Events
Upcoming Events
All COSAS events are free and open to the public.
Event Archive
Chicago Tamil Forum 2021: Caste and Community in Modern Tamilagam
The Tamil-speaking worlds of South Asia and beyond are finely reticulated socially, organized by multiple invidious logics: of caste, religion, sect, class, language, and so on. In many ways, the history and culture of modern Tamilagam can be narrated through the...
Roundtable on Sri Lankan Poetry
Panelists: Vidyan Ravinthiran (Harvard University), Seni Seneviratne (Writer and Poet), Shash Trevett (Poet and Translator), Sascha Ebeling (University of Chicago), Srikanth Reddy (University of Chicago). This roundtable, featuring the editors of the first ever...
TAPSA: A premature antiquity: Bengali literary history and the periodization predicament, 19th century
Eduardo Acosta, PhD Candidate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations In 1871, the Bengali intellectual Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay wrote a scathing assessment of the poet Ishwar Chandra Gupta, who had been an influential and popular writer in Bengal. "He...
South Asia Seminar: Mr Gandhi, What have you done?
Tridip Suhrud, Provost, CEPT University, Ahmedabad The talk will explore the intellectual and political culture of modern Gujarat from 1915 to the end of the 20th century and explore issues around the waning of the influence of M K Gandhi and the emergence of a...
Understanding Sikhism: A Roundtable on Contemporary Sikh Studies
Moderated by Sunit Singh & Mayher Kaur Although Sikhs were some of the first South Asians to settle in the United States, the scholarly study of Sikhism has been late to arrive at the scene. Mark Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month in Illinois on April 23 by...
TAPSA: “How Can You Be Upset?!” — Māra as (Redeemably?) Affectively Defective
Adam Miller, PhD Candidate in the History of Religions, The University of Chicago Divinity School From his first appearance in the Precious Banner Sūtra, an important mid-first millennium Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, Māra finds himself on a decidedly unenjoyable...
South Asia Seminar: Contemporary Bengali Feminist Poetry: Reading Gita Chattopadhyay
Ballari Ray Chaudhuri, Assistant Professor, Department of Bengali, Gokhale Memorial Girl's College, Calcutta In this talk, I undertake a close reading of the Bengali poet Gita Chattopadhyay’s “Ghar Hoite Angina Bidesh” (From the House To The Courtyard, A Foreign...
TAPSA: These Anklets Are Not Shackles: Gender, Labor and the Cultural Regulation of Tamasha and Lavani
Sharvari Sastry, PhD Candidate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations and Theater and Performance Studies This talk draws on my ongoing dissertation research into the ethics and aesthetics of preserving intangible cultural heritage, particularly performance,...
Gandhi in Ahmedabad, Gandhi in the World
Patrick French, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University The formation of Mohandas Gandhi’s adult political ideas took place outside India, first in the United Kingdom, but primarily in the unusual structural social formation of South Africa. His...
Doing Research during the Pandemic, III: More Resources for South Asian Studies
Laura Ring, Librarian for Southern Asia & Anthropology, University of Chicago This workshop will provide an overview of the Library tools and resources available for online/remote research in South Asian studies, followed by Q & A with the South Asia...