Monday, October 30, 2017

Conference: Religious Freedom in South Asia

On 8 January 2018, a conference on religious freedom in South Asia will follow the American Historical Association's annual meeting in Washington, DC. Papers from the conference will be published in a special issue of the journal, Asian Affairs, and conference proceedings will be live-streamed (as is the case with all Wilson Center events). Please contact Neeti Nair with any questions: Neeti.Nair@wilsoncenter.org

Here is the program:

Ghosts from the Past? Assessing Recent Developments in Religious Freedom in South Asia, 8 January 20185th floor Conference Room, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC

10 am - Opening remarks - Bijan Omrani, editor Asian Affairs

10:30 am - 12:30 pm: Panel 1 - Constitutional Considerations

Mridu Rai, Presidency University Kolkata
The Indian Constitution and the Making of Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims

Farahnaz Ispahani, Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center
Constitutional Issues and the Treatment of Pakistan's Religious Minorities

Dina Siddiqi, Columbia University I BRAC University, Bangladesh
Destabilizing Secularism: Constituent Assembly Debates and the Making of National Others in Bangladesh

Christina Fink, George Washington University
Myanmar: Religious Minorities and Constitutional Questions

Moderator -Neeti Nair, University of Virginia and Woodrow Wilson Center 
12:30 pm - 2 pm - Lunch

2 pm - 4 pm: Panel 2 - Contemporary Challenges

Cassie Adcock, Washington University, St Louis
Cow Protection and Minority Rights in India: Reassessing Religious Freedom

Neil DeVotta, Wake Forest University
Religious Freedom in Post-Civil War Sri Lanka

Raza Rumi, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs
Religious Freedom in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects

Ali Riaz, Illinois State University
More than Meets the Eye: The Narratives of Secularism and Islam in Bangladesh 
Moderator - Michael Kugelman, Woodrow Wilson Center
Further information is available here.


This conference is cosponsored by the Royal Societfor Asian Affairs & Taylor & Francis