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CSSS organises a talk by Prof. Piers Vitebsky

CSSS organises a talk by Prof. Piers Vitebsky

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CSSS organises a talk by Prof. Piers Vitebsky
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Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

CSSS Colloquium

 

Piers Vitebsky

 (Professor in Anthropology, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)

 

Will be presenting a paper on

Living without the Dead: Changing Forms of Loss and Redemption among the Sora Adivasis of Odisha

 

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

Venue: Convention Centre - Room No: 108

 

Abstract: Just one generation ago, the Sora lived in a world populated by the spirits of their dead, who spoke to them through shamans in trance. Every day, they negotiated their wellbeing in heated arguments or in quiet reflections on their feelings of love, anger, and guilt. Today, young Sora are rejecting the worldview of their ancestors and switching their allegiance to sects of Christianity or Hinduism. Communion with ancestors is banned, sacred sites demolished, and female shamans replaced by male priests, as debate with the dead gives way to prayer to gods. For some, this shift means liberation from jungle spirits through literacy, employment, and democratic politics; others despair of being forgotten after death.  How can a society abandon one understanding of reality so suddenly and see the world in a totally different way?  The author argues that the old way of life had become unsustainable, and explores how these sects represent a spectrum of forms of rupture and reform.

 

Bio: Piers Vitebsky is a social anthropologist specialising in the religions and languages of trbal societies, carrying out fieldwork among adivasis in India and in the Russian Arctic.  He was educated in Cambridge, Oxford, Delhi and London, and recently retired as Head of Anthropology and Russian Northern Studies at the Scott Polar Research Institute in the University of Cambridge. His books include Dialogues with the Dead: the Discussion of Mortality among the Sora of Eastern India and Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia.

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.