BARD IN CHINA TO HOST LECTURE THURSDAY, MARCH 17, ON POST-TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION IN SRI LANKA

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On Thursday, March 17, Sanjay DeSilva, assistant professor of economics at Bard College, will deliver a lecture on campus. His talk, “Development from the Ground Up: Lessons from the Past and Implications for Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Sri Lanka,” will contrast different approaches for redevelopment in Sri Lanka. The talk is free and open to the public and takes place at 7:30 p.m. in room 115 of the Olin Language Center. The lecture is presented by Bard in China, with support from the Freeman Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative. In his lecture, DeSilva will draw from his research on education and the political economy in Sri Lanka in order to compare top-down (or state-led) approaches to development with grassroots efforts. He will address the impact of the tsunami on the political and economic situation in Sri Lanka and present ways in which civil society, including the Bard and local communities, can help support individuals and organizations trying to rebuild their lives in ways that are in tune with Sri Lankan ecology and culture. DeSilva has been an assistant professor of economics at Bard since 2000. He is also a member of the Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, and Global and International Studies Programs. In fall of 2004, with a Freeman grant, he was a visiting fellow in the department of economics, University of Columbo, Sri Lanka. During his time in Sri Lanka, DeSilva made presentations to the Institute of Policy Studies and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. His other research includes an ongoing project, at the Yale University Economic Growth Center, on the consumption and production choices of rice-farming villagers in the Bicol region of the Philippines. He has a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University. For more information about the forum, please call 845-758-7388 or e-mail gould@bard.edu.

Website: https://inside.bard.edu/academic/programs/bardinchina/

This event was last updated on 03-18-2005

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