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South-South II: Materiality and Embodiment in Greater Asia and Africa

South-South II: Materiality and Embodiment in Greater Asia and Africa
October 27-28, 2017
Location: International Affairs Building
Room 918, 420 West 118th Street
Columbia University, New York

Open to the Public

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Keynote Speakers: Projit Mukharji (Associate Professor of History & Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania) and Nina Sylvanus (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Northeastern University)

Graduate Student Organizers: Sohini Chattopadhyay (History), Olivia Clemens (Art History), Joslyn DeVinney (History), Nick Tackes (Religion), Dongxin Zou (East Asian Languages & Cultures), Thomas Zuber (History)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27
Location: IAB 918

4:30 – 4:45: Welcome – Manan Ahmed (History, Columbia University) and Joslyn DeVinney

4:45 – 6:15: Technopolitics of Materiality

Chair: Nadia Abu El-Haj (Anthropology, Columbia University)
Moderator: Sohini Chattopadhyay

  • Mehak Sawhney (The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi), “(Un)threading the Sensory: Materialities of the Technological among the Visually Impaired in India.”
  • Nimrod Ben Zeev (History, University of Pennsylvania), “Bare Hands: The Political Economy of Pain in Palestine/Israel’s Construction Industry after 1948.”
  • Sukhalata Sen (History, Jawaharlal Nehru University), “A Note to Fake: Counterfeit Indian Rupee in British Raj.”

6:30-7:00: Keynote Address: “When Patterns Speak: A History of Dense Materiality in West Africa”
Nina Sylvanus (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Northeastern University)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28
Location: IAB 918

9:00-9:30: Breakfast/Coffee

9:30-10:00: Keynote Address: “Non-Aligned Selves: Reincarnating Cold War Science”
Projit Bihari Mukharji (Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania)

10:15 – 11:45: Materialities of Medicine and Care

Chair: Kavita Sivaramakrishnan (Mailman School of Public Health / History, Columbia University)
Moderator: Dongxin Zou

  • Joeeta Pal (History, Jawaharlal Nehru University), “Embodiment in Death: Competing variables in viewing the Corpse.”
  • Saki Tanada (Anthropology, Kanazawa University), “In the Midst of Mythos and Medicine: Clothing the Cares of Pregnancy and Childbirth on Lombok Island.”
  • Shireen Hamza (History of Science, Harvard University), “Decocting Chūp Chīnī: China Root in Unani Medicine.”

11:45 – 2:00: Lunch

 2:00 – 3:30: Borders and Circulations

Chair: Avinoam Shalem (Art History, Columbia University)
Moderator: Olivia Clemens

  • Gregory Williams (Islamic Studies/History, University of Bonn), “Materiality at the Border: Between Islamic Egypt and Christian Nubia.”
  • Jenny Peruski (Art History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), “Fancy Footwork: Layered Meanings of ‘Clog’ Sandals on the Swahili Coast.”
  • Rie Ong (Art History/Archaeology, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU), “ When Temasek meets China: Trade and Consumer Culture in 14th to 16th Century Singapore.”

3:30 – 3:45: Coffee Break

3:45 – 5:15: Representations & Materialities

Chair: Zoë Crossland (Anthropology, Columbia University)
Moderator: Thomas Zuber

  • Nur Syafiqah Binti Ahmad J (History, National University of Singapore), “Material Narratives: Articulating History Without Words.”
  • Mannat Johal (Anthropology, University of Chicago), “Ceramics in the archive, ceramics as archive: Thinking with pots and their fragments in ‘medieval’ India.”
  • Dana L. Liljegren (Art History, City University of New York), “Objets Vivants: The New Materiality of Récupération in Dakar.”

5:30: Public Reception

Thanks to our sponsors:

Center for International History
Department of History
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
South Asia Institute
Center for Science and Society
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
ISERP
Department of Art History & Archaeology 
Dean of Social Sciences

Thanks to our faculty and administrative supporters:

Professor Nadia Abu El-Haj (Anthropology, Columbia University)
Professor Manan Ahmed (History, Columbia University)
Dean Carlos Alonso (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
Harold Ansah (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
Faith Batidzirai (Art History)
William Carrick (South Asia Institute)
Professor Michael Cole (Art History)
Professor Zoë Crossland (Anthropology, Columbia University)
Professor Marwa Elshakry (History, Columbia University)
Darwin Eng (The Center for Science and Society)
Athina Fontenot (Weatherhead East Asian Institute)
Katherine Forshay (Weatherhead East Asian Institute)
Dean Frederick Harris (Division of Social Sciences)
Rebecca Hirade (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
Sarah Kirsch (Weatherhead East Asian Institute)
Professor Eugenia Lean (EALAC, Columbia University)
Professor Gregory Mann (History, Columbia University)
Katherine March (Weatherhead East Asian Institute)
Melinda Miller (The Center for Science and Society, Columbia University)
Patricia Morel (History, Columbia University)
Professor Projit Mukharji (History & Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania)
Professor Seth Schwartz (History, Columbia University)
Professor Avinoam Shalem (Art History, Columbia University)
Professor Kavita Sivaramakrishnan (Mailman School of Public Health / History, Columbia University)
Professor Pamela Smith (History, Columbia University)
Professor Nina Sylvanus (Anthropology, Northeastern University)
Vina Tran (Division of Social Sciences)
Professor Gauri Viswanathan (English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University)

Thanks to the Weatherhead East Asian Institute for the use of its facilities

For information about last year’s South-South conference, see: “Intellectual History across Middle East and South Asia, 1857-1948.”