Cultural Cooperation in South Asia : The Search for Community

Contents: I. Introduction: 1. Preamble and epilogue to the fifth South Asia regional dialogue/Rehman Sobhan. 2. Cultural cooperation in South Asia/Ferdous Azim. 3. The Fifth South Asia dialogue (Inaugural address)/Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman. II. Social Justice and Human Rights: 1. Bangladesh Theatre: some specific perspectives/Kabir Chowdhury. 2. Social justice and human rights: reflections in Bangladesh literature/Anisuzzaman. 3. Many Bhashas but one literature/U.R. Anantha Murthy. 4. The resilience of Pakistan\'s Parallel Theatre/Madeeha Gauhar. 5. Society, the state and the artist: the evolution of contemporary art in Pakistan/Naazish Ata-Ullah. 6. The two extremes of performing arts in Pakistan/Sarwat Ali. 7. Literature and the theatre in contemporary Sri LankA/K.N.O. Dharmadasa. 8. The contemporary art scene in Sri Lanka/Stanley Kirinde. III. Women in Society: 1. A different voice: women writing in Bangladesh/Roushan Jahan. 2. Contemporary South Asian art and women/Nazrul Islam. 3. Women in the contemporary art world of Bangladesh: images and reality/Lala Rukh Selin. 4. The image of women on TV and cinema/Sara Zaker. 5. Images of women in Hindi cinema: Post 1950\'s/Shabana Azmi. 6. Women in Indian dance/Sonal Mansingh. 6. The shared imagination and cooperation in South Asia: Nepalese perspective/Durga Prasad Bhandari. 7. Images of the female in Sri Lankan art/Sirima Kiribamune. IV. Fundamentalism & Communalism: 1. Communalism and religious fundamentalism: threat to civilization/A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed. 2. Fundamentalism and communalism: some literary responses/Anisuzzaman. 3. Muslims and I/Vijay Tendulkar. 4. Ideals of humanism and co-existence in Pakistani literature/Intazir Husain. Annexures.

"The South Asian Regional Dialogue took off in 1991 to promote a greater sense of community within South Asia. Between 1991 and 1995 successive dialogues were organised in New Delhi, Kandy, Lahore and Kathmandu. The fifth dialogue was held in Dhaka on 25-27 February 1997. The dialogue focused on the way in which different art forms address the themes viz., Social Justice and Human Rights, Women in Society and Fundamentalism and Communalism. The purpose of the dialogue was to examine the extent to which the creative imagination within South Asian Region, expressed in the different disciplines of literature, drama, the plastic arts, music and dance view these important social issues. Leading cultural figures from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in the dialogue and explored the presence of a shared cultural identity within the South Asian Region which may provide a more substantive basis for cooperation between not just the Governments but also the peoples of South Asia." (jacket)