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CSDE is organising a talk by Dr. Raj Sekhar Basu

CSDE is organising a talk by Dr. Raj Sekhar Basu

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CSDE is organising a talk by Dr. Raj Sekhar Basu
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF DISCRIMINATION & EXCLUSION (CSDE)

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

 

Invites you to a talk on

 

Contesting the Claims over the Past: The Differing Perceptions of the Elite and Community Historians in India

 

Dr. Raj Sekhar Basu
Department of History, University of Calcutta

 

Date: 22nd January, 2018

Venue: Room no. 402, CSDE, SSS-I

Time: 2:30pm

 

Historians are not the only people who are concerned with the grand task of representing historical developments, often couched in terms of the contemparaniety. In India, the politically articulate sections of the marginalised and the oppressed often find in history an intellectual mechanism through which they could obliterate the hierarchical systems and create honourable, if not alternative spaces for the expression of the voices of the voiceless. Mainstream history privileges some ideas which are considered to be sacrosanct for the well being of the nation, thereby overruling the 'other' voices which are treated as ideational expressions of the passive subjects, denied of a history of their own. However, the so called 'other' communities have their own depictions of their past, which are often a part of times immemorial. Their constructions and imaginations of the past are intertwined with their myths, experiences of encounters with the 'others' and through their own lexicons of social communication. Indeed, all these inform their epistemological understanding of the present/contemporary, a representation of the future and the promise of a return to an idyllic past. Professional history writings professing to be political or apolitical, consciously or unconsciously determined, have been involved with the dehistoricization of the marginalised humanity. The Adivasi and Dalit histories question this element of somnolence and they seemed to be grounded on their own constructions and realization of the contemporary more often which comes under the rubric of lived experiences.

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.