Donnerstag, 19. Mai 2016, 18:00 - 20:00 iCal

The Diary of Kalpana Chakma

The Power of Memory and the Display of “Absence” in the Fight for Adivasi and Women’s Rights in Bangladesh

Seminarraum 1 des Instituts für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde
Universitätscampus, Spitalgasse 2, Hof 2.7, 1090 Wien

Seminar, Workshop, Kurs


A Seminar with Dr. Mara Matta
(Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”)

Kalpana Chakma was a young ?div?s? leader and the General Secretary of the Hill Women's Federation, an organization that campaigns for the rights of the Jumma People of the Chitta¬gong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh (CHTs). She disappeared on June 12, 1996. Hence, June 12, 2016 will mark the twentieth anniversary of her forcible abduction and murder. The Bangladeshi State and its army may have turned Kalpana into a ghost, but her presence and voice have never faded. In this seminar, we will read some extracts from Kalpana Chakma’s Diary which today, more than ever, presents Kalpana’s voice as the haunting call for justice that resonates in every corner of the CHTs. Many Jumma people, following Kalpana’s courageous and resilient example, have risen in protest against displacement, sexual harassment, disenfranchisement, induced pover¬ty and progressive annihilation of political and cultural rights, using literature and art to re-write history. Deploying memories to contradict hegemonic history, and voicing “silence” and marking “absence” to fight against politics of (in)visibility, Kalpana’s words have become the manifesto of the ongoing fight of the indigenous people and the Jumma women of Bangladesh.

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Veranstalter

Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde


Kontakt

Judith Starecek
Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde
4277 43502
judith.starecek@univie.ac.at