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CSSS organises a talk by Carola Erika Lorea

CSSS organises a talk by Carola Erika Lorea

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CSSS organises a talk by Carola Erika Lorea
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Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

CSSS Colloquium

 

Carola Erika Lorea

(Research Fellow, University of Heidelberg)

 

Will be presenting a paper on

 

Oral Repertoires of Religion and Displacement:  Performed Homeland(s) around the Bay of Bengal

 

Date & Time: February 22nd, 2018 (Thursday), 3.00 pm

Venue: CSSS Committee Room, SSS-II

 

Abstract:  In the heart of the Bay of Bengal, some seventy years ago, thousands of uprooted, landless agriculturists were asked to transform a jungle into their new home. They were given a free plot of land, free agricultural tools, manure, and some musical instruments. They kept alive drumming patterns, ritual dance, and the innumerable songs 'from back home' composed by their gurus, which transmit a theology of social mobility and resistance. Partition memories of loss and displacement were re-enacted in a collective space that easily slips from the historiographer: a space of identity-making built upon performativity and soundscapes. History has been dominated by reliance upon texts and narrative testimonies, underscoring the discursive sources that can be found in musical and kinesthetic practices. Extending our notion of archive in order to include other vehicles of cultural expression, I present some examples of the ritual and performative practices of a “diaspora of untouchables” and their verbal arts, in order to investigate the confluence between displacement, religion, and transnational connectivity.

 

Bio: Dr Carola Erika Lorea is a scholar interested in oral traditions and popular religions in South Asian as well as diasporic contexts. After a doctoral research on the songs of a Bengali Baul guru and their performative contexts (2015, University of Rome), she was awarded postdoctoral fellowships at IIAS, Gonda Foundation (Leiden) and SAI (Heidelberg) to continue her research on Bengali oral literature and post-Partition displacement. She authored several articles on contemporary folklore and esoteric songs, translated into Italian the works of Jibanananda Das and Nabarun Bhattacharya, and was socially engaged as an interpreter for Bangladeshi refugees for several years in Italy. In her parallel life besides academia, she is a teacher and performer of aerial acrobatics. Her research monograph Folklore, Religion and the Songs of a Bengali Madman: a Journey Between Performance and the Politics of Cultural Representation was recently published by Brill (Leiden, 2016).

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.