testing ‘a thin wall’ at douglass auditorium @540westmain today – everything looks and sounds great! can’t wait for the screening and discussion on sat march 14th. pls join us at 6pm.

After the screening of ‘A Thin Wall’ there will be a Q&A discussion about the film, the 1947 partition, and the current news coming out of India.

I will be joined by Hibah Arshad, who will speak from personal experience about what it’s like to have family in India.

Hibah Arshad is a graduate of the University of Rochester. She majored in Psychology and is planning to pursue a career in medicine. She has been actively involved in interfaith efforts and community outreach for a number of years. She is a first generation Indian-American, and hopes to bring light to the impact that these recent events have had on Indian Muslims around the world.

My second co-panelist, for our post-screening discussion, will be Thomas Gibson. Tom will talk about British colonialism, the history of the RSS and European fascism. He will also locate the Delhi pogrom in a global, neoliberal context. Here is his bio.

Thomas Gibson is an anthropologist who has conducted extensive field research in the Philippines and Indonesia on religious nationalism, the indigenous peoples movement, and the legacy of Spanish, American and Dutch colonialism in Southeast Asia. He teaches courses at the University of Rochester on Radical Social Theory, American Empire, and Political Ontology.

Sat. March 14 // 6-9 PM // 36 King Street
Tickets on sale now:
$8/online // $10/ at the door
http://tiny.cc/540thinwall

when i was working on ‘a thin wall,’ some people questioned its relevance. after all, why would something that happened in 1947, on the other side of the planet, in south asia, have any relevance for the world in the 21st century.

the advent of fascism in india along with the recent violence unleashed on minorities, especially the anti-muslim pogrom in delhi, have everything to do with the partition – with ethnonationalism, racial supremacy, and ideas of separation and ‘purity.’ many have likened the pogrom to kristallnacht in 1930s germany. there are also astounding similarities to the incitement and killings of 1947.

so far there has been no public discussion in rochester about the unraveling of india, what arundhati roy describes as follows:

‘A democracy that is not governed by a Constitution and one whose institutions have all been hollowed out can only ever become a majoritarian state. You can agree or disagree with a Constitution as a whole or in part – but to act as though it does not exist as this government is doing is to completely dismantle democracy. Perhaps this is the aim. This is our version of the coronavirus. We are sick.’

pls join us for a vigorous post-screening discussion and learn more. this can happen anywhere, especially in the US where fascism has already become a reality.

will be posting the bios of my co-panelists soon.

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taught @my.marikoyamada’s ‘dance performance and collaboration’ class today at @nazarethcollege. i talked about #TheInjuredBody: a #film about #racism in america, showed students clips from interviews. i explained #microaggressions, double consciousness and franz fanon’s work on the ‘muscular contraction’ of the colonized body. we read a poem from ‘citizen: an american lyric’ and saw the film projection from a fringe festival piece that mariko and i collaborated on in 2017. i asked students to use the words, concepts and images we had discussed to choreograph a multimedia piece. they did an incredible job in just 30-40 minutes. this is a v rough presentation of the individual choreography as well as a tiny bit of the collaborative ‘phrase’ they came up with ?

A post shared by mara ahmed (@mara__ahmed) on Feb 28, 2020 at 5:47pm PST

rochester friends, this will be a final screening of my film ‘a thin wall’ before i move away. what better venue than 540WMain, Inc. a wonderful collab with Calvin Eaton and a way to raise some funds for community work. if u haven’t seen the film, pls join us. i will be there for a discussion afterwards 🙂