Past Events
November 2, 2019
Patterns of Political Violence: 35 Years Since 1984
This event features two filmmakers to screen and discuss their films, as well as one scholar and two journalists whose work addresses the violence in 1984 and other parallel incidents in post-colonial India, for a day-long event. Teenaa Kaur's film, "1984 - When the Sun Didn’t Rise,"…
October 30, 2019
The Anthropocenic Moment: Modernity Narratives in Early China
This talk explores the parallels between the historical vision of the Huainanzi (139 BCE) and contemporary debates over the “Anthropocene,” the claim that the world has entered a new geological epoch defined by anthropogenic influence. It argues that those parallels not only point…
October 24, 2019
Right to the City: Hong Kong as an Example
Free and open to the public Registration required. In this talk, Prof. Laikwan Pang will discuss the global meanings of Hong Kong’s democratic project. Inspired by David Harvey’s call for the right to the city, she will explore how Hong Kong has been both a polis and a…
October 22, 2019
WILDE LOVE: a literary reading from Rolling the R's and The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart
The leading transpacific writer and poet R. Zamora Linmark would provide two events at UBC focusing on the lived histories of empire in The Philippines and Hawai’i. First, he would give a large public talk about the genesis for his two novels, the groundbreaking Rolling the R’s,…
October 17, 2019
Disputed Pasts, Violent Present: Examining Anti-Muslim Discourses in Contemporary India
Since the 2014 formation of the central government by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, violence against minorities has increased significantly. Of particular note is the violence against Indian Muslims, the largest religious minority in India. Databases compiled by different civil…
October 16, 2019
Singing Nanak: Anahata Sabd (The Unstruck Melody)
In honor of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak In this special concert, in the intimate setting of Green College's Coach House, Chaar Yaar weave a musical journey through the sacred texts of the first Sikh Master, Guru Nanak Dev, celebrating the cosmic and the worldly, the transient and…
October 11 - October 12, 2019
Lineages of the Present in Early Modern South Asia
This workshop was convened as part of the “Interdisciplinary Histories” research cluster that was established at UBC this year to foster an “ethical engagement with the multiple temporalities and modalities of historical research, seeking to resist the simple merging of the…
October 11, 2019
Imagining Time in India: Persian Chroniclers and their Interpreters
India was the scene for the production of a vast, internally diverse chronicle literature in Persian during the period 1500-1900 CE. During the nineteenth century, European scholars (such as the famous Elliot and Dowson) made selective use of this material to create the modern understanding of…
October 10, 2019
Poetry in Ruins: Memory and History in the Work of Tony Harrison
Time and place and the relationship between the two have always been prominent themes in the work of British Poet Tony Harrison (b. 1937). This paper will explore the shift that occurs in his work, beginning with his poem ‘v.’ which represents a transitional moment in his career…
October 6, 2019
"Reason": Documentary screening and discussion with the filmmaker Anand Patwardhan
Documentary Screening and Q&A with the filmmaker "Reason: The War between Faith and Rationality" an 8-part, award-winning documentary by filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. The filmmaker will lead a Q&A after the screening. This event is open to the public. Light refreshments offered. …