The conference called Mountstuart Elphinstone: Between Local and Global Forces will be held at Elphinstone College in Mumbai in April 2017. The conference is being organized by Professor Shah Mahmoud Hanifi of James Madison University and is also co-sponsored by the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, American Institute of Pakistan Studies and the American Institute of Sri Lanka Studies.
The purpose of the conference is to examine the enduring intellectual and political impact of Mountstuart Elphinstone through consideration of the knowledge formations he represented and those he engaged in South Asia. The two-day conference will convene approximately twenty academics and public intellectuals from multiple South Asian states including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka to compare shared histories and divergent historical experiences arising from a.) the production and institutionalization of colonial knowledge formations during the imperial era, b.) the simultaneous destabilization and reinvigoration of colonial knowledge formations in the context of nationalism and national education programs, and c.) the emergence of trans-national intellectual communities and scholarly networks in the contemporary period of neo-liberal globalization. The local public in Mumbai and the global public via streaming webcast is welcome to join this trans-national scholarly convention. More information about the conference can be found here.