Karachi: The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi’s Department of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts (SSLA), in collaboration with the School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) and the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), has successfully launched its first departmental conference. The event, titled ‘Revisiting Narratives: Nationhood, Public Memory, Urbanity and Labouring Lives,’ was held at the IBA Main Campus.
According to Institute of Business Administration – Karachi, the conference assembled a diverse group of seasoned and emerging scholars, practitioners, government representatives, and university students from both local and international backgrounds. The purpose was to foster discussions on global and local narratives that significantly impact contemporary lives.
Dr. Laila Sohail Farooq, Chairperson of SSLA, opened the conference with welcoming remarks, setting the stage for a series of in-depth panels and discussions. Notably, Dr. Ravi Ahuja, a scholar of Modern Indian History from Georg-August University Gottingen, delivered a keynote lecture exploring the evolution of ‘labour’ as a conceptual and political category in South Asia.
The panels addressed various topics including the role of labor in Pakistan’s legal and political discourse, the impact of the Korean Wave through the lenses of fandom and feminism, and the complex issues surrounding Pakistani national identity and citizenship. Each session aimed to deepen the understanding of these themes in relation to the broader social and political context.
A special feature of the conference was the showcase of student work at the IBA Alumni Students’ Centre, which included projects from courses such as Critical Media Practice and Visual Methods in Urban Research. Dr. S Akbar Zaidi, Executive Director of IBA, highlighted the importance of student contributions to the academic community and encouraged attendees to engage with the displayed works.
The conference concluded on Saturday, August 24, marking a significant milestone in fostering academic dialogue at IBA Karachi.