Events Calendar

Join the South Asian Studies Program (SASP), an International Programs affinity group, as they host a lecture by Professor Ajailiu Niumai on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, 4–5:30 p.m. (CDT) in the International Commons, room 1117 of the University Capitol Centre at the University of Iowa (UI).

Through her talk, Unraveling Manipur conflict in Northeast India, Niumai will provide an overview of how peace eludes Manipur (Northeast India) in the aftermath of brutal violence that erupted in May 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities. This ethnic conflict has displaced 60,000 people and killed over 200. Tensions have been brewing for years. Today, both Kuki-Zo and Meitei have formed armed groups and non-state armed vigilantes provide protection.

Niumai is professor of sociology and former head of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH); and senior research associate, Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa (2023-25). She is the assistant director, Institute of Eminence, University of Hyderabad (2023-25). Her research interest includes gender studies (sex and labor trafficking of women/children, and women’s sexual health), Indian Diaspora, Northeast India studies, and NGOs and development. She has published articles in reputed journals like Economic & Political Weekly, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Sociological Bulletin, Contemporary Voice of Dalit, the Eastern Anthropologist, International Anthropological Journal - Man in India, and the like. She is a guest editor of the Special Volume on Gender and Social Exclusion, Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer Nature (2024). Her books include Gender, Law and Social Transformation in India, Springer Nature, Germany/Singapore (2022); and Hundreds Years of Sociology in India: Evolving Issues, Emerging Trends by Springer Nature, Singapore (to be published in September/October 2024).