Eastern Indian Ocean circulations: people, politics, cultures, representations, trade – and tensions, a full day workshop at UTS on Friday, May 24.

About the workshop:
This workshop focuses on circulations and communication around the eastern Indian Ocean from the mid 20th century to the present. Much of the ‘Indian Ocean’ literature actually concentrates on the western areas – Africa and Western Peninsula India – rather than considering the Oceans eastern shores which cover many different countries. Yet in those eastern areas, it is usually regions which are studied alone: South Asia or Southeast Asia or Melanesia – while Australia is not considered at all, or lumped into the Pacific arena.
In this workshop we are instead asking participants to consider the connections between the various places around the eastern rim of the Indian Ocean – whether those connections be through the movement of people, of ideas including the representations of peoples or genders or histories, of trade goods,  of living environments and of politics – but also through conflicts and tensions. In all cases, the connections have flowed in many directions which changed over time.  Participants will be discussing the links – backwards and forwards – between India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore and the Straits, Thailand, Indonesia, Timor L’este, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Details:

When: Friday May 24 2013

Where: Room 201, Level 14, Building 10 (235 Jones Street), University of Technology, Sydney

RSVPs: http://easternindianocean.eventbrite.com.au or email jemima.mowbray@uts.edu.au for more information.

Download the workshop flyer here.

ISOARN is pleased to announce that Professor Ujjwal Kumar Singh (Department of Political Science, University of Delhi) is the first incumbent of the Rajiv Gandhi Visiting Chair for Contemporary Indian Studies at UTS. The chair, a collaborative venture between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the University of Technology Sydney,  was announced in 2011 during the visit to UTS of Dr Abdul Kalam, former President of India.

Professor Singh specialises in the areas of laws and institutions, electoral governance, democratic and human rights and indigenous rights. He is the author of The State, Democracy and Anti-Terror Laws in India (2007, Sage, New Delhi) and Political Prisoners in India (1998, 2001, Oxford University Press)

Professor Singh will be at UTS for four months and leaves on the 20th June. He will be engaged with students in the undergraduate subjects ‘Global Politics’ and ‘Ideologies, Beliefs, Visions’. Professor Singh will also be available for consultations with postgraduate students.

He will be presenting seminars at various universities and for the Indian Ocean and South Asia Research Network at UTS .The title of his talk at UTS is ‘Cat and Mouse Games: Hunger Strikes and Political Prisonerhood’ and it will take place in late April. Please contact Cornelia Betzler on ph 02 9514 2768, email cornelia.betzler@uts.edu.au or Associate Professor Devleena Ghosh on ph 02 9514 1963, email devleena.ghosh@uts.edu.au for details.

Professor Singh’s visit to UTS will help to increase Australia’s understanding of India’s economy, culture and politics and the complexities of the bilateral relationships between India and Australia in its political, economic and cultural aspects. His enhanced knowledge of Australia’s diverse, dynamic and multicultural society will also add to the connections between the two countries.

Financial Review Australia publishes article about Visiting Professor Ujjwal Singh: http://readnow.mediamonitors.com.au/Temp/39602/139212726.pdf

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and UTS will establish the Rajiv Gandhi Visiting Chair of Contemporary Indian Studies, ICCR’s first chair in Australia. Read more.