the cold so keep raising your frozen fingers." The three-finger salute has become a symbol of resistance in protest and in art. Across the milk-tea nations, from Myanmar to Thailand to Hong Kong, the gesture represents global solidarity for democracy', Myanmar, 2021, Unsplash. 

This event was not recorded.

TRACES OF HISTORY: Fragmentary Archives & Narratives in South Asia

How do we write academic narratives when the archives are fragmentary, with traces connected by gaps? 

Date/Time: Thursday, 10 November 2022, 3.30pm UK

Speakers: Antoinette Burton is Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A historian of 19th-20th century Britain & Empire, she has used the archives of The Women's Library collection at LSE Library, and is editor of Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History (2005) amongst much else; Niraja Gopal Jayal is Avantha Chair Professor, King's College London, and Centennial Professor in Gender Studies at LSE. She is currently writing a biography of Hansa Mehta, for whom archival evidence is sparse especially for her time at the LSE; Dr Gillian Murphy (@_gillianmurphy) is Curator for Equality, Rights & Citizenship at LSE Library. She promotes The Women's Library collection & the Hall-Carpenter Archives; Daniel Payne (@politicscurator) is Curator for Politics and International Relations at LSE Library. In 2021, he curated 'Educate, Agitate, Organise: Ambedkar and LSE', an online exhibition based on documents in LSE Library.

Discussant: Shahid Amin retired as Professor in History, University of Delhi. He is the author, most recently, of Conquest and Community: The Afterlife of Warrior Saint Ghazi Miyan (2015).

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

This event is in collaboration with LSE Library.

Image: Catarina Carvalho, 'District Archives, Leiria', Portugal, 2018, Unsplash. 

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

PAKISTAN @ 75: LSE PAKISTAN SUMMIT 2022

A day-long, in-person, on-site celebration of the 75th anniversary of Pakistan's birth & independence. 

Date/Time: Saturday, 5 November 2022, 8.30 am onwards

Venue: B 3 Auditorium, Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Khyaban-e Jinnah, Phase 5 DHA, Lahore Cantonment, Lahore 54792 

Click here for the Campus Map, and look for the building marked 'A'. SDSB is the building behind the Mosque.

PROGRAMME

8.30 am: Registration

10.15 am: Inauguration & Opening Remarks by Professor Alnoor Bhimani (Director, LSE South Asia Centre), Mr Shahid Hussain (Rector, LUMS) & Dr Arshad Ahmad (Vice-Chancellor, LUMS)

Please click here to watch a recording of the Inauguration.

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10.45 am: DECOLONISING LAW FOR A MODERN PAKISTAN

Like many post-colonies, Pakistan's legal corpus is an inheritance from colonial times -- dated, out-of-sync with current needs, encoded in English. New laws since 1947 have catered to immediate concerns but the bulk of it remains from earlier times. This panel of legal experts will consider individual or collective laws from civil, criminal, commercial & regulatory laws, and discuss what 'decolonisation' of the legal corpus may look like, and mean in practice, for the modern Islamic republic of Pakistan. Or is a 'decolonisation' of laws not possible, or not worthwhile?     

SPEAKERS: Dr Amber Darr (@AmberMDarr) is Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and Lecturer in Competition Law at the University of Manchester; Sara Malkani (@saramalkani) is Advocate in the High Courts of Pakistan; Dame Maura McGowan is judge of the Supreme Court of England & Wales; Salman Akram Raja (@salmanAraja) is Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

DISCUSSANT: Justice Qazi Faez Isa is Justice in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.  

MODERATOR: Sheikh Raza Rahman (@razarahman) is an LSE Alumnus (LLM 1999), & Founding Partner, Lexium — Attorneys at Law, Lahore.

CHAIR: Professor Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is an LSE alumnus (PhD 1992), Director, LSE South Asia Centre & Professor of Management Accounting, LSE.  

Please click here to watch a recording of the discussion. 

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2.30 pm: CAN PAKISTAN BECOME SOUTH ASIA'S POWERHOUSE? 

Pakistan is among the world’s 25 largest economies, has the fifth biggest population, and is in the top ten largest workforces. It is a major exporter of textiles, leather goods, chemicals and surgical instruments, and ranks in the top five producers of sugar cane, seed cotton, and mangoes, among others. How does it improve its developmental capacity to deal with health, transportation, housing, sanitation, and water access issues?  This panel will discuss what turnaround measures exist for the country in the next decade, faced as it is with increasing national debt, rising unemployment and a rapidly growing population? Can Pakistan become South Asia’s powerhouse?

SPEAKERS: Dr Ali Cheema is a founding member of the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan, and Associate Professor of Economics, Lahore University of Management Sciences; Dr Mariam Chughtai (@MariamChughtai) is Director, National Curriculum Council of Pakistan, and Associate Dean & Assistant Professor, School of Education, Lahore University of Management Sciences;  Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) is an industrialist, and Founder of Descon; Dr Sania Nishtar (@SaniaNishtar) is Senator, an advocate of Global Health, and author of Choked Pipes: Reforming Pakistan's Mixed Health System (2010);  Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib (@DrAmjadsaqib1) is a social entrepreneur, and Founder & Chairman of Akhuwat Foundation.     

CHAIR: Professor Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is an LSE alumnus (PhD 1992), Director, LSE South Asia Centre & Professor of Management Accounting, LSE. 

Please click here to watch a recording of the discussion.

Conversations with global stalwarts who have made an enduring difference to society, whose actions have surpassed the odds, showing the world what the strength of conviction and the power of commitment can achieve. 

