Institute for South Asia Studies

10/28/2026

10/27/2026

Thu / Oct 29 / 7 PM: Celluloid Frontiers: A MISSING CAN OF FILM and STOP GENOCIDE at BAMPFA 🎬

In conjunction with the BAMPFA exhibition "Private Frontiers: Media Legacies of the Cold War," join us for Naeem Mohaiemen's A MISSING CAN OF FILM (2025), a film exploring the contested histories surrounding Zahir Raihan's STOP GENOCIDE (1971), created during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Combining scenes from Raihan's film with footage shot at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation following the 2024 July Student "Monsoon" Uprising, Mohaiemen examines the film canister as a vessel of political memory, lost histories, and struggles over how the past is preserved and understood.

Following the screening, Mohaiemen joins BAMPFA Assistant Curator Tausif Noor for a conversation. Opening remarks by Elora Shehabuddin.

Presented by BAMPFA. Co-sponsored by UC Berkeley's Institute for South Asia Studies, the Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, and South Asia Art Initiative at UC Berkeley.

🎟️ Get tickets and learn more: https://bampfa.org/event/celluloid-frontiers-missing-can-film-and-stop-genocide

10/25/2026

Join us

🗓️Tue, Oct 27, 2026
🕘5 - 6:30 p.m.
📍10 Stephens Hall
Livestream on this page.

Event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Co-sponsored by The Berkeley Pakistan Initiative.

10/23/2026

On October 22, the Institute had the pleasure of welcoming Omar Khan, founder of Harappa.com, for a screening of his documentary "Mohenjo-daro: Unsealing an Ancient Indus City." The film explores the remarkable architecture, sophisticated urban planning, and everyday life of one of the world’s earliest civilizations. The screening was followed by an engaging conversation moderated by Institute Director Professor Munis D. Faruqui. Here are a few photos from the evening.

10/23/2026

10/22/2026

Happening TODAY

Thu, Oct 22 @ 5 pm
https://events.berkeley.edu/csas/event/325284-screening-omar-khan-mohenjo-daro-unsealing-an-ancient

10/19/2026

A panel discussion on Dreams’ Navel: Revisiting a Bengali Modernist Classic, Akhtaruzzaman Elias’s Khwabnama, a new volume edited by Firdous Azim and Naveeda Khan.

The volume offers fresh reflections on subaltern agency, gendered domesticity, and the evocative sensory world of the Bengali rural landscape. Dreams’ Navel provides a transformative vantage on a classic text, positioning Elias not just within the Bengali canon, but as a vital and provocative voice in global conceptual inquiry. This scholarly tribute is essential for readers seeking to understand the enduring power of Elias’s literary imagination and its resonance in the postcolonial world.

Event moderated by Elora Shehabuddin, Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and Global Studies and Director, Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, UC Berkeley.

🗓️Mon, Oct 19, 2026
🕘9 - 10:30 a.m. Berkeley | On Zoom

Register here:
https://berkeley.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_h0uy7TJ1TZGt45ZkYO4k_w #/registration

Event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

10/17/2026

It’s usually Munis D. Faruqui doing the introductions, welcoming speakers, and asking the questions. But this time, the tables were turned, and Munis was in the hot seat -- to talk about his new book, "Aurangzeb ‘Alamgir and the Mughal Empire: A History Retold."

And what a turnout! More than 120 people packed the room to hear Munis in conversation with UC Berkeley historian Abhishek Kaicker. Together, they revisited the life and reign of one of the Mughal Empire’s most debated rulers, challenging familiar narratives and offering fresh perspectives on Aurangzeb and his place in history.

And there was one more role reversal before the evening ended: Munis, who is usually the one handing out ISAS tote bags to our speakers, got to take one home himself!

A fun evening, a great conversation, and a big thank you to everyone who came!

Some photos from the evening included below.

10/14/2026

We were delighted to welcome Indranil Chakravarty, writer, filmmaker, and scholar, to Berkeley on October 13 for a fascinating talk, The Power of Intercultural Dialogue: Octavio Paz between Mexico and India. Drawing on his recent book, The Tree Within: Octavio Paz’s Years in India, Chakravarty explored how the celebrated Mexican poet and diplomat’s years in India transformed his writing and worldview, and how his engagement with Indian culture helped forge lasting intellectual and artistic connections between India and Latin America. The conversation was moderated by Atreyee Gupta, Associate Professor of Global Modern Art and South and Southeast Asian Art at UC Berkeley.

10/14/2026

We were delighted to welcome Matthew Shutzer, Assistant Professor of History at UC Berkeley, on October 8 for a fascinating talk on his new book, Until the Last Ton: Fossil Fuels in India from Empire to the Climate Crisis. Tracing India's rise as a major fossil-fuel economy, Shutzer explored how colonialism, capitalism, and environmental change have shaped the country's dependence on coal and other fossil fuels.

The talk was followed by a lively and thought-provoking conversation with Sharad Chari, Associate Professor of Geography at UC Berkeley.

Munis D. Faruqui, Director of the Institute for South Asia Studies, opened the event.

And because no serious academic gathering is complete without a touch of ceremony, the evening concluded with the official bestowal of the ISAS “Tote of Arms”—our most portable and practical form of institutional heraldry!

Photos below!