The 15th annual conference on Pakistan at the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, brings our focus on Pakistani culture as it interacts with the processes of seeing and being seen. How do countries, peoples, and cultures come to be seen in a global framework? How might the shared qualities of sight and vision unite experiences as disparate as the art museum, the social media site, and the movie theater?
We kick off our conference with a screening of the 2023 film Wakhri, directed by Iram Parveen Bilal, at 7pm on Thursday, January 30th at the Michigan Theater. Wakhri dramatizes the extraordinary life and tragic death of Qandeel Baloch (1990-2016), who is often described as Pakistan’s first social media celebrity.
On Friday, January 31st, we will begin with a keynote address from the film’s director, Iram Parveen Bilal. A Pakistani writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles, Bilal will speak to us about the process of making the film, what it means to be a Pakistani-American filmmaker today, and how her own use of the cinematic medium reflects upon Qandeel Baloch’s use of the visually oriented world of social media. What parts of Wakhri the film, and of Baloch the historical figure, are particularly Pakistani, and what parts might we more correctly see as indicative of a shared global predicament as moving image media and social media respond to one another?
Our conversation about seeing and being seen continues with a second keynote address by Saleema Waraich, an associate professor of Art History at Skidmore College. Waraich explores these issues through notions of invisibility and visibility, as elicited by the oppressive and unrelenting smog that blanketed Lahore for two weeks, briefly earning Lahore the title of the most polluted city in the world. One of the many hazardous conditions created by the smog was severely limited visibility, and in this talk, Waraich connects these precarious environmental conditions to a long-standing enthusiasm for “development” that relies on an inability to critically engage with and resist discourses of “progress”and “growth” that pollute both people’s minds and the environment.
This paper further queries how practices related to visibility that are associated with “development” manifest in recent restoration efforts involving Lahore's Mughal heritage. Waraich interrogates the image of Lahore’s Mughal heritage for the tourist industry as promoted by the Walled City Authority of Lahore (WCAL) and the ways in which these sites are being used by local populations to represent themselves, in part through the selfie and TikTok cultures that drive many younger audiences to visit these sites. Asking what is being made visible (and consumable) through these forms of self-representation, what drives these systems of representation, and to what ends, this paper explores the relationship between (not) seeing and being seen and probes the spaces in between.
Pakistan Conference Schedule
10:00 to 10:30 AM Welcome, breakfast, opening remarks
10:30 AM to Noon Iram Parveen Bilal, filmmaker, Wakhri
Noon to 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 to 2:30 PM Saleema Waraich, Skidmore College
2.30 to 3:00P PM Closing discussion
If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at csas@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
We kick off our conference with a screening of the 2023 film Wakhri, directed by Iram Parveen Bilal, at 7pm on Thursday, January 30th at the Michigan Theater. Wakhri dramatizes the extraordinary life and tragic death of Qandeel Baloch (1990-2016), who is often described as Pakistan’s first social media celebrity.
On Friday, January 31st, we will begin with a keynote address from the film’s director, Iram Parveen Bilal. A Pakistani writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles, Bilal will speak to us about the process of making the film, what it means to be a Pakistani-American filmmaker today, and how her own use of the cinematic medium reflects upon Qandeel Baloch’s use of the visually oriented world of social media. What parts of Wakhri the film, and of Baloch the historical figure, are particularly Pakistani, and what parts might we more correctly see as indicative of a shared global predicament as moving image media and social media respond to one another?
Our conversation about seeing and being seen continues with a second keynote address by Saleema Waraich, an associate professor of Art History at Skidmore College. Waraich explores these issues through notions of invisibility and visibility, as elicited by the oppressive and unrelenting smog that blanketed Lahore for two weeks, briefly earning Lahore the title of the most polluted city in the world. One of the many hazardous conditions created by the smog was severely limited visibility, and in this talk, Waraich connects these precarious environmental conditions to a long-standing enthusiasm for “development” that relies on an inability to critically engage with and resist discourses of “progress”and “growth” that pollute both people’s minds and the environment.
This paper further queries how practices related to visibility that are associated with “development” manifest in recent restoration efforts involving Lahore's Mughal heritage. Waraich interrogates the image of Lahore’s Mughal heritage for the tourist industry as promoted by the Walled City Authority of Lahore (WCAL) and the ways in which these sites are being used by local populations to represent themselves, in part through the selfie and TikTok cultures that drive many younger audiences to visit these sites. Asking what is being made visible (and consumable) through these forms of self-representation, what drives these systems of representation, and to what ends, this paper explores the relationship between (not) seeing and being seen and probes the spaces in between.
Pakistan Conference Schedule
10:00 to 10:30 AM Welcome, breakfast, opening remarks
10:30 AM to Noon Iram Parveen Bilal, filmmaker, Wakhri
Noon to 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 to 2:30 PM Saleema Waraich, Skidmore College
2.30 to 3:00P PM Closing discussion
If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at csas@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
| Building: | North Quad |
|---|---|
| Event Type: | Conference / Symposium |
| Tags: | Film, Pakistan, South Asia |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Center for South Asian Studies, International Institute, Asian Languages and Cultures |
