South Asian-Western Ties Explored at SASA Conference
LOS ANGELES CA : About a hundred scholars met at the University of Southern California here for the fourth annual conference organized by the South Asian Studies Association SASAover the weekend of April 10 and 11. Spread over six sessions the theme of the event was “ South Asia and the West – Entwined Entangled Engaged .”
The panels witnessed scholars reviewing deliberating on and exchanging views on every conceivable area of interest concerning South Asia and its diaspora and its inseparable relationship with the Western world. With the sessions being thrown open to University students they were also able to participate in the discussions and the animated exchanges during the Q & A segment that followed.
At lunch Gunjan Bagla of Amritt Ventures spoke on “ Globalization: India and the US.” He addressed certain myths and realities about industries in both countries.
On the evening of April 10 in an intimate section of the United University Church on the campus the Association held its annual banquet at which it honored Dr Stanley Wolpert with its 2010 Career Award for Academic Excellence and Navneet Chugh the year’s Entrepreneurial & Humanitarian Contributions Trophy. The Chief Guest of the evening was the Acting Consul General of Pakistan Dr Muhammad Khalid Ejaz who addressed the gathering on “ Pakistan – US Relations.”
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Earlier SASA Vice-President Dr Chandrika Kaul welcomed the audience and President Dr William Vanderbok briefed listeners on the birth of SASA and the beginning of the two annual awards. He specifically acknowledged the contributions of Varun Soni Joe Pellegrino Deepak Shimkhada Vandana Asthana and Ken Silverman which had made the event possible.
Dr Vanderbok remarked this time aside from India on which most papers are presented attention had also been drawn on the problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan and perhaps future conferences will see the inclusion of Sri Lanka Bangladesh and Nepal.
USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni added it was exciting to play host as USC has more students 1800 from India than in any other college in the US and is therefore the perfect platform to have a truly global dialog on issues such as legality culture entrepreneurship and religion relating to South Asia. The event was hosted by the USC Office of Religious Life USC Asian Pacific American Student Services and the USC Center for Transpacific Studies.
