"The Long 1980s" conference (New Delhi): registration open

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the American Institute of Indian Studies, we invite you to join us on December 21-22, 2012 in Delhi to discuss The Long 1980s: Recovering a 'Lost Decade.'

Book-ended by the dramatic historical markers of the Emergency on the one hand and economic liberalization and the Mandal and Masjid controversies on the other, the period that we consciously choose to delineate here as "the long 1980s" is typically dismissed as an era of economic stagnation and political authoritarianism. And yet, in many ways, the 1980s was a period of extraordinary importance. In areas as distinct as the visual arts, classical and popular music, cultural patronage, the writing of national histories, and print and audio-visual media, the 1980s was an era of consolidation and productive re-alignment. Furthermore, these years witnessed a critical deepening of scholarship in the interpretive sciences on these realms both in the Indian academy and around the world. Propelled by this realization, we seek to bring together scholars from across the humanities and social sciences to pursue three interlocking projects: (1) to identify what we are calling the long 1980s as a pivotal turning point in India's twentieth-century history; (2) to take stock of the scholarship on the areas we have identified as historically constitutive of that period; and (3) to connect studies of cultural production with those of political practice and political economy.

The first of three conferences, "The Long 1980s: Recovering a 'Lost Decade'" is being organized by Sumathi Ramaswamy of Duke University, Karin Zitzewitz of Michigan State University, Rebecca Brown at Johns Hopkins University and Arvind Rajagopal of New York University and will be held at the India International Centre in New Delhi December 21-22, 2012.

This conference is open to the public without charge, but registration is required. For more information and to register, please go to http://thelong1980s.wordpress.com/


In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the American Institute of Indian Studies will be hosting three two-day conferences that would provide an opportunity for U.S. based scholars to interact with scholars at the Indian institutions that provide research affiliations for AIIS fellows. These conferences will be funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. Faculty from AIIS member colleges and universities were invited to submit proposals for the conferences to be held at the AIIS centers in Gurgaon and New Delhi between December 2012 and January 2014. The purpose of the initiative is to showcase, in India, AIIS's deep commitment to India-focused research and to provide an opportunity for dialogue between U.S.-based and India-based scholars. By involving scholars at institutions with which AIIS fellows and faculty members affiliate, AIIS would like to acknowledge the important role of Indian institutions and scholars in hosting AIIS researchers, and to deepen and strengthen relationships between AIIS member institutions and affiliate Indian institutions.
The three conferences will be:
The Long 1980s: Recovering a 'Lost Decade' is being organized by Sumathi Ramaswamy of Duke University, Karin Zitzewitz of Michigan State University, Rebecca Brown at Johns Hopkins University and Arvind Rajagopal of New York University and will be held in December 2012.
Regions and Regionalism in India: Past Cases and Present Opportunities is being organized by Benjamin Cohen of the University of Utah and Sumit Ganguly of Indiana University and will be held in the summer of 2013.
Political Imaginaries: Rethinking India's Twentieth Century is being organized by Manu Goswami of New York University and Mrinalini Sinha of the University of Michigan and will be held in December 2013.