A year after the infamous anti-Hindu conference called ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ was conspired, an American University has come up with yet another conference having anti-Hindu and anti-India themes for its sessions. The 2022 New York Conference on Asian Studies is being organised on the 7th and 8th of October 2022 at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at the Syracuse University of New York.
Besides fillers like Asian and Asian American art exhibitions and music, documentary screenings and discussions, and dance programs with nomadic performers, the main part of this conference comprise panel discussions on different topics related to Asian countries like China, India, Korea, etc.
The conference is titled “State and society in Asia: Past and Present”. The topics specified for a panel session to be held in the afternoon between 1:45 pm to 3:45 pm on 7th October 2022 are objectionable enough to draw the ire of Hindus. The subject of the session is “Religion and Politics in South Asia”. Radha Kumar of Syracuse University is chairing the session. Ankush Arora of Syracuse University, Yash Sharma of the University of Cincinnati, Syed Jalil Hussain and Geethika Dharmasinghe of Cornell University, Katyayini Richhariya of Tufts University, and Mohammad Habib Raza of BRAC University are participating in this session.
Ankush Arora is going to talk about “Symbol of Divinity or Deadly Weapon? Visualization of the Cow in Indian Calendar Art and Digital Media”. Yash Sharma has chosen a topic titled “Hindutva, Militarism, and Everyday Insecurity in India”. Syed Jalil Hussain will talk on “Seeing beyond the State: Sectarian Insecurities, State Coercion, and Transnational Shiite Networks in Kashmir”.
Geethika Dharmasighe has chosen a yet more weird issue for her discussion. She is going to talk about “Buddhist Modernity Modelled after Islam”. Katyayini Richhariya will present her thoughts on “Religion, Hate Speech, and the Indian and Pakistani States”. Mohammad Habib Raza will share his views on “Rethinking the architectural history teaching of Bangladesh: a global perspective for (South) Asia”.
The agenda continues in other sessions. In another session on the subject “Alternative Regimes of Power and Protection: Ritual Interiors and Experiential Infrastructures of Society and State” to be jointly chaired by Ross Freedenberg and Shannon Novak of Syracuse University, Mona Bhan of Syracuse University and Radhika Govindarajan from the University of Washington are going to present their thoughts on “More-Than-Human Fascism: On Cows, Rivers, and Hindu Supremacy”. However, to put on a mask of inter-faith balance, the same session consists of a talk by Vaidehi Paneri of Syracuse University on the topic “Hindu-Muslim Religious Syncretism”.
The organizers of the conference have also attempted to attack the popular culture of India and seem to have some problems with the nationalistic portrayal in Indian cinemas. This was reflected by the details of another session. This session is titled “Sonic and Visual Representations of Asian-ness in Global Multi-Media”. It will be chaired by Natalie Sarrazin of SUNY Brockport. The chairperson herself is going to talk about “For whom does the Heroine Sing? Auto-Representation and Transnationalism in Hindi Film Music”.
For second year in a row, such an attempt of demeaning Hinduism and Hindutva is seen in which demonizing Hindu symbols is at the core of the agenda. Earlier, one such conference called ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva‘ was planned but it could not take place.
