Please join the UB Asia Research Institute for the 6th Annual Rustgi Undergraduate Conference of South Asia, featuring a keynote, “Driver Power, Union Power: The Struggles and Triumphs of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance,” by Javaid Tariq. Tariq is co-founder of New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a grassroots predominantly immigrant and people-of-color-led labor organization that was founded by South Asian drivers and organizers almost 30 years ago. In his keynote, Javaid Tariq will reflect on the importance of building a labor movement that is democratic, membership-led, internationalist in its solidarity, and unafraid to confront power and express urgency for student activism.

Join student speakers, both domestic and international, as well as panel chairs from the University at Buffalo as they speak about some of the most important issues in South Asia. We will cover a diverse range of topics, discussing political, social, and environmental issues.

This hybrid event will take place in-person at 102 O’Brian Hall (UB North Campus) as well as on Zoom (register for link here). This event is free, but registration is required. To register, please visit https://bit.ly/rustgi2024

To view the most up-to-date program, please visit https://bit.ly/rustgiprogram2024
For more information please contact southasiaundergradconf@gmail.com

Featuring Student Speakers & Panelists

Program Schedule

Saturday, April 6th

8:00 am – 8:45 am: Breakfast

8:45 am to 9:00 am: Opening Remarks

Panel 1: Spirituality, Religion, Dislocation and Migration (Zoom) – Panel Chair: TBD

9:00 am – 10:30 am

Aadrit Banerjee, University of Delhi, “Kali’s Daughters: Exploring Indian women writings on the Black Goddess”

Mahrukh Hasmat, University of the Punjab, “Belonging Nowhere: On Diaspora Space and Dislocation in Moniza Alvi’s Poetry”

Anjali Shreshth & Saachi Singh, University of Delhi, “Cartographies of Spirituality: Understand the Spiritual Economy of India vis-a-vis the West and its Contemporary Relevance.”

Aishaani Bajaj, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies Dehradun,”Rethinking Domicile-Based Reservation: Making Sense of the Historico-Political Dimensions to Migration and Integration in Uttarakhand”

Panel 2: Impacts from South Asian History : Trauma, Cuisine, Medicine and Urban Planning – Panel Chair: TBD

10:45 am – 12:15 pm

Priyanka Anand, Tufts University, “Partition’s Madness: Tracing Dissociation in Trauma Narratives of India’s Partition”

Ziv Cheng, University at Buffalo, “The Impact of the Columbian Exchange on Persianate Cuisine and Culture in India”

Mrinmoyee Kalasikam, Vanderbilt University, “The History of Medicine in South Asia through the Lens of the Subaltern and Caste”

Hajra Malik, Northwestern University, “Tracing the Urban Fabric of Lahore”

Lunch Break 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

Panel 3: Challenging Social Narratives through Different Forms of Media – Panel Chair: TBD

1:15 pm – 2:45 pm

Arham Khalid, Northwestern University in Qatar, “Hijab ya Kitab?”

Induja Kumar, Vanderbilt University, “Brown TikTok: Tracing Inherited Prejudices Across Seas and Generations”

Zoe Kwasnicki, Ithaca College, “The First Drag Queen? Arjuna/Brihannada and the Subversion of Gender Normativity in the Mahabharata”

Panel 4: Community Implications of South Asian Diasporic Ties – Panel Chair: TBD

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Zanaya Hussain, University at Buffalo, “The Urban Socio-Spatial Dialectic: How Bangladeshi Immigrant Women Shape the City”

Hanmah Malik, Northwestern University, “The Transformation of Courtesan Culture in South Asia”

Leela Culity, Occidental College, “Unfair and Lovely: South Asian Stories of Beauty”

Emily Kim, Georgetown University, “Weaponizing Gender: Nuclearization, Nationalism, and India’s Postcolonial Identity”

Keynote Talk 

4:45 pm – 5:45 pm

“Driver Power, Union Power: The Struggles and Triumphs of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance”

Javaid Tariq

The sixth annual Rustgi South Asian Undergraduate Research Conference is made possible by a generous gift from the families of Dr. Vinod Rustgi and Dr. Anil Rustgi, as well as funding from the University at Buffalo Asia Research Institute.