Asia in Global Affairs (AGA) is a non-profit, independent forum for research, set up in 2017. It aims at conducting research on wide ranging global and local issues with an interdisciplinary and transnational approach.
AGA comprises a body of prominent academicians and scholars articulating different viewpoints on themes and issues of national and global dimensions with a view to encourage and facilitate constructive policy designing. AGA aims to collaborate with national and international research organizations with a primary objective of facilitating a greater exchange and dissemination of ideas. For actualizing its multiple research endeavours, AGA seeks funds for its projects from different Government ministries and affiliated bodies as well as from funding agencies of both national and international import.
The founder members of Asia in Global Affairs (AGA) are a group of eminent researchers, academicians and professionals whose synergistic effort has culminated in this forum. The principal idea behind the founding of AGA was to provide a platform for policy discussion and analysis whose reach and thrust would be transnational and global. Some of the key areas of research are:
- Frontiers, Identities and Conflict
- Security, Democracy and Governance
- Culture and Heritage
- Demography, Migration and Displacement
- Linkages, Connects and Legacies
- Diversity, Diaspora and Urban space
- Energy, Environment and Development
- Gender, Society and State
Asia in Global Affairs (AGA) aims to focus on the society, polity, culture and economy of Asia in general and the Eurasian and West Asian region in particular, with the aim of studying and establishing their linkages with India. As an endeavour to create a voluntary academic space for deliberations in Kolkata, the AGA accords special emphasis to this city and her neighbourhood.
The AGA webite (www.asiainglobalaffairs.in) is updated weekly and some of the regular features include (a)Reflections: Reflections contemplates on Asian issues that reveal underlying transformations. Written with policy implications in mind they engage with a range of concerns that have global impact. (b)Dialogues: Dialogues is a dialectic segment which actively raises a gamut of questions. It engages in narratives and counter narratives that look for engagement with a wider audience. In addition a summary of Asian and Indian news is updated every week.
Asia Matters: Asia Matters is Asia in Global Affairs’ working paper series. It seeks to explore myriad issues related to Asia in global and local contexts. The series will be published by Knowledge World, Delhi. The first is forthcoming on Why Asia Matters?
Books: Research volumes articulating the culmination of discussions and deliberations form a part of Asia in Global Affairs’ publication programme. AGA’s first publication is an edited volume published by KW, Delhi (Swaran Singh, Anita Sengupta and Priya Sing (eds) Corridors of Engagement, New Delhi: Knowledge World 2019)
Asia in Global Affairs encourages engagement of young scholars and has a vibrant internship programme. It seeks to sensitize its interns to India’s Asian neighbourhood and involve them in discussions with experts. AGA regularly publishes their opinion in its website as Reflections and Dialogue.
Asia in Global Affairs’ first international collaboration was with the International Legal Forum Law and Economics on National Experience and Development Strategies at Novosibirsk (Russia) on May 22-24, 2019. The organizers included Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management, Institute of Legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, L.N. Gumilev Eurasian University, Government of Novosibirsk Region, Mayor’s office of Novosibirsk, Siberian Bank of Sberbank, GU FSIN of Russia of Novosibirsk region.
On the occasion on International Yoga Day (June 21, 2019), Asia in Global Affairs in association with the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata (Ministry of Culture, GOI) organized an hour long yoga session with students at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BHAVAN’S GANGABUX KANORIA VIDYAMANDIR.). The session was conducted by Shuma Talukdar (Consultant AGA) a lawyer and trained practitioner of yoga.
Asia in Global Affairs seeks to encourage discussions on a wide range of issues for a Kolkata audience and endeavours to organize discussions in collaboration with organizations and institutions in Kolkata. As part of this, AGA is collaborating with The Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre on a series of lectures. A number of other collaborations in the past two years include:
A discussion by Dr Subham Amin, Faculty, Sri Ramkrishna Sarada Vidyamahapitha., Hoogly on Cultural Aspects of Buddhism on Friday, 28 June 2019. The event was organized by Asia in Global Affairs in collaboration with the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata.
