KHOJA STUDIES CONFERENCE III Florida International University 4-5 May 2023 Sindh and the making of communities in South Asia and the Indian Ocean: between myth and reality
Hotel: Staybridge Suites Miami International Airport, 3651 NW 25th Street Miami, FL 33142 United States
Conference venue: Florida International University, Frost Museum, 10975 SW 17th Street, Miami, FL 33199
Thursday, 4 May 2023
8:00 Pick up from the hotel
9:00 to 9:30 Welcome and registration
9:30 to 10:00 Introduction (by Hasnain Walji)
10:00 to 10:45 (Panel introduction by Iqbal Akhtar, Chair: Kumail Rajani)
10:00 to 10:15
Tacit Knowledge and Entrepreneurship: Oral Histories of the Artisans of Kachchh, presenter: Chhaya Goswami (Somaiya Vidyavihar University)
10:15 to 10:30
Disconnection and Connection: Merging Identities and Histories and Belonging in Thar Desert, presenter: Vikram Ghamwani (Heidelberg University) – online 10:30 to 10:45 Diffusion of Rosewater, Religion, and Culture from Persia to Western India: Tracing the Cultural History of Ismaili Khoja Traders in the Seventeenth Century, presenter: Erum Hadi (St. John’s University)
10:45 to 11:30 Q & A
11:30 to 13:00 Lunch at Faculty Club
13:00-14:00 Panel discussion
Topic: Trade in Indian Ocean and Entrepreneurship
Panellists: Chhaya Goswami, Hasnain Walji, Iqbal Akhtar and Iqbal Dewji
Questions:
1. In the context of early 19th-century trade in the Indian Ocean, how did Indian merchants and traders adapt to the evolving economic landscape and how did their trading activities contribute to the development and growth of the region at that time?
2. What factors contributed to the omission or underrepresentation of the significant role played by Indian traders in the historical narratives of East Africa, and how can a more comprehensive understanding of their contributions help in reevaluating the historical narrative and fostering a deeper appreciation of their trials, tribulations and triumphs?
14:00 to 14:30 Tea/Coffee
14:30 to 15:15 Breakout session (4 groups)
15:15 to 16:00 Concluding ideas and roundup for the day
16:00 to 17:30 Visiting Frost Museum
17:30 Pickup from the conference venue and moving towards dinner 18:30 Dinner at Maroosh (223 Valencia Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33134, United States)
Friday, 5 May 2023
8:00 Pick up from the hotel
9:00 to 10:00 (Panel introduction by Michael Boivin; Chair: Matthew Cook)
9:00 to 9:15
Why are Sindhis Called Multanis in Calicut?, presenter: Anjali Roy (IIT Kharagpur)
9:15 to 9:30
Sindh without Sindhu: The Making of a Place and its People, presenter: Trisha Lalchandani (CEIAS-EHESS) – online
9:30 to 9:45
Making of Sami Community in Sindh, presenter: Sindhri Saba (CEIAS-EHESS) – online
9:45 to 10:00
The Sindhi Meghwars at Crossroads: Identity versus Alterity, presenter: Mohan DevRaj Thontya (independent scholar)
10:00 to 10:30 Tea/coffee
10:30 to 11:30 Q & A
11:30 to 13:00 Lunch at Faculty Club
13:00 to 14:00 Panel discussion
Topic: Situating Khoja Studies within the study of Social Sciences
Panellists: Michael Boivin, Shiraz Hajiani, Samira Sheikh, Liyakat Takim
Questions: 1. Where does Khoja Studies fit in within larger disciplines, such as Islamic Studies and ethnographic research? 2. How do we generate greater academic and community interest in the work to make it more sustainable as a project moving forward?
14:00 to 15:00 Breakout session (4 groups)
15:00 to 15:30 Afternoon tea
15:30 to 17:00 Concluding plan for publication, public engagement and future projects
17:00 to 18:00 Networking
18:00 to 20:00 Pickup from the conference venue and moving towards Buddhist Temple followed by Vietnamese dinner at Phuoc Hue Vietnamese Buddhist Temple (16195 SW 184th St, Miami, FL 33187, United States)
End of the conference
Tag Archives: Conference
Call for papers: “Sindh through the centuries”, December 2013
Second International Seminar on
“Sindh through the centuries”
Karachi, December 2013
“Sindh Madressatul Islam University is organizing Second International Seminar on “Sindh Through the Centuries” at Karachi in December 2013. The seminar will focus on history, culture, language, archeology, anthropology, cuisine, arts and crafts of Sindh, which has the distinction of being the seat of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. Continue reading Call for papers: “Sindh through the centuries”, December 2013
International conference: Exploring modern South Asian history with visual research methods
Call for papers
‘Exploring modern South Asian history with visual research methods: theories and practices’ Conference
University of Cambridge, 15 – 16 March 2013
CFP deadline: 31 December 2012
Conveners: Dr Annamaria Motrescu (University of Cambridge) and Prof. Marcus Banks (University of Oxford)
Full details at http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/2066/ Continue reading International conference: Exploring modern South Asian history with visual research methods
Call for papers: 12th EASA Biennial Conference, Nanterre, France
Nanterre, France 10-13th July 2012
Uncertainty and disquiet
The European Association of Social Anthropologists is holding its biennial conference next year in Nanterre, Paris. The Call for Paper is now open. It will close soon on November 28th but you can still propose a paper here.
