Symposium – Wednesday, October 30th

The Annual Conference on South Asia’s Symposium (formerly known as PreConference) offers half and full-day time slots during which presenters and participants can actively discuss more complex topics that would not be suitable to our shorter 105-minute panel format.

All symposia are open to registered conference attendees

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Held at Madison Concourse Hotel unless otherwise indicated.

Some symposia may be offered in a hybrid format; information will be shared below as it becomes available.

Manifesting Heritage: Museums, Memorialization, and Archaeology in Modern South Asia

Assembly Room | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

South Asian Sacred Sites: Connections and Intersections

Caucus Room | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

South Asian Screen Cultures: In/Visible Archives and Stories

Senate Room A | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

The Sounds of Inequality: Musical Boundaries and Caste Realities in Modern South Asia

Senate Room B | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Amplifying Politics, Unsettling Frames: Everyday Spaces and Regimes of Dispossession and Agency

Conference Room 1 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Re-Imagining the Telugu Publics

Conference Room 2 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Craft Geographies: Unravelling Material Cultures and Communities in South and Central Asian History

Conference Room 3 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Towards Another World: Cold War Internationalisms in South Asia

Conference Room 4 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Symposium on Kerala Studies

Conference Room 5 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

New Directions in Kashmir Studies

Capitol Ballroom A | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Countless Eyes, Countless Mouths: New Dialogues in the Study of Multivocal Bhagavad Gitas

WI Ballroom | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Action and Effect in the Karmabhūmi: Jain Perspectives on Agency

University A/B | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Right-Wing Aesthetic Grammars

University C/D | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Everyday Life in Mughal India

Parlor Room 627 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Hindu Textual Authority

Parlor Room 629 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Animal Subjects in South Asia

Parlor Room 634 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Embodied Divinity in South Asian Religions

Parlor Room 638 | 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Did Buddhism Decline in the Thirteenth Century: Rethinking Medieval Buddhism in Eastern India

1219* | 8:30 AM – 12:15 PM

*This room requires key card access

Regional Centers in South Asian Imaginaries: Geographies, Boundaries, & Polities

Private Dining Room | 8:30 AM- 12:15 PM

Understanding Bangladesh: An Insider Approach

Private Dining Room | 1:45 PM- 5:30 PM

Symposium Submission Guidelines

To propose a Symposium (formerly known as ‘PreConference’), you must submit:

  • A 200-300 word abstract
  • A preliminary list of speakers*
  • A preliminary schedule**
  • Justification of why the content of your proposed Symposium warrants more time than a panel or double-panel would allow

*We understand that your list of preliminary speakers and your proposed schedule may change following acceptance. Please do your best to give us a sense of who will be speaking (i.e. how many speakers, of which professional backgrounds, from which geographic regions, etc.) and what the schedule might look like when you submit your proposal (i.e. how much time is dedicated to presentations, audience discussion, breakout discussion, etc.).

**Your Symposium schedule must work around our all-conference breaks (7:30-8:30am, 10:15-10:30am, 3:30-3:45pm) and lunch (12:15-1:45pm).


Please note that you may request a 1/2 day or full day Symposium.

A full day Symposium runs from 8:30am to 5:30pm
A half day Symposium runs from 8:30am to 12:15pm or from 1:45 to 5:30pm


If you submit a Symposium and your submission is not accepted, you still have time to submit a Panel, Round Table, or Single Paper given the April 5 deadline for these submission types. All Symposium speakers must register for the conference by June 30. Registration refunds are offered through September 15 should your proposals not be accepted.

The Annual Conference on South Asia’s Symposia (formerly known as PreConference) offers half and full-day time slots during which presenters and participants can actively discuss more complex topics that would not be suitable to our shorter 105-minute panel format.

Half Day Symposia run from either 8:30am – 12:15pm or 1:45 – 5:30pm.
Full Day Symposia run from 8:30am – 5:30pm.

Your Symposium schedule must work with our all-conference breaks (7:30-8:30am, 10:15-10:30am, 3:30-3:45pm) and lunch (12:15-1:45pm).

Please note that your Symposium participants must register and submit payment upon your Symposium being accepted.

Please see our Conference Deadlines page for detailed information on important cutoff dates.

Submit Your Proposal Here!