International Conference on “1947 : RETHINKING” 13th – 14th March, 2015
1947: Rethinking
Organised by Department of History, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra
For participation and further details please contact:-
Director of the Conference:
Prof. Amarjit Singh, Chairman, Department of History, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119 (Haryana) (M) – 098121-84925
Landline No (s) – 01744-238410, 238196, 238679, Extn. 2558 & 2559 (Office)
Organizing Secretaries:
Dr. Nandini Bashistha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of History, K.U.Kurukshetra (M) – 09729074479
Mr. Dharamveer Saini, Assistant Professor, Department of History, K.U.Kurukshetra (M) – 097288-61900
Email:
chairperson.history@kuk.ac.in
amarjitsingh_45@yahoo.co.in
Please attached for full details:Concept Note-1, Information regarding International Conference-1
Gender Justice/Injustice in South Asia: Feminism, Protest, and the Neo-Liberal State
SOAS South Asia Institute
**Registration required. Limited seats available**
Symposium : Gender Justice/Injustice in South Asia: Feminism, Protest, and the Neo-Liberal State
Room: V111, Vernon Square Campus. Directions below.
View programme online: www.soas.ac.uk/south-asia-institute/events/workshops/13feb2015-gender-justiceinjustice-in-south-asia-feminism-protest-and-the-neo-liberal-state.html
London WC1X 9EW
About
Free Registration
**All successful applicants will receive an email by 11th February 2015 confirming their place. ***
Conveners:
Dr. Navtej Purewal, Deputy Director, SOAS South Asia Institute, University of London
Dr. Kalpana Wilson, Senior Research Fellow, Gender Institute, LSE
Sponsor:
This event has been organised by the SOAS South Asia Institute in collaboration with the LSE Gender Justice Institute.
New Paper on Social Democracy in India by Ronki Ram
Jagtar Singh Dhesi Annual Lecture 2014
As part of this annual lecture, a revised 2013 paper, CASTE, NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMIC REFORMS AND THE DECLINE OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN INDIA has been sent in for circulation. The paper reports on the at times inchoate and at other times ancient relationship between wealth generation, distribution and the hierarchical societal dichotomy of India’s democracy. Ram reflects contemporaneously on the asymmetrical relationship between the copycat “buzzword” of “economic liberalisation” in the circles of academic social sciences and the more predictable failure of this corpus to ignite change in not just political sociology but also I would suggest local and national governance ideology. As Ram concludes, “It seems that market and caste have joined hands to pose a most serious challenge to the nascent institution of social democracy in India.” (pp. 25)
Below is an excerpt outlining the paper.
“This paper is divided into four parts. The first critically examines the institution of social democracy in India while distinguishing it from that of social democracy in Europe. In the second, complex but intricate relationships among caste, poverty and neo-liberal market economy are delineated at some length. This part is based on a premise that neo-liberal market economy in India does not only deepens poverty but also strengthen the asymmetrical structures of caste, which in turn entrench the already existing social exclusion in the society. Part third deals with the phenomenon of social democracy as articulated by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the ways it facilitated downtrodden to improve their living conditions. How the institution of free market economy scuttles the essence of nascent institution of social democracy in India and the new challenges it throws on the socially excluded sections of the society are also discussed at length. The fourth part draws on heavily on the implications of the neo-liberal economic reforms for the emancipatory project of social democracy in India and the birth of new contradictions that it gave rise to the disadvantage of Dalits.” (pp.4)
The full text can be found here, pol1-13 Ronki Ram.
First publication source, Punjab Journal of Politics, Amritsar Vol. XXXVII, Nos. 1-2, 2013
G.S Jandu
London
Drugs in Punjab
There has recently been a number of reports about the drugs problem affecting Punjab, India and I wanted to share some useful articles and documentaries. It has become a huge problem, politically, economically and of course socially. If you have any comments or links to other useful articles or references please share them via the comments option.
Glut – The Untold Story of Punjab – 2011 documentary film examining the drug problem in Punjab.
Recent debate on NDTV: Watch: Punjab’s Drug Problem – No Political Will?
Four out of 10 men addicted to drugs in Punjab by Shishir Gupta
Drug epidemic grips India’s Punjab state by Simon Denyer
‘Drug hurricane’ lashing India’s Punjab by Toral Varla
Punjab teeters on edge of crisis as 70% fall into drug addiction by Rahul Bedi
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/punjab-teeters-edge-crisis-70-fall-drug-addiction
What happened to the land of plenty – Punjab? By Ushinor Majumdar
http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/india/happened-land-plenty-punjab/
Drug abuse threatens Punjab’s population
http://www.dw.de/drug-abuse-threatens-punjabs-population/a-16683761
Punjab in grip of a drug epidemic
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/punjab-in-grip-of-a-drug-epidemic-1.1082442
Sinking into deep despair of a drug epidemic by Ben Doherty
http://www.smh.com.au/world/sinking-into-deep-despair-of-a-drug-epidemic-20130310-2fu2o.html
British Empire and WW1
The art installation, called ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’, features 888,246 ceramic poppies – one for every British and Commonwealth soldier who died during the conflict.
