The Pharos Lectures are an ongoing series of free public lectures and conversations delivered by the most distinguished public intellectuals. Like their namesake, the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria, they are intended to serve as a beacon and invitation to learning in a darkening age.

Join us for a discussion with Iván Duque Márquez, the Former President of Colombia and hear his insights on Colombian foreign policy.

When: Jan 27th 2023, from 15:30 to 16:30.

Where: Amersi Foundation Lecture Room, Brasenose College, University of Oxford.

This presentation will examine the role of music festival organisers as “postcolonial custodians” fostering communal amity through classical music in newly created India and Pakistan. Focused on musical life in the region of Punjab that saw the greatest volume of migration and cataclysm during the violent upheaval of Partition in 1947, I offer a new perspective on regional cultural activity during the 1950s and 1960s in South Asia.

Freedom of speech and expression is a critical indicator of the health of any society and guarantee of such freedom is integral to democracy. Yet, does a legal or constitutional guarantee necessarily translate into lived experience? One of the ways to measure freedoms is to examine the treatment meted by the State to literary and cultural dissent and resistance. In this session, we examine the status of free speech and expression in Mughal India by focussing on the treatment of dissenting and irreverent poets.