The Center for South Asia organizes this annual conference which attracts over 500 scholars – academic faculty and staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and independent scholars, who travel from around the world including from Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and from across the United States. The conference features nearly 100 academic panels and roundtables, as well as association meetings, film screenings, and special events that are all open to the public: an Indian music performance, a keynote speech, and a plenary address.
This year we are pleased to welcome Dr. Carla Sinopoli, professor of anthropology at the Department of Anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology, at University of Michigan, as the conference keynote speaker. Her research focuses on complex societies and political economy in Southern India. She is currently co-directing a multi-year archaeological field project in the Tungabhadra River Valley of South India, focusing on emergent social and economic inequalities and the formation to territorial polities during the South India Iron Age (first millennium BC). The Conference Performance is by Nicolas Magriel on sarangi, the North Indian bowed lute, accompanied by James Kippen on tabla. Our plenary speaker Girish Raghunath Karnad, has been a commanding presence in Indian theatre, film, television, and cultural life more generally for more than four decades. His early plays—Yayati (1961) , Tughlaq (1964) , and Hayavadana (Horse-Head, 1971)—were a seminal part of the effort by a whole generation of playwrights to shape Indian theatre as a major contemporary national tradition in the later twentieth century.
We welcome members of the community to attend these public events. Please take a look at the times and locations, below:
Friday, October 23
Madison Concourse Hotel, 1 West Dayton – Wisconsin Ballroom
8-9 p.m. – Keynote Address: Dr. Carla Sinopoli, Professor of anthropology, University of Michigan
9:15-10:15 p.m. – Conference Performance: Dr. Nicolas Magriel, Sarangi Performance
Saturday, October 24
Madison Concourse Hotel, 1 West Dayton – Capitol Ballroom
3:45-5:15 p.m. – Plenary Address: Girish Karnad, playwright, actor, director, and screen writer
Madison Museum of Modern Art, The Overture Center, 227 State Street – Lecture Hall
6-8 p.m. – Plenary Performance: A Staged Reading of Girish Karnad’s YAYATI (1961)
(Tickets are required for this event – please call (608) 262-9224 on Tuesday and Wednesday to make a request).
Registration to attend the conference will take place on Thursday (5-8 p.m.) , Friday (8 a.m. – 5 p.m.) , and Saturday (8 a.m. – 4 p.m.) at the conference venue, The Madison Concourse Hotel. The cost for registration for non-students is $135, and for students $70.
Learn more about the Center for South Asia
The Center for South Asia is made up of a community of faculty and staff who reflect the diversity and global relevance of South Asian Studies. They conduct and support outstanding research that is relevant to the world around us; teach all categories of students (undergraduate, graduate, returning adults, and K-12) how to evaluate and apply an understanding of South Asia to their personal, academic, and professional goals; and disseminate the results of their research and teaching locally, nationally, and globally through outreach and service.
Through the academic disciplines, summer language institute, annual conference, student organizations, and outreach programs, the center seeks to define and promote greater understanding of South Asian history, language, religion, and culture. The center also supports linkages to other relevant area studies and global studies programs that emphasize transnational flows of culture, people, and money in ways that are important to achieve a better understanding of South Asia both in the past and the present. Read complete mission statement.