Speaker

FrancescaRecchiais an independent researcher and writer. She is the editor, creative director and a founding member of The Polis Project, Inc. Francesca lived and worked for a decade in A fghanistan where, among other things, was the A cting D irector of the Institute for A fghan A rts and A rchitecture and the Culture Specialist for the A ga Khan Trust for culture She is interested in the geopolitical dimension of cultural processes and in recent years has focused her research on the relation between (tangible and intangible) heritage, politics and creative practices in countries in conflict. H er practice-based work is grounded on an interdisciplinary approach that combines H eritage, D esign, V isual and Cultural Studies

Francesca was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Planning, U niversity College of London, has a PhD in Cultural Studies at the O riental Institute in N aples and a M aster in V isual Cultures at Goldsmiths College, U niversity of London. She was a Research A ssociate at the Centre of South A sian Studies. SO A S, London, and is a V isiting Lecturer at U niversità Bocconi in M ilan. She directed the 4th A fghanistan Contemporary A rt Prize and Caravan serai Kabul in Karachi, a regional cultural festival bringing together cultural expressions from A fghanistan, India and Pakistan

She is the author ofH ow long can the moon be caged? Voices of Indian political prisoners(with Suchitra V ijayan),The Little Book of Kabul (with Lorenzo Tugnoli),Picnic in a M inefield and D evices for Political A ction(with a photo-essay by Leo N ovel)