CRISIS AND THE HUMANITARIAN PRESENT: THINKING THROUGH THE 2015 NEPAL EARTHQUAKE [Panels]

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Winter 2016 Symposium CRISIS AND THE HUMANITARIAN PRESENT: THINKING THROUGH THE 2015 NEPAL EARTHQUAKE Friday, February 5, 2016 Munk School of Global Affairs University of Toronto 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto This symposium aims to widen and sharpen debates about the politics of humanitarianism and development by reflecting on the devastating 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. The symposium focuses on Nepal to pose broad questions that engage public conversations in the social sciences and politically-engaged humanities on the histories of post-colonial states, their administrative architectures, and global geographies and technologies of humanitarianism. Key questions for discussion include: Who responded, and in what ways? How does seismic instability articulate political power and instability? How was Nepal “territorialized” for and by earthquake relief? What tensions arise in the mix of differently scaled responses, between solidarity and inequality, assistance and domination, progressive and regressive possibilities? What, crucially, is, or could be, the role of the critical humanities and social sciences in troubling and refining the humanitarian present? The proceedings are organized to facilitate discussion among scholars, development practitioners, and policy makers, and will feature cross-regional perspectives from other Asian contexts. Registered participants are invited to join a lunch, followed by an afternoon workshop hosted by the Toronto-based network, Asha (Hope) Toronto, oriented to exploring strategies for promoting aid accountability and critical social science in and for Nepal, and in the thought and application of disaster relief and the dispensing of humanitarian projects more broadly. SCHEDULE 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Welcome and Introductions Professor Ritu Birla, Richard Charles Lee Director, Asian Institute Professor Katharine Rankin, Interim Director, Centre for South Asian Studies 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM Panel 1: Fissures and Solidarities Professor Kathryn March, Cornell University, “Failure in Nepal? Seismicity, the contradictory state and local social potential” Manjushree Thapa, Writer, “Cognitive Dissonance, Narrative Incoherence: Nepal’s Story” Discussant: Professor Jennifer Chun, Centre for the Study of South Korea, University of Toronto 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Panel 2: A Role for Critical Social Science? Professor Sara Shneiderman, University of British Columbia, “Restructuring Kinship, Citizenship and Territory in the wake of the Nepal earthquakes: Affective and political possibilities” James Sharrock, researcher and development consultant, Ithaca, NY; formerly with DFID, UN, and The Carter Centre, Nepal, “Remote response: International humanitarianism and Nepal’s 2015 earthquakes” Discussant: Professor Ito Peng, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch Break 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Workshop Strategies for promoting aid accountability and critical social science Aniket Bhushan, Adjunct Research Professor, Canadian International Development Platform, Norman Patterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University Nicolas Moyer, Executive Director, Humanitarian Coalition SPONSORS Main Sponsor: Centre for South Asian Studies Sponsor: Asha Toronto Co-Sponsors: Dr. David Chu Program in Asia Pacific Studies, Department of Geography and Planning, Centre for the Study of Korea, East Asia Seminar Series, Asian Institute WEBSITES http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/csas/nepal-earthquakes/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/367446393455257/ http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/ai/feature/asha-toronto-an-intellectually-considered-response-to-the-nepal-earthquake/