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Whither the Political? Marx meets Ambedkar at Sriniketan

Whither the Political? Marx meets Ambedkar at Sriniketan

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Whither the Political? Marx meets Ambedkar at Sriniketan
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<strong>CENTRE FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES, JNU</strong> a Seminar on <strong>Whither the Political? Marx meets Ambedkar at Sriniketan</strong> By <strong>Dr. Anup Dhar </strong> (Associate Professor, Ambedkar University Delhi) The tendency of the mind is economical: it loves to form habits and move in grooves which save it the trouble of thinking anew at each of its steps. Ideals once formed make the mind lazy. It becomes afraid to risk its acquisitions in fresh endeavors. It tries to enjoy complete security by shutting up its belongings behind fortifications of habit. Tagore (1916) It was in 1916 that Lenin wrote Imperialism, the Highest/Higher Stage of Capitalism (1917), in Zürich, during the January–June period. Thus while Lenin was producing a critique of the imperialism of the West, Tagore was, in the same year, turning attention to the imperialism of the East (notably Japan). The irony of history, however, is the almost total amnesia of Tagore's critique. The paper asks: does Tagore's critique of imperialism lend itself to a dual reflection: reflection on capitalism and the somewhat "unpractical" reflection on, what Tagore saw to be a western ideal, nationalism (1916)? Does it lend itself to a deeper reflection: reflection on the reduction of 'anti-colonial nationalism' to Freud's "primary mass" and the consequent delinking of 'means' and 'ends' (as in Ghare Baire [The Home and the World])? Does it also lend itself to a critique of 'politics' ('politics': an English term Tagore does not translate into Bengali, thus retaining its foreign-ness) and a reflection on the 'political' (as in Char Adhyay [Four Chapters])? How would Marx (as philosopher of 'social humanity' or 'human sociality') and Ambedkar (as philosopher of Dhamma) respond to Tagore's critique of 'politics', and the invocation of 'samaj' and 'samavaya' as grounds for an (im)possible post-politics imagination of the political? How would what Lacan calls the 'University Discourse' respond to Marx, Tagore and Ambedkar's (who are all "gravel in the shoe" of the given, in their respective ways) imagining of 'ethical/alternative collectivities' and possible aesthetics of futures? <strong>Date: 29 March 2016</strong>

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.