Lectures in the US: September 2007
In September, Mr Sanjoy Hazarika participated in a conference on Media and Stereotypes, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Bonn (September 3-5) and in a larger conference on the role and impact of the media, co-organized by FES and Deutsche Welle. His paper was on media stereotypes of “Bangladeshis” in India.
Mr. Hazarika travelled to the US where he spoke at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC on 10 September 2007 on the work of the Centre and its outreach in different parts of the NER. The session, “Health and healing by the Brahmaputra” was chaired by David Jhirad, vice-president of the WRI, which is among the top environmental think-tanks in the world; scholars and environmentalists, journalists and diplomats attended the session which Dr. Jhirad said was energizing and “hope-giving.” Dr. Jhirad had invited Mr. Hazarika to give the presentation.
Later, a smaller group watched the first screening of “Children of the River,” a 29-minute documentary produced by Mr. Hazarika and directed by Maulee Senapati on the endangered river dolphins of India; the film was shot on location in Assam and is part of a Ford Foundation project on awareness building, community mobilization, dolphin conservation and creation of gree alternative livelihoods which C-NES is implementing.
In Washington, Mr. Hazarika also met with IT professionals and entrepreneurs from Assam, Dr. Jiten Borpujari and Swaminathan S. Aiyar of the World Bank as well as Partha Gogoi of the Assam Foundation for North America. He had a discussion with Mr. Steven R. Weisman, chief economics correspondent of The New York Times and met with Dr. Dennis Gallagher, a UN consultant on conflict and human rights.
On 11 September, Mr Hazarika spoke to a class of undergraduate students at the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University, Massachusetts, on C-NES’ initiatves and the situation in the North-east. He met with IGL senior staff including Mr. Sherman Teichman, director of the Institute, and Heather Barry, its deputy head. Other meetings included one with Mr. Somnath mandal, computer specialist and a repesentative of the Association for India’s Development as well as Mr. Himendra Thakur, engineer and writer.
In New York, he met with Indian Consul-General Neelam Deo, Peter Goldmark of the Envionment Defense Fund, Jael Silliman, Women’s Rights Program Officer at the Ford Foundation and Gloria Stenheim, eminent feminist and editor.