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CSRD organises a lecture by Prof Tim Dyson

CSRD organises a lecture by Prof Tim Dyson

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CSRD organises a lecture by Prof Tim Dyson
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Centre for the Study of Regional Development,

School of Social Sciences

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

 

Invites you all to a lecture on

 

The Population History of Asia

 

Prof Tim Dyson**

 

Date :   June 25, 2019 (Tuesday),

Time: 3:00 pm

Venue: Committee Room, CSRD, SSS III (Ist Floor)

 

Abstract : The hunter-gatherer population of Asia probably numbered 1-2 million. However, the appearance of agriculture saw population increase, and it is likely that by 1 CE the population was at least 100 million. For Japan and China, there are data which throw light on their populations in pre-modern times. Moreover, both countries underwent rapid demographic transitions in the twentieth century—substantially restricting the associated amount of population growth. For Southeast Asia and India, there are almost no population data prior to the late eighteenth century, although what happened afterwards is better documented. Both these diverse areas experienced quite prolonged demographic transitions and considerable population growth. The population of West Asia is thought to have been of comparable size in 1 CE as in 1900. In the twentieth century, however, most West Asian countries experienced tardy birth rate declines and very considerable population increase. Throughout history, Asia’s level of urbanization has been very low. Nevertheless, Asia contained most of the world’s biggest cities—a situation lost briefly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. That said,after 1950 mortality decline fuelled urban growth. Consequently, by 2020 Asia again contained most of the largest cities, and around half of the population resided in urban areas.The continent’s population history has generally involved extremely slow population growth. In this context, death rates were usually high, marriage was usually early and universal, fertility was uncontrolled, and so birth rates were usually high too. That said, research has increasingly suggested that in some areas the levels of fertility and mortality that prevailed in pre-modern times were ‘moderate’ rather than ‘high’. Moreover, there were regulatory mechanisms,such as infanticide,which helped to maintain a degree of equilibrium between human numbers and the resource base.

 

** Tim Dyson is Professor of Population Studies at the London School of Economics. Educated in England and Canada, he has held visiting positions at the Australian National University in Canberra, the International Institute of Population Sciences in Mumbai, and the American University of Beirut. In 1994-96 he was President of the British Society for Population Studies; in 1997 he addressed the Oxford Farming Conference; and in 2015 he gave the keynote speech on the first day of the 48th session of the UN Commission on Population and Development in New York. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2001. His main research interests have included work on demographic time series, interactions between populations and their food supplies, famine demography, HIV/AIDS, child mortality, urbanization, climate change, and the past, present, and future characteristics of India’s population. He has also researched the demographic underpinnings of democratizationsee, for example, the paper ‘On Demographic and Democratic Transitions’ in the 2012 Supplement to Population and Development Review published in honour of Paul Demeny. Tim Dyson’s books have included: Population and Food: Global Trends and Future Prospects, published by Routledge in 1996; Twenty-First Century India: Population, Economy, Human Development and the Environment (with Robert Cassen and Leela Visaria), published by Oxford University Press in 2005; and Population and Development—the Demographic Transition, published by Zed in 2010. His latest book is: A Population History of India—From the First Modern People to the Present Day, published by Oxford University Press in 2018.

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.