4.45 pm: A CONVERSATION ON NATION-BUILDING

Director Professor Alnoor Bhimani in conversation with Syed Babar Ali OBE

A one-to-one conversation with Syed Babar Ali on ethical leadership, business action that prioritises the nation's welfare, the role of citizens, civil society and the state in creating societal balance, and how diversity enables learning from others to achieve a more equal and prosperous citizenship. 

Please click here to watch a recording of this conversation. 

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This event is in collaboration with Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and will not be live-streamed. Please note that Registration for this event has now closed.

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The ‘Pakistan @ 75’ logo shows the national flower of Pakistan, Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) in a jharokha window framed in filigree design adapted from Islamic architecture. The logo, designed by Oroon Das, is copyrighted by the LSE South Asia Centre, and may not be used by anyone for any purpose.

LOOKING AHEAD IN SRI LANKA 

A Roundtable with economics, finance and banking experts on practical & workable steps for Sri Lanka to emerge out of its economic crisis.

Date/Time: Tuesday, 11 October 2022 | 4.30pm UK / 9pm Sri Lanka

Speakers: Dr Sharmini Coorey is a member of Sri Lanka's Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement & Debt Sustainability. Until 2021, she was Director, Institute for Capacity Development at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sharmini holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University; Ricardo Reis (@R2Rsquared) is Arthur Williams Phillips Professor of Economics at LSE, and an expert in international macroeconomics, monetary & financial economics & policy; he is also Director of the Centre For Macroeconomics at LSE. Ricardo was awarded his PhD from Harvard University, and was earlier faculty at Columbia University and Princeton University; Dr Ganeshan Wignaraja is Professorial Fellow in Economics & Trade at Gateway House, Mumbai, and Senior Research Associate at ODI Global, London.  Earlier, he was Director of Research at ADB Institute, Tokyo, and Executive Director of Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry think tank; Anushka Wijesinha (@anushwij) is an economist, and Co-Founder of 'Centre for a Smart Future', a public policy think tank based in Colombo. His recent work has spanned Pakistan, Iran, Myanmar & the Maldives. Previously, he was Advisor to the Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade in Colombo, and Chief Economist at The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Discussant: Nasser Munjee, an LSE alumnus, is an expert in banking & finance, Chairman of Tata Motor Finance Ltd (and Member of other Corporate Boards), and Chair of the Senior Advisory Board, LSE South Asia Centre.

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

Image: Drew Farwell, 'Scouting beaches via Tuk-Tuk in Sri Lanka', Ahangama, 2018, Unsplash.   

Please click here to watch a recording of the event.

THE FUTURE OF JIHADISM IN AFGHANISTAN

Online Roundtable to discuss the future of Jihadism in Afghanistan, and its various interrelated ramifications.

Date/Time: Thursday, 6 October 2022 | 3.30pm UK / 7pm Afghanistan

Speakers: Barak Mendelsohn (@BarakMendelsohn) is Professor of Political Science, Haverford College, USA. His research interests focus especially on the al-Qaeda Movement, and he is the author of Jihadism Constrained: The Limits of Transnational Jihadism and What it Means for Counterterrorism (2019); Dr Ashley Jackson (a_a_jackson) is Co-Founder & Co-Director of the Centre on Armed Groups, Research Associate at ODI Global, London & at the Conflict, Security & Development Research Group, King's College London. She has worked on Afghanistan for more than a decade, and has published extensively on the Taliban, including Negotiating Survival: Civilian-Insurgent Relations in Afghanistan (2022); Ali Mohammad Ali (@Ali_CRPA) is an independent consultant and researcher. From 2018 to 2021, he was Director General of Strategic Intelligence for the National Security Council of Afghanistan. He has expertise on radical Islamist groups like the Taliban, al-Qaeda in South Asia, ISIS-Khorasan, drug-trafficking and money-laundering networks, Afghanistan’s politics, economy and state, as well as Iran’s and Pakistan’s use of non-state actors in foreign policy.

Discussant: Dr Antonio Giustozzi (@AntonioGiustoz2) is Visiting Fellow at the LSE South Asia Centre, and an independent researcher & analyst with a special interest in conflicts, war, security & strategic issues in Afghanistan, and the region. He has published extensively on the subject, including most recently, The Taliban at War: 2001-2021 (2022).

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

Image: Zabihullah Habibi, 'Buddha of Bamiyan, the Beautiful City', 2021, Unsplash.  

Click here to watch a recording of the event. 

TOUGH TALK # 5

SHOULD COLONIAL OBJECTS IN MUSEUMS BE RETURNED?

Should objects/artefacts in museums across the world, acquired via colonisation of other countries, be returned to the countries of origin?

Date/Time: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 | 3.30pm UK time

Speakers: Dan Hicks (@profdanhicks) is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology (University of Oxford), Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford), and Fellow, St Cross College, University of Oxford. He is the author of The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution (2020); Dr Dolly Kikon (@DollyKikon) is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology & Development Studies, University of Melbourne, and is part of the Return, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) team to initiate the repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains from the Pitt Rivers Museum to the Naga ancestral homeland, discussed in 'The Unfinished Business of Colonialism: Naga Ancestral Remains and the Healing of the Land' (2022); Adewala Maja-Pearce (@majapearce) is a writer, journalist and literary critic. His review essay 'Strewn with Loot' (2021) engages with the complex question of cultural restitution; Kavita Singh is Professor in the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and co-editor of No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia (2015), amongst others.

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

Banner image: ‘Fists in the Air’, PikPng.

Click here to watch a recording of the event.