Continue reading Call for papers: 12th EASA Biennial Conference, Nanterre, France
International conference, 23-24 September 2010, CEIAS-EHESS
International conference
Shrines, Pilgrimages and Wanderers in Muslim South Asia
Venue: CEIAS, EHESS, 54 Boulevard Raspail, 75006, Paris
Convenors: Michel Boivin & Rémy Delage
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Thursday, 23 September 2010
9h-9h30: Welcoming of the participants
9h30-10h: Welcome address by Blandine Ripert, Director of CEIAS, EHESS-CNRS, and introduction by Michel Boivin (CNRS-CEIAS-MIFS) and Rémy Delage (CNRS-CEIAS-CSH-MIFS)
Session 1: Figures of wandering ascetics through history
During the first session, three contributors propose to analyze how the qalandari figure has been formed over time, using a large corpus of vernacular written sources mainly in Persian language, and how this movement relates to other mystical branches of South Asian Islam.
Chair: Catherine Servan Schreiber (CNRS-CEIAS)
10h-10h20: Alexandre Papas (CNRS-CETOBA), Vagrancy and pilgrimage according to the Sufi Qalandari path
10h20-10h40: Michel Boivin (CNRS-CEIAS-MIFS), Qalandar-s and Qalandarî-s: Antinomianism as a changing concept in the Indus Valley
10h40-11h: Discussion and debate
11h-11h30: Coffee break
11h30-11h50: Mojan Membrado (INALCO), Is there a connection between the Qalandars and the Ahl-e Haqq order?
11h50-12h30: Discussion and debate
Session 2: The saints’ charisma and conflicting representations of sainthood
The four papers reflect the multiple meanings of rituals that are performed in and around Sufi shrines, and which ultimately reflect the continuing success of these pilgrimages. The tension between the expression of emotions and the involvement of institutions in mediating that expression is measured in different ways.
Chair: Françoise ‘Nalini’ Delvoye (EPHE)
14h-14h20: Delphine Ortis (EHESS-MIFS), How discourses construct figures of ‘normalised holiness’
14h20-14h40: Omar Kasmani (Free University of Berlin-MIFS), Rearranging Gender: The question of spiritual authority amongst two women intercessors of Sehwan Sharif
14h40-15h: Discussion and debate
15h-15h30: Tea break
15h30-15h50: Mikko Viitamäki (University of Helsinki & Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris), Entertaining and ecstatic. Poetics and emotions in musical gatherings of a Sufi shrine
15h50-16h10: Ute Falasch (Humboldt University, Berlin), Managing a shrine inhabited by a living saint- the dargâh of “Zinda” Shâh Madâr
16h10-16h30: Discussion and debate
18h: Cocktail and exhibition
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Friday, 24 September 2010
Session 3: Pilgrimages, the city and the making of ritual spaces
The question is here about how localities, towns or cities have been structured over time by the ritual activity generated by pilgrimages but also by various actors or social groups competing for exerting social power and religious authority locally.
Chair: Thierry Zarcone (CNRS-GSRL)
9h30-9h50: Rémy Delage (CNRS-CSH-MIFS), A sociological reading of ritual processions: the case study of Sehwan Sharif in Central Sindh (Pakistan)
9h50-10h10: Yves Ubelmann (DAFA-MIFS), The shrine of La`l Shahbâz Qalandar and its urban surrounding: politics, urbanism and religion
10h10-10h30: Discussion and debate
10h30-11h: Coffee break
11h-11h20: Muhammad Mubeen (CEIAS-EHESS), The shrine and the Chishtis of Pakpattan (Pakistan): A historical analysis
11h20-12h: Jürgen Schaflechner (SAI, Heidelberg University), Moving through meaning: The pilgrimage of Hing Laj Devi in Pakistan, followed by the screening of a 17mn documentary film “Agneyatirtha Hinglaj”
12h-12h30: Discussion and debate
Session 4: Pilgrimage politics and Sufi shrines policies
Pilgrimages can be envisaged as “places” of politics in that they articulate on the one hand social and ritual activity, and on the other, competing discourses, secular and religious, tinged with different ideologies, and matrix of issues of power and domination.
Chair: Alka Patel (University of California, Irvine)
14h-14h20: Kashif Sherwani (CEIAS-EHESS), Maududi on Shrines and Sufism or the building of a new Islamic orthodoxy
14h20-14h40: Alix Philippon (University of Provence), An ambiguous and contentious politicization of Sufi shrines and pilgrimages in Pakistan
14h40-15h: Discussion and debate
15h-15h30: Tea break
15h30-15h50: Mauro Valdinoci (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy), Dead saints or living souls? Contested pilgrimages to Sufi shrines in Hyderabad (India)
15h50-16h10: Uzma Rehman (University of Copenhaguen), Spiritual power and ‘Threshold’ identities: the mazars of Saiyid Pir Waris Shah and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai
16h10-16h30: Discussion and debate
Keynote address
16h30-17h: Pnina Werbner (Keele University, UK), Transnationalism and regional cults: the dialectics of Sufism in the plurivocal Muslim world