The Institute for South Asia Studies runs an extensive program of Urdu-related academic and cultural events throughout the year. Seminars, guest lectures, conferences, artistic performances, and the annual Mahomedali Habib Distinguished Lecture Series on Pakistan bring distinguished speakers and artists from around the world to campus. These events draw attention to the many histories and traditions that comprise and intersect with Urdu culture. They also nurture the spirit of cosmopolitanism that animates Urdu Studies at UC Berkeley.
Spring 2018
- Mahfil-e-Adab - Adl o Insaaf: An Evening of Urdu Literature | Mahfil-e-Adab - Adl o Insaaf Video
- Arthur Dudney | Testing the Limits of Comparatism: The Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns in Persian and Urdu Literary Culture
- Gregory Maxwell Bruce | Travels through Four Languages: Shibli's Great Journey
Fall 2017
Spring 2017
- Yeh Shaam Mastani: The 12th Annual Urdu Culture Show
- Katherine Schofield | The Place of Pleasure: Music in Mughal Thought and Society, 1593–1707 | Katherine SchofieldVideo
- Kirti Jain | Performing Partition: On Producing "Aur Kitne Tukde" (How Many Fragments?) | Kirti Jain Video
Fall 2016
- Christophe Jaffrelot | The Dargah Culture in Ajmer Sharif: An Antidote to Hindu-Muslim Conflicts?
Spring 2016
- Jawani Kay Rang: The 11th Annual Urdu Culture Show
- Timurid Sovereignty in pre-Mughal India - Video
Fall 2015
- Max Katz: Muslim Musicians and Music Reform
- Manto, A film by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat: A screening with Director present
Spring 2015
- Lehron ki Awaaz: The 10th Annual Urdu Culture Show
- Abd al-Jalil Bilgrami's Ode to a Troubled Marriage: On Poetry and Politics in the Late Mughal Empire
- Afghan National Public Health Institute Speaker
- Prospects For The Future Of Afghanistan
- U.S. Public Diplomacy and Cultural Heritage Preservation in Afghanistan
Fall 2014
- Urdu Cinema During the 1950s
- Circa 1190 - The Transformation of Geopolitics through Material Culture in North Indi
- Negotiating Community and Citizenship: Muslim Women's Activism in Contemporary Hyderabad
Spring 2014
- Zamanay Ke Andaz: The 9th Annual Urdu Culture Show
- Kala Pul (The Black Bridge): A film by Saqib Mausoof
- A Persianate Empire?: Sanskrit Literature and Literati at the Mughal court, 1560-1660
Fall 2013
- A Festival of Dastangoi at Berkeley - Video
- Underserved and Overdosed?: Muslims and the Pulse Polio Initiative in rural north India
Spring 2013
- Feisal Alkazi's, "Noor - Empress of the Mughals"
- William Dalrymple reads from, "Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42"
- On Becoming a Monument: Landscaping, Views, and Tourists at Delhi’s Qutb Complex
- Jashn-e-Bahara: The 8th Annual Urdu Culture Show
- The 'Ulamâ' and Science: Some Engagements in 19th Century India
Fall 2012
- The Shifting Landscapes of Mughal Poetry and Painting in the Early Eighteenth-Century
- Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504-1719: Munis Faruqui discusses his latest book
- Manto and his Peers: Celebrating the Manto Centenary
- Dastangoi: The Lost Art of Story-telling in Urdu - Video
Spring 2012
- Sitaron Se Aage: The 7th Annual Urdu Culture Show
- 40 Years of Camp Life: Bangladesh’s ‘Bihari’ Camps
- Typologies of Portraiture: A Case Study from Mughal South Asia
Fall 2011
- Celebrating Faiz Ahmed Faiz - Video
- The Last Mughal