Register for this event at bit.ly/india-covid-event.

With the second COVID-19 wave catching everyone seemingly unprepared and unaware, what has been the impact on the ground? Through the lens of policy, public health and journalistic reporting, we’ll hear from experts in the field who will share their perspectives on the current situation and opportunities for change/new practices in the future.

Co-sponsored by MIT-India and the MIT South Asian Alumni Association (MITSAAA).

Register for this event at bit.ly/shekhar-kapur-event.

Join us for a discussion about the role of perception, imagination, and innovation in storytelling, with celebrated filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

Speakers:

Shekhar Kapur
Film, TV, and Theatre Director
After leaving his corporate career as a chartered accountant, Kapur pursued his passion for the arts and has become an award-winning film, television, and theatre director, producer, and digital entrepreneur. He has not only become a prominent figure in Indian cinema, with films such as Mr India (1987) and Bandit Queen (1994) but also in western cinema, with films such as the Oscar-winning Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Kapur is currently directing the cross-cultural comedy What's Love Got to Do with It?. Kapur has not only made prolific contributions to cinema, but has also created some notable theatre works: acting as an Associate Producer alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber on the West End production Bombay Dreams and directing the European stage musical The Matterhorn. If you ask him what he does, Kapur will say: ‘all art is about us seeking the infinite within ourselves, so I would describe myself as a seeker.’

Anushka Shah
Founder, Civic Studios
Anushka founded the Civic Entertainment project at the MIT Media Lab and now runs a production house titled Civic Studios in Mumbai. Civic Studios creates entertainment in the form of films, web series, and short-form digital content to inspire citizen participation and help build better democracies. Anushka has a background in applied statistics and digital text analysis, and has previously worked with non-profits and political parties in India. She divides her time between India and the US.

Hosted by MISTI MIT-India.

Register for this event at http://bit.ly/MyanmarSouthAsia.

Experts explore the crisis, including: the historical and regional perspectives on resolution; the democratization and current protests; and the history and current situation of India and Burmese refugees.

Speakers:
Ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Senior Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research
Jonathan Saha, Associate Professor, South Asian History, Durham University, UK
Yasmin Ullah, Rohingya Social Justice Activist
Harn Yawnghwe, Executive Director, Euro-Burma Office

Moderator:
Sana Aiyar, Associate Professor, Modern South Asian History, MIT

Co-sponsors:  MIT Center for International Studies (CIS) and MISTI MIT-India

Register for this event here.

The MIT-Africa and MIT-India programs at MISTI frequently host lecture series that focus on its respective regions, but for the first time, the two would like to collaborate on an event of mutual interest. In the spirit of international studies and cross-cultural learning, the programs plan to co-host an event focused on ethnographies of South Asian diaspora communities in East Africa, with a particular focus on Kenya and Tanzania.

The relative size and significance of the South Asian diaspora in the region is often surprising to visitors. Seldom is the community’s history and influence in country formation discussed outside niche circles. This event seeks to explore the ethnography of this group, its relative economic, social, and political positioning in Africa, as well as its sense of identity as “Africans.” As a cross-program collaboration, MISTI seeks to attract a wider audience, shining a spotlight on this topic and engage a diverse group of participants to interrogate these topics in a virtual forum.

Speakers

• M.G. Vassanji: MIT B.S. '74 and co-founder of the MIT African Student Association; Acclaimed novelist and Kenyan/Tanzanian of South Asian heritage

• Professor Kenda Mutongi: History at MIT; Author of Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi

• Professor Sana Aiyar: History at MIT; Author of Indians in Kenya: The Politics of Diaspora

• Boluwatife Akinola: MIT student, Mathematical Economics '21; President of the MIT African Student Association (ASA)

• Deekshita Kacham: MIT student, Computer Science '22; President of the MIT South Asian Association of Students

Register for this event here.

The Peabody Essex Museum, along with MIT-India and the MIT South Asian Alumni Association, invite you to a virtual tour of PEM's South Asian Art Galleries. Hear from Siddhartha V. Shah, Director of Education and Civic Engagement and Curator of South Asian Art, as he introduces these exciting spaces and takes us behind the scenes. This tour will feature the Chester and Davida Herwitz Gallery, which is the first American museum gallery dedicated to modern and contemporary Indian art.

The new Prashant H. Fadia Foundation and Deshpande Foundation Gallery features a selection of objects from PEM's extensive collection of historical material from India. Focused primarily on the 19th century, the gallery considers India's long and complex history of foreign occupation and its troubling impact on the representation of Indian people in art.

Bridging myth with social and political history, the new Chester and Davida Herwitz Gallery tells the story of nation-building and self-discovery through works of India's most celebrated artistic geniuses of the 20th century. The gallery centers on a series of paintings inspired by the Mahabharata, painted by M.F. Husain in 1971.

Join Shivshankar Menon (Brookings), Tanvi Madan (Brookings) and Taylor Fravel (MIT) to discuss recent conflicts surrounding the border between China and India. Moderator: Vipin Narang (MIT). Free and open to the public. Please go to the Watson Center website to register for the webinar.