The poppies have been laid throughout the summer by creator Paul Cummins and a team of volunteers. Further pictures: http://www.demotix.com/news/5441679/ceramic-poppies-fill-tower-london-moat-commemorate-wwi#media-5441668
The Hindu published ‘A European war, fought by India by
If World War I resonates in such a weak, confused, and even negative way with Europeans, it is little wonder that young Africans or Indians see even smaller stakes in this year’s centenary ceremonies. This is why it is crucial to understand the war’s global scope and the role played by the British Empire and Commonwealth.
Read full article: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-european-war-fought-by-india/article6281135.ece?homepage=true
The News on Sunday ‘From the war front’ by Mahmood Awan
An account of the Punjabi soldiers who became the cannon fodder of the colonising power in World War I, and the mournful songs and literature this episode in history generated in its wake.
Read full article: http://tns.thenews.com.pk/punjabi-soldiers-on-the-war-front/#.U-CbG0gpOHl
‘Empire, Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One’
The exhibition will be held at the Brunei Gallery at the School of Oriental & African Studies’ (SOAS), Russell Square, from 9 July to 28 September, and is the launch event of a three year project to reveal the untold story of how one of the world’s smallest communities played a disproportionately large role in the ‘war to end all wars’.
What Indian soldiers in the First World War wrote home about by David Omissi
To commemorate the centenary of India’s service in the First World War, the British historian David Omissi collected the letters of Indian soldiers away from home in Indian Voices of the Great War, published this year by Penguin. These eloquent letters offer a poignant glimpse into the lives of these Indian soldiers, whom history forgot.
Read full article: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/what-indian-soldiers-first-world-war-wrote-home-about
Women and Partition by Pippa Virdee
A couple of new articles on women and partition:
Pippa Virdee, ‘Remembering partition: women, oral histories and the Partition of 1947.’ Oral History, Autumn 2013, Volume 41, No 3, pp. 49-62.
Abstract: This article explores key developments in the way Partition has been represented in the history of India and Pakistan. It more specifically examines how alternative silent voices have been become more visible in the past fifteen years in the historiography of Partition. This shift has been made possible with the use of oral testimonies to document accounts of ordinary people’s experiences of this event in the history of India and Pakistan. The article then goes on to reflect on the author’s experiences of working in South Asia and the use of oral history as a radical and empowering tool in understanding women’s history in Pakistan.
Follow link for details: http://www.oralhistory.org.uk/journal-search.php?parameter=issue&searchkey=86
Pippa Virdee, ‘The Heart Divided: Writing the Human Drama of Partition in India/Pakistan’
http://imowblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/clio-talks-back-heart-divided-writing.html
Travel grants for research in India – deadline 31 March 2013
The Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH UK Trust) offers financial support for students who as part of their study need to travel to India to undertake research. Awards are made twice yearly and the next application deadline is 31 March 2013. We support research in all areas of cultural heritage, archaeology, architecture, dance, music, literature and much more. We particularly welcome scholarship applications which focus on skills development and capacity building.
Applications for travel grants, or for grants to support conservation or research work, are invited twice a year on 31st March and 30th September. In some circumstances applications received between these dates will be considered. Only applicants who are UK citizens are eligible for INTACH UK Trust grants.
Scholarships may cover air passage to India and in some cases subsistence allowance, internal travel, and payment of fees to approved institutions.
All applications for scholarships will need to be endorsed by two appropriate, suitably qualified or experienced people who can act as referees for the applicants. Grants for conservation work will not normally cover the entire cost of projects and grants will therefore need to be supported by funds from other sources. As applications for support normally greatly exceed available funds, INTACH UK Trust supports those projects or proposals which it considers best fit its remit, demonstrate good practice and offer the prospect of delivering significant conservation benefits.
For more information on these grants and for an application form please see INTACH UK Trust Travel Grants
Thank you, and kind regards
Sheila Christie
Office Manager
ICOMOS-UK
70 Cowcross Street
London EC1M 6EJ
Monday to Thursday 9.30am to 1pm
020 7566 0031
Anand Patwardhan’s Portraits of India
The work of India’s foremost film essayist
23 – 25 February 2013
Legendary film maker Anand Patwardhan brings a cinematic eye to pressing issues facing India and the world today. Fiercely independent and never afraid to take on the censors, he writes and edits passionate, probing, timely and timeless films.
To open three days of introduced screenings and discussion we will show the award-winning film, Jai Bhim Comrade. A special event to follow will feature Anand Patwardhan in conversation with poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson.
