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Burdens of the Scientific Revolution: Construction of Europe and its non-Western 'Other'

Burdens of the Scientific Revolution: Construction of Europe and its non-Western 'Other'

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Burdens of the Scientific Revolution: Construction of Europe and its non-Western 'Other'
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<strong>Centre for Historical Studies School of Social Sciences</strong> a lecture on <strong>Burdens of the Scientific Revolution: Construction of Europe and its non-Western 'Other' </strong> <strong>Amit Prasad </strong> University of Missouri-Columbia <strong>10th August 2016</strong> The Scientific Revolution, directly or indirectly, informs much of the history of diffusion of science and technology across nations and societies. History of science in India, and also in other non-Western societies, often draws on Joseph Needham's metaphor of 'modern science being like an ocean into which the rivers from all the world's civilization have poured their waters' to present 'ecumenism' of modern science. Although such a historiographic exercise has resulted in very productive critiques of linear models of diffusion, it rarely disturbs the singularity and universality of modern science and its origin in the Scientific Revolution. The phrase Scientific Revolution, as we know, gained currency after it was first presented by Herbert Butterfield in the lectures he 'delivered for the History of Science Committee in Cambridge in 1948.' In this presentation I provide a deconstructive reading of Butterfield's placing of 'the Scientific Revolution in the history of the Western Civilization' and suggest that the historiographic birth of the Scientific Revolution was inseparable from Orientalist construction of Europe and its non-Western 'other.' Amit Prasad is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Director of the South Asian Studies Program at University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of Imperial Technoscience: Transnational Histories of MRI in the United States, Britain, and India (MIT Press, 2014).

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.