Past Events

The Anthropocene and the Humanities

4:00–5:30 pm

This lecture will examine the ways Climate Change and the idea of the Anthropocene - a name proposed for the present geological epoch to indicate the extent of human impact on the planet - have led to new debates in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. This lecture will present some of these debates and discuss the difficulties of conversation across the two cultures of science and the humanities.

Press Briefing: An economic strategy for India

8:30–9:30 am
UChicago Center in Delhi

A group of economists, both from India and abroad, and both from industry and academia, will outline an economic agenda for the country over the next five years. By setting out some of the key challenges as well as outlining proposals well before the coming elections, the intent is to spur debate and discussion.

Pediatric Robotic Surgery Myths Facts and Current Status

8:00 am
The Eros Hotel, New Delhi

Minimal invasive surgery is the armamentarium of 21st century surgery due to reduced morbidity hospitalizations and human capital gains. The use of robotic assistance in this field is growing due to its inherent advantages and making intricate surgery being possible. The application need to be tailored to pediatric applications with some of the tricks and tips for successful and safe application.

Social Sciences & the Distribution of Expertise, Before and After the Bandung Conference

5:30–7:30 pm

At the 1955 Bandung Conference, Zhou Enlai and Jawaharlal Nehru led twenty-nine Asian and African nation-states,most of them recently decolonized, toward secure inter-recognition of their sovereignty. And more. By ratifyingprinciples for “peaceful co-existence,” they frustrated Cold War interventionism. They assigned to each state,responsibility for and capability to manage its own development. Tonight’s talk begins with events at Bandung tosituate comparative study of deployment of social technologies, especially information sciences in Asia. The socialist
experiments of India, China, and Singapore, and their management of dilemmas of democracy and development, needmore context than the Cold War, especially when the social sciences themselves were rising globally under the aegis of Pax Americana.

Measuring Futures: Expertise and Postcolonial Politics in Asia

Through December 11, 2018
UChicago Center in Delhi

This interdisciplinary, international conference made possible through generous funds from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropology, will explore the impact of postwar information sciences on the dilemmas of decolonization and development in Asia from WWII to the present. 
How did new nations (including India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan) use, resist, or alter the terrain of growing postwar American techno-sciences, in fields such as economics, demography, statistics, and urban planning?  How did such sciences intersect with contentious public debates about the shape of societal futures?  How was the future imagined, measured, and co-opted, often within increasingly technical frameworks by planners, technocrats, and social movements in the later half of the 20th century?

Life in India’s Slums

Through December 7, 2018
UChicago Center in Delhi

Urbanization is an important step in India’s development: millions of people, by revealed preference, are demonstrating that they are better off in cities than in rural villages. Yet urbanization also has the potential to result people being pushed into new slums and also contribute to the worsening of living conditions in existing slums. Additionally, poor health and sanitation conditions may temper the economic benefits of growing. Now is a crucial time for academic and practitioners to develop nuanced understandings of slum conditions and collaborative proposals for interventions to help improve the social and economic conditions in India’s urban centers. The conference will focus on discussing issues related to urban poverty in India, including: rural-to-urban migration, health in slums, property rights, housing policy, and the provision of public services.

Panel Discussion: Do Area Studies Matter?

5:30–7:30 pm
UChicago Center in Delhi

One of the problems in South Asian academia is the relatively limited discussion on area studies. Often, with a few exceptions, the focus remains  on individual South Asian countries. Disciplines such as Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science and History remain studies of South Asian Societies, Politics and History. This panel seeks to provoke a discussion on this matter beginning with the question: Do Area Studies Matter?

4th Indian Cancer and Genetics Conference and Workshop (ICGCW)

Through December 9, 2018
ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai

The 4th Indian Cancer and Genetics Conference and workshop (ICGCW) will cover basic, translational and clinical aspects of major hereditary cancer syndromes due to germline mutations in various genes including genes that are being increasingly reported on gene panel testing.

Anubhav Lecture Series: Group Dynamics

10:00 am–5:30 pm
UChicago Center in Delhi

This session will focus on the creation and evolution of groups and how the interaction between individual affects group norms.