Conference Schedule 2023

Ajay Rao, University of Toronto (in-person)
Eroticism and Untouchability

Sloane Geddes, University of Toronto (virtual) 
Love, Longing, and Commentary in Sanskrit Poetry

Aqsa Ijaz, University of Toronto (in-person)
Inhabiting the Ruins: The Poetics of Desire in the Longue Durée of a Persian Poem’s Afterlife in Hindustan

Kiran Sunar, University of British Columbia (in-person)
Ordinary Objects and Ordained Vernaculars of Desire: The River, the Pot, and the Thigh in the Sohnī Mahīnwāl Narrative Tradition

Ashima Sood, Anant National University (virtual)
Caste and Religiosity in the Indian City

Shalini Mariyathas, University of Toronto (in-person)
Politics of Postwar development: Subaltern subjectivities’ struggles for liberation in postwar eastern Sri Lanka

Masihullah Hanif, York University (in-person)
A Critical Assessment of the Sources of Armed Conflict and State Violence Among Communities in Afghanistan

Zbyněk Mucha, Charles University (in-person)
Migration Imaginaries, Social Media and International Labour Recruiters: The Case of Bangladesh

Josephine Francis Xavier, York University (in-person)
Indian Immigrant, First-time Parents’ Voices on Fathering and Fatherhood in the Perinatal Period: A Straussian Grounded Theory Approach

Attia Khan, York University (in-person)
The Diasporic Experiences of Immigrant Pakistani Youths at the Intersection of Overlapping Identities and Mental Health

Moderator: Rachel Berger, Concordia University (in-person)

Ridhima Sharma, University of Toronto (in-person)
Gaai per Charcha: Caste, Gender and Labour in a Cow-Shelter

Koyna Tomar, University oF Pennsylvania (virtual)
Purifying Empire: Military Experiments with Milk in Colonial South Asia

Sanchia deSouza, University of Toronto (in-person)
The Impure Gavli: Cattle, Caste, and Labour around Colonial Bombay

Bill M. Mak, University of Hong Kong (virtual)
Hindu Cemetery in Hong Kong—An Unusual History and its Post-colonial Legacy

Arafaat Valiani, University of Oregon (in-person)
Critical Genetic Histories of Postcolonial India

Catherine Larouche, Université Laval (in-person)
Keeping Religion in the Backstage: Christian Associations and Covid-19 Relief in Delhi

Luz Maria Vazquez, York University (in-person) &
Nasteho Hasan, York University (in-person)
Asian Canadian Exclusionary Experiences in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Centering the Voices of Youth Through Arts-Based Methodologies

Shobna Nijhawan, York University (in-person)
Visualizing Literary Worldliness in the Hindi Print Sphere of the Early 20th Century: A Case Study of Ganga Pustak Mala and Sudha

Hamad Abdullah Nazar, University of British Columbia (in-person)
The Ishq of Baba Bulleh Shah and the Pre-Colonial Place of Punjabi

Anne Murphy University of British Columbia (virtual) &
Tohid Ahmad Chattha, Government College University Faisalabad (virtual)
New Verses and the Interplay of Scripts: Waris Shah’s Sufi Narrative Hīr in the Textual Evidence

Liwen Liu, University of Toronto (in-person)
Grace and Divine Agency—The Apologetics of Violence in Tantric Shaivism

Andrea Farran, McGill University (in-person)
Sharing sweetness in Montreal Sikh communities

Julie Vig, York University (in-person)
Gifting practices in gurbilās literature: bheṭ, prasād, and dāna

Asma Sayed, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (in-person)
The Role of South Asian Activist Art in Advancing Climate Justice

Kritish Rajbhandari, Reed College (in-person)
Little Magazines and Nepalbhasa Language Resistance

Pushpa Raj Acharya, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (in-person)
Resistance in the Works of Nepali Canadian Women Writers

Irfana Majumdar, York University (virtual)
Warlords: Power and Agency in a Solo Performance

Nabila Huq, Queen’s University (in-person)
“Are You From…?”: Autoethnography of a Bangladeshi-Canadian

Rebecca Peters, Florida State University (in-person)
Women Filming Bollywood: How Directors Actively De-Gender Film Sets

Timothy Lorndale, University of Toronto (in-person)
Notes on the place of Karṇapārya’s Nemināthapurāṇa in the Jaina Mahābhārata Tradition

Mahnoor Lone, University of British Columbia (in-person)
The Meaning and Experience of Beauty in Two Persianate Texts

Sushil Patel, McGill University (in-person)
Locating Commentaries in Esoteric Narratives: The “Inner” Telling of an “Outer” Rāmayana

Uzma Zafar, University of Virginia (virtual)
Legal Documentation and its Others: The Fragmented Authenticity of Transgender Bodies

Lovepreet Kaur, York University (virtual)
Moving beyond Taboos and Shame: Transforming Family Law Narratives around LGBTQ+ Rights in India

Aditya N. Bhattacharjee, University of Pennsylvania (virtual)
From Anxious Adolescent to Ganesh Guru: The Polyontological Properties of Queer, Thai Religion

Convenors: Dia Da Costa, University of Alberta (virtual) and Shaista Aziz Patel, University of California San Diego (virtual)

Moderator: Shobna Nijhawan, York University
Format: Hybrid
Participants: Shobna Nijhawan (York University), Jay Ramasubramanyam (York University), Sheema Khawar (York University), Zahra Sabri (Institute of Business Administration)