A book discussion on the Royal Roads of the City of Joy- Calcutta, based on “Kolkata Rajpath: Socio-Cultural Dimensions” was held at and in collaboration with the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR on April 26, 2019. The event was organised by Asia in Global Affairs in collaboration with the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR. The session was chaired by Professor Purabi Ray, author and historian. Dr Somdatta Chakraborty, Senior Adjunct Researcher at AGA and Faculty at the Sanskrit College and University and Dr Shrimoyee Guha Thakurta, Faculty at the Scottish Church College, the co-editors of the book reflected upon their work.
An unexplored and unique lecture on the book ‘Mahatma on the Pitch: Gandhi and Cricket in Colonial India’ was presented by Dr. Kaushik Bandyopadhyay, Professor and Head of the Department of History, West Bengal State University, Barasat, on April 12, 2019. The lecture was chaired by Dr. Binoda Kumar Mishra, Director at Centre for Studies in International Relations and Development, Kolkata. This hour-long talk was held at and in collaboration with the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre.
Navras J. Aafreedi, an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Presidency University, teaches several self-designed courses in Jewish studies, Genocide studies and interfaith studies and has to his credit extensive publications on Jews, Judaizing Movements and the Traditions of Israelite Descent in South Asia.Dr Aafreedi delivered a talk on The Lost Tribes of Israel and it’s Contemporary Ramifications: A Case Study of Pashtuns/Pakhtuns/Pathans at and in collaboration with the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) on Friday March 18, 2019 from 5 pm onwards.The event was organised in association with Asia in Global Affairs (AGA). The session was chaired by Sitaram Sharma, President, AGA.
Dr. Madan Gopal Mukhopadhyay- a retired medical practitioner and a connoisseur of Indian cultural arts delivered a talk on his recently published book- ‘Postcards from the British Raj’, held on February 3, 2019 at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre from 11 am till noon. The event was organised in association with Asia in Global Affairs. Dr. Mukhopadhyay’s discussion expanded on areas covering the origin of postcards with special emphasis on picture postcards.
Nina Mukerjee Furstenau is a journalist, book author and a current 2018-19 U.S. Fulbright-Nehru Global Scholar in Kolkata researching her upcoming book, ‘Green Chili and Other Imposters’ based on the heritage foods of Bengal. Her research interests include food history and identity, food systems and hunger, and the flavours of place. Nina spoke to an interested audience at the AGA office on 23 November 2018.
Asia in Global Affairs in association with the West Bengal State University, Barasat had organised a Workshop on “Corridors of Engagement” on 27 March 2018. The workshop attempted to look at the interface of logistics and mobilities in various Asian spaces to underline the significance of the engagements in a wider global context. Rather than focusing on strictly measurable aspects of movements, the workshop emphasized that it is also important to focus on the capacity of movement to create new assemblages of power, create identities and also shape the ‘microgeographies’ of everyday life.
Lisa Schuster from the Department of Sociology, University of London delivered a talk on Returning Refugees to Conflict Zones at the Calcutta Research Group on February 5, 2018. The event was organized in association with Asia in Global Affairs. Dr. Schuster has been based at the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University, and has done extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan.
Asia in Global Affairs (AGA) in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies had convened a panel discussion on Revisiting Calcutta’s Diasporic Communities on 18 December 2017
Asia in Global Affairs was a partner in the International Conference on India-China Cultural Resonance held on the occasion of the celebration of 80 years of Cheena Bhavan and the 90th Anniversary of Professor Tan Yunshan’s arrival to India, organized by the Cheena Bhavan, Visva Bharati in collaboration with the Consulate of the Peoples’ Republic of China in Kolkata, the Chinese Peoples’ Association for Friendship with other countries and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations on 3-4 November 2017.
Anita Sengupta (Director) and Priya Singh(Associate Director) were part of a panel organized at the joint Fifteenth Biennial Conference of the European Society of Central Asian Studies and the Sixth Regional Conference of the Central Eurasian Studies Society held at the Central Asian Studies Institute of the American University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic from 29 June to 2 July 2017. The conference had about 400 participants contributing to nearly 100 panels from about 40 countries.
Asia in Global Affairs, in collaboration with the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta organized a Roundtable on Turkey: The Referendum and its Aftermath at the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies on 27 April 2017. The event was attended by students and faculty at the University.