“Legendary director Anand Patwardhan’s epic doc about dalit people is a massive, musical, magnificent, masterpiece” – Mark Cousins on Jai Bhim Comrade
“…a tour de force, beautifully shot and often darkly funny…” – Duncan Campbell on War and Peace in The Guardian
Further details: http://www.bfimessages.org.uk/t/ViewEmail/y/4C53B01AE72E9A13/70E856DF948D6100419C69E1CEBE89F9
Raziuddin Aquil, ed. Sufism and Society in Medieval India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010
Reviewed by Usha Sanyal (Queens University of Charlotte)
This is an interesting collection of essays on aspects of Sufism during the twelfth through eighteenth centuries by well-known scholars in the field, such as K. A. Nizami, J. M. S. Baljon, and Simon Digby, among others. All nine essays have been published previously. They are brought together here, along with an introductory essay by Raziuddin Aquil, the editor, as part of Oxford University Press’s Debates in Indian History and Society series. Thematically, many of the essays are concerned with the role of Sufis in the subcontinent in Islamization and conversion of Hindus to Islam, with the authors taking different stands on the issue. Subsidiary sets of issues relate to Sufis and their relation to the state and to possession of wealth and property, as well as relations between different Sufi orders and between Sufis and scholars of Islamic law (the ulama), language, and social class. One essay, by Richard M. Eaton, deals with the role of women’s songs in transmitting Sufi ideas to illiterate villagers in the seventeenth-century Deccan.
Aquil frames the primary concern of the book, namely, the roles that medieval Sufis played in the conversion of Hindus to Islam, in historiographic terms by focusing on the perspectives of the essay writers themselves. Broadly, Aquil sees three distinct scholarly positions: those whose “writings … emphasize the pluralistic character of Indian society and the commendable role of Sufis in providing a practical framework for communal harmony” (essays by Nizami, S. A. A. Rizvi, and Carl W. Ernst, in Aquil’s view, belong in this group); those who adopt “a more empirically sustainable approach even while remaining committed to the idea of secularism and such other virtues expected from historians in Indian academia” (in this group, he places the contributions by Eaton, Digby, and Muzaffar Alam); and those who take “a Muslim separatist position” (the only example in the volume is the piece by Aziz Ahmad) (p. x). On the one hand, Aquil expresses strong disagreement with Ahmad, writing that he “offers a somewhat cynical interpretation marred by his separatist outlook, which, in turn, was influenced by the post-Partition Muslim predicament in the Indian subcontinent” (p. xv). On the other hand, Aquil feels that Nizami, for example, is prone to making broad generalizations, characterizing the ulama as “conservative and reactionary theologians,… [leaving] the Sufis to rise to the occasion, releasing ‘syncretic forces which liquidated social, ideological, and linguistic barriers’ between Hindus and Muslims for building a ‘common cultural outlook.’” In contrast, Aquil clearly esteems the work of those he terms “empiricist,” describing the essay by Alam, for example, as a “balanced and empirically dense argument on the question of community relations” (p. xvi). Seen in this light, the essays not only offer different perspectives on the roles of Sufis in medieval India, but also illustrate different academic approaches, over the past fifty years, to that history.
Read full review: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=32240
CFP: RaD Conference 2010
Religion shaping development: inspirational, inhibiting, institutionalised?
Conference organised by the Religions and Development Research Programme, 21st-23rd July, 2010, University of Birmingham, UK: first announcement and call for papers.
The conference (21st-22nd July) will bring together findings from the RaD programme and related research. On 23rd July, a range of development actors will be invited to explore the policy and practice implications of the research. Papers on the conference themes are invited – see further: http://www.rad.bham.ac.uk/index.php?section=1
Please send abstracts (2-400 words) to Dr Tina Dugbazah j.e.dugbazah@bham.ac.uk by 30th November, 2009.
2010 India Research Fellowship
The Centre for Studies in Religion and Society invites applications from Indian scholars for a visiting research fellowship appointment at the University of Victoria.
Topics: Applications are welcomed for projects that meet the Centre’s mandate of promoting the interdisciplinary study of religion in relation to any and all aspects of society and culture, both contemporary and historical. Topics may include but are not limited to examinations of religious themes within the areas of ethics, health, environment, technology, public policy, human conflict, art, literature, the media, law, philosophy or the natural sciences. The fellowship is particularly targeted at scholars working on religion in modern India, though other topics will also be considered. Applications from all disciplinary backgrounds are welcome.
Eligibility: Indian citizens who are completing their doctoral work, are engaged in post-doctoral research, or who have regular academic appointments in India.
Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2 CANADA
Deadline: September 9, 2009
This fellowship is made possible by a grant from the Office of the Vice-President Research at the University of Victoria. For more information about the CSRS and its fellowship programs visit http://www.csrs.uvic.ca, or phone 250-721-6325.
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