Last month, a team of six staff from the Civic Initiative (a business group of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Donahue Institute) were in Islamabad. They held a three-day follow-up conference for alumni from recent cohorts of the Study of the U.S. Institutes Comparative Public Policymaking program that has been held annually by the Civic Initiative since 2010. The SUSI program is funded by the US Department of State Education and Cultural Affairs Office.
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Sarah Lawrence Conference
Title: Site Re-Envisioning Pakistan: The Political Economy of Social Transformation
Date: April 4-5, 2014
Website: www.re-envisioningpakistan.org
We would like to inform and invite you to an international conference on Pakistan to be held at Sarah Lawrence College this spring. The conference aims to bring together a range of diverse perspectives to examine historical realities and current challenges facing Pakistan.
Pakistan’s tumultuous economic and political history reflects a socio-economic policy based on an orthodox ‘modernization’ paradigm with marginal trickle-down effects. Its politics of governance has focused equally narrowly on questions of security while paying lip service to democracy. In spite of increased calls for better governance and a move away from this technocratic paradigm, an ahistorical and simplistic understanding of its history and contemporary realities continue to plague scholarly work, policy making, and media coverage of the country. As against such approaches, this conference provides an alternative analytical framework on Pakistan, bringing together scholars from various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, writers, journalists and activists. Given its thematic emphasis, the conference will be of interest to specialists on Pakistan, as well as activists and members of the general public interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the processes of socio-economic and political transformation in Pakistan, and within countries of the global south more generally.
You can register online at: www.re-envisioningpakistan.org. Early registration ends on February 15, 2014. Online registration will close on March 15, 2014. The cost of registration includes breakfast and lunch on April 4 and 5, 2014. On-site registration will be possible, but will not cover meals. Details regarding the conference venue, registration and other particulars are all available through the web site.
Sarah Lawrence College, located in Bronxville, New York, is a short train ride (30 minutes) on Metro North from Grand Central Terminal. Located due north and in close proximity to New York City, it is also accessible by automobile via the Henry Hudson, Saw Mill and Major Deegan I-87 Parkways. For maps and directions on how to reach the College, please visit www.re-envisioningpakistan.org/travel.
This conference is co-sponsored by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.