Asia Symposium March 21 Event Features Lectures, Music and Dance

College of DuPage Asia Committee hosts the 31st Asia Symposium, “Crossroads: Diversity, Diaspora and Globalization in South Asia,” from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, in the Student Resource Center, Room 2000, on the Glen Ellyn campus, 425 Fawell Blvd.

All symposium events are free and open to the public.

The symposium begins at 9:30 a.m. with “Crossing Borders: South Asian Communities in the United States,” a presentation by Loyola University Assistant Professor Abha Rai, Ph.D. and Kavita D’Souza, Programs Manager at Apna Ghar (Our Home) in Chicago.

Rabia Ali, Professor of Sociology at International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan and visiting Fulbright Scholar, presents “Gender Equality in Pakistan: Two Steps Forward One Step Back” at 11 a.m.

Rohan de Silva, Instructor and Department Chair of Sociology/Social Science at Milwaukee Area Technical College, discusses “Desi-Americans: Diaspora, Transnationalism and Ethnogenesis” at 12:30 p.m.

The event also features a screening of “The Namesake,” directed by Mira Nair, at 2 p.m.

The symposium will conclude with a cultural performance program, starting at 5 p.m. with Indian classical dance in the styles of Odissi and Bharatnatyam by Debnita Talapatra and her group, followed by “Flavors of South Asian Music” by Khalid Biswas, and a fashion show presented by COD’s Asian Student Association.

For more information, contact Naheed Rouf at hasann@cod.edu.