2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India 1947 into India and Pakistan (including what later became Bangladesh).
Imagined Homeland Symposium will discuss the historical journeys that formed the largest mass migration in human history, dividing the country into a nationalist struggle with mass abduction and savage sexual violence. It had a huge impact on contemporary South Asian communities, as well as its international diasporas, and how global communities continue to be fractured by the recent refugee crisis of the 21st Century.
The symposium will bring some of the most imaginative speakers of our time, and will feature artists, historians and award winning novelists and writers like Professor Yasmin Khan, Dilip Hiro, Balraj Khanna, Navtej Purewal, Shezad Dawood and with local poetic respondents including Yandass Ndlovu, Elmi Ali, and Isaiah Hull.
Imagined Homeland Symposium is a trailblazer of Asia Triennial Manchester 2018, Manchester Metropolitan University. This event is funded by MMU and supported by Manchester International Festival 2017 and HOME.
Schedule:
10am Registration
10.30am Welcome: Dave Moutrey (10mins)
10.45am Introduction: Alnoor Mitha, (30mins)
11.20am Keynote: Professor Yasmin Khan (45mins)
12.10pm Spoken Word Artist: Yandass Ndlovu (10mins)
12.30pm Lunch Break (1hr)
Panel 1
Chair: Jenna Ashton
1.30pm Speaker: Dilip Hiro (30mins) §
2.05pm Speaker: Shezad Dawood (30mins)
2.40pm Spoken Word Artist: Elmi Ali (10mins)
2.55pm Discussion (30mins)
3pm Break (30mins)
Panel 2
Chair: Anjum Malik
3.30pm Speaker: Tej Purewal (30mins)
4.05 pm Speaker: Balraj Khanna (30mins)
4.40pm Spoken Word Artist: Isaiah Hull (10mins)
4.55pm Discussion (30mins)
5pm Closing Remarks: John McGrath (10mins)
5.30pm onwards: Networking