Speaker: Iftikhar Dadi, Department of History of Art and Visual Studies, Cornell University

Iftikhar Dadi’s research examines art as a global and networked practice from the late nineteenth century to the present. He engages with theorizations of modernity, contemporaneity, and postcoloniality to analyze the modern and contemporary art of Asia, the Middle East, and their diasporas. Another research interest is his study of media, crafts, and popular culture with reference to ongoing socio-aesthetic transformations in South Asia, seeking to understand how emergent urban publics forge new avenues of civic participation. Dadi’s curatorial projects and his work as a practicing artist have further served to enrich his academic scholarship.

This presentation will address key methodological issues in the analysis of Urdu cinema during its formative decades. These include changes that ensued with the introduction of the talkies, the relationship of "Urdu" cinema to "Hindi" cinema, the imbrication of cinema with the literary world, the relays between Lahore and Bombay studios and personnel, and transformations in wake of the 1947 Partition and Independence of India and Pakistan.

Co-sponsored by the Department of History of Art, the Islamic Studies Program, and Screen Arts & Cultures.