The Institute for South Asia Studies is proud to announce the 6th Bhattacharya Lectureship on the Future of India, a lecture series that asks leading thinkers—scholars, artists, activists, political, economic, and social leaders—to address the possibilities and challenges for India in the future. Our 6th lecture in this series will be delivered by renowned feminist scholar and a professor of political thought at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Nivedita Menon.
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Abstract:
The BJP returned to power in 2019 with the intention of completing its agenda for the establishment of Hindu Rashtra in India. High on the list of targets for cleansing and reshaping was the Bombay film industry (which the media refers to as Bollywood). In 2020, this project was galvanised by the death of a young actor Sushant Singh Rajput, as the tragedy was weaponised systematically to mount an all out attack on the industry and its stars. Since then, there have been several other developments, escalating the attack. I suggest we must see this interest in controlling “Bollywood” as part of the larger concerted move by Hindutva politics to control and purge spaces seen as either bearing a “left liberal” stamp (universities for example) or as reflecting a syncretic culture unamenable to Hindu-Muslim polarization (the Bombay film industry). The lecture will track some of the key moments in this battle for the soul of “Bollywood” and of its viewing public, and reflect on the degree of success the campaign has achieved.
About the Speaker
Nivedita Menon, Professor at Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, is the author of Seeing like a Feminist (2012). Her new book, Secularism as Misdirection: Critical Thought from the Global South is forthcoming in 2023 (Permanent Black) and 2024 (Duke University Press). Apart from research papers in Indian and international journals, her previous books are Recovering Subversion: Feminist Politics Beyond the Law (2004); and (co-written) Power and Contestation: India after 1989 (2007/2nd Edition 2014). She also has two edited volumes Gender and Politics in India (1999) and Sexualities (2007); and a co-edited book Critical Studies in Politics. Exploring Sites, Selves, Power (2014).
She is a regular commentator on contemporary issues on the collective blog kafila.online (of which she is one of the founders), and active in democratic politics in India.
She also has translated fiction and non-fiction from Hindi and Malayalam into English, and from Malayalam into Hindi, and received the AK Ramanujan Award for translation instituted by Katha.
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The Bhattacharya India Fund was established in Fall 2016 with a generous gift from Kimi and Shankar Bhattacharya, UC Berkeley alums and longtime supporters of Bangla Studies at Berkeley and of the ISAS. This new fund supports two critical programs, the annual Bhattacharya Lectureship on the Future of India, and the Bhattacharya Graduate Fellowship. The Lectureship asks leading thinkers—scholars, artists, activists, political, economic, and social leaders—to address the possibilities and challenges for India in the future. The competitive Fellowship enables us to support the best graduate student research in India by providing funding to UC Berkeley graduate students to undertake research travel to India (two awards of $1000 each) or domestic conference travel for presentations on topics related to contemporary India (four awards of $500 each).
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PARKING INFORMATION
Please note that parking is not always easily available in Berkeley. Take public transportation if possible or arrive early to secure your spot.
Event is FREE and OPEN to the public.
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If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Puneeta Kala at pkala@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.
