TOUGH TALK argues the questions that are all too real in South Asia but refuse to be discussed, and asks the answers.
TOUGH TALK # 6
DOES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENHANCE OR IMPEDE SPIRITUALITY?
Date/Time: Wednesday, 5 June 2024 | 3pm UK time
How do AI advances contribute to spiritual explorations and impact individuals’ relationships with God? Can and should AI systems affect divine experiences? Does AI limit or expand notions of the sacred and can it become a substitute for established ideals of human spirituality?
Speakers: is Associate Professor of South Asian Religions at the University of Missouri, and has published on South Asian religious texts, and on robots, mechanical beings & automatons in classical India; is Inayat & Ishrat Malik Assistant Professor and a Taft Center Fellow at the University of Cincinnati, and is currently researching on Artifical Intelligence & the ethical challenges of Information Technology; (@SuppMontgomerie) is Associate Professor in Religious Studies and Communication Studies at the University of Iowa, and has published on the entangled relationships of religion & infrastructure amidst technological change in everyday life.
Chair: Alnoor Bhimani (@AlnoorBhimani) is Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre, and Professor of Management Accounting at 杏吧论坛.
Please click to watch a recording of the video.
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TOUGH TALK # 5
SHOULD COLONIAL OBJECTS IN MUSEUMS BE RETURNED?
Date/Time: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 | 3.30pm UK time
Should objects/artefacts in museums across the world, acquired via colonisation of other countries, be returned to the countries of origin?
Speakers: (@profdanhicks) is (), at the (Oxford), and , , . He is the author of (2020); (@DollyKikon) is , , and is part of the Return, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) team to initiate the repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains from the to the Naga ancestral homeland, discussed in '' (2022); (@majapearce) is a writer, journalist and literary critic. His review essay '' (2021) engages with the complex question of cultural restitution; is Professor in the , , New Delhi, and co-editor of (2015), amongst others.
Chair: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar (@SAsia杏吧论坛) is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre.
Please click to watch a recording of the event.
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TOUGH TALK # 4
SHOULD WE APOLOGISE FOR THE PAST?
Date/Time: Thursday, 20 January 2022/3.30pm GMT
Across the world, our past has left disturbing, inhumane and cruel histories. Several nations have called for past perpetrators to acknowledge their atrocities and apologise. This 'Tough Talk' asks: should we apologise/ask for apologies for the past, or should we let the past be, and work towards a better future? Do apologies matter? Are they symbolic or are they genuinely meaningful?
Speakers: (@TomJBentley) is Lecturer in the Department of Politics & International Relations, University of Aberdeen, and is the author of (2016); Vanessa Holburn (@vanessaSH) is a journalist, and author of (2019); is Ludwig Börne Professor at Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, and has ; (@RasulRais) is Professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and author most recently of (2017); (@tareekhdaan) specialises in the history of modern South Asia, is Associate Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and is currently developing a digital archive of the 1971 war between Pakistan & Bangladesh; is Distinguished Professor in Politics & Government at Illinois State University, and has (Bangladesh's War of Liberation); is Senior Lecturer in South Asian History at Keele University, and has been closely involved with the demand from the British government to apologise for 1919 (Jallianwala Bagh) in India.
Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar (@SAsia杏吧论坛) is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre.
Please click to watch a recording of the event.
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TOUGH TALK # 3
DECOLONISING HISTORY: METHOD OR FACT?
Date/Time: Thursday, 7 October 2021/4.30pm BST
This 'Tough Talk' asks: is 'Decolonisation' a 'method'/'school' of historical interpretation, or is it what trained scholars have been doing all along -- examining, analysing & interpreting archives for newer and nuanced narratives that correct current wisdom?
Speakers: is Professor of History, (@Harvard_History), and author of the acclaimed (2005); (@PriyaSatia) is Raymond A Spruance Professor of International History, , and author of (2020); (@KimAtiWagner) is Professor of Global and Imperial History, , and author of (2020).
Discussant: is Emeritus Professor of History, (@WarwickHistory), and author of (2021).
Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).
Please click to watch a recording of the event.
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TOUGH TALK # 2
DOES LIBERALISM ALLOW POPULISM?
Date/Time: Wednesday, 20 January 2021/3.30pm GMT
As new types of political mobilisation and electoral success enable different forms of government across the world, TOUGH TALK asks: Does Liberalism allow Populism? Here, ‘allow’ is used in the strict sense of ‘’; and ‘Populism’ is used as a shorthand for various governments — in Brazil, Hungary, India, Philippines, Russia, Turkey, the US under Trump, to name a few — that have been referred to as ‘populist’, ‘majoritarian’, ‘strongman’, ‘identitarian’, ‘ultra-nationalist’, and so on.
Two recent books, both about India, set this tension in relief: argues for a ‘civilisational republic’, with a chapter titled ‘Saving Secularism from the Secularists’; and has sections on ‘The Idea of India’ and the ‘The Hindutva Idea of India’, ending with arguing for ‘Reclaiming India’s Soul’.
This discussion will examine the ideas implicit in these two books, and debate some crucial points relevant to India and the world: inasmuch as the true ethos of ‘Liberalism’ and its political culture is to support all views, has it inadvertently allowed ‘illiberal’ and ‘non-liberal’ groups to prosper in liberal political space, only for them to stifle that space once they come to power? Does Liberalism need to reconsider the space for dissent, the place of the individual, and the urges of majoritarian ultra-nationalism in a globalised world? And what about the charges brought against Liberalism — of excessive political correctness, minority exceptionalism, majoritarian discrimination, Cancel Culture, and most recently, the tyranny of merit, amongst others? Does Liberalism need to reclaim, or to redefine, itself? Or is the world living through a civilisational turn, and Liberalism as we have known it has had its time?
Panelists: (formerly Director, Centre for Political Ideologies & Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford); ' (@harshmadhusudan) and (@RMantri) are co-authors of ; (@aakashrathore) is Permanent Visiting Professor, LUISS University, Rome; (@HelenaRosenblat) is Professor, Graduate Center, City University of New York; and (@ShashiTharoor), is author of (2020; reprinted in the UK as (2021)).
Chair: Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre.
Please click to watch a recording of the event.
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TOUGH TALK # 1
ARE SOUTH ASIANS RACIST?
Date/Time: Wednesday, 30 September/3:00pm BST
Speakers: (Jasmine Morris) (@turbandexplorer) is a writer and young activist who advocates for multicultural inclusion within the Sikh community; is one of the organisers of the 'Don’t Call Me K Word' campaign, and a feminist advocate in Rangoon, Myanmar; is a Student Counselor at the University of Colombo, and has worked closely with Sri Lankan Africans for several years, including being a translator for the community at academic events; (@maliniranga) is Associate Professor, School of International Service, and is Interim Faculty Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center, American University, Washington D.C.; (@NgurangReena) is a first-generation researcher, writer and activist from Arunachal Pradesh in North-East India, and is currently a PhD scholar at the Centre for European Studies, JNU, New Delhi; (@iconcoclastary) is a Pashtun from Pakistan, until recently Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Ryerson University, Toronto. His profile on LinkedIn says that Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan guided him to have a sense of identity, and Walter Benjamin mentors him from his grave; (@beheroze) is Lecturer in Asian American Studies, University of California, Irvine, and her research focuses on the Sidi community in India.
Chair: is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre.
Please click to watch a recording of the event.
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Banner image: 'Fists in the Air', .