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Symposium on "Sufism as a Mediating Force in South Asia",
Connecticut College, 13—14 October 2011
This symposium, convened by Frank Korom (Boston University) and Sufia Uddin (Connecticut College), was designed as a follow up to an earlier AISLS workshop held in Colombo in November 2010, where one of the themes was how Sufism mediates among other forms of Islam in Sri Lanka. It broadened the inquiry to cover all of South Asia. A report on the symposium is available.
Funding for the symposium was provided by the Council of Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) through a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, and by Connecticut College. CAORC is a not-for-profit consortium of twenty-two independent overseas research centers that promote advanced research in the humanities and social sciences. Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic foundation created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to do "real and permanent good in this world".
Graduate Student Workshop on "Sri Lanka: Remaking Society
The second Sri Lanka graduate student workshop, convened by Sharika Thiranagama, took place on 25--26 March 2011, at the New School, New York. The first day featured nine presentations by graduate students, divided among three thematically-focused panels: The first panel entitled "Remaking Society, Remaking Scholarship" explored new forms of sociality and civicness emerging after civil war and disaster. The second panel entitled "Schooling Aspirations" focused on educational outcomes and cultural expectations. The third panel "Common-Places" focused on new kinds of publics created through music , theater, and heritage tourism as well as their relation to Sri Lanka’s ethnic and class fractures. The next morning was devoted to a private and intensive pre-dissertation development seminar for seven students, who were mostly at the M.A. level. The afternoon featured a roundtable on Sri Lankan university life. Nirmala Rajasingam began the discussion with an account of her experiences as a lecturer at the University of Jaffna in the 1970s.
2011 Fellowship Awards
Melanie Dean (Religious Studies, Eckerd College), "The 'evil eye' belief across religions and ethnicities in urban Sri Lanka."
Dennis McGilvray (Anthropology, U. of Colorado--Boulder), "Matrilocal Households and Women's Property in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka."
Susan Reed (Anthropology, Bucknell University), "The Work of Performance: Disability, Identity, and Everyday Life in Sri Lanka."
Past Fellows
2011 Dissertation Planning Grant Award
Cenan Pirani, (History, University of California--Los Angeles), "Beginning Research on Portuguese Ceylon."
Past Awardees
Other News
2011 President's Report (pdf)
AISLS Workshops and Panels in the United States
AISLS Workshops in Sri Lanka
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