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The Cauldron of Conflict Politics of Peace, Governance and Development in India's North East

The Cauldron of Conflict Politics of Peace, Governance and Development in India's North East

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The Cauldron of Conflict Politics of Peace, Governance and Development in India's North East
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<strong>CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES</strong> (CSNEI SEMINAR SERIES 2016) <strong>The Cauldron of Conflict Politics of Peace, Governance and Development in India's North East</strong> <strong>Prof. Bhupen Sarmah</strong> Visiting Faculty, CSNEI, JNU CHAIR BY <strong>Prof. Deepak K. Mishra</strong>, Professor, CSRD, JNU Abstract: Academic engagement with the conflicts witnessed by the societies in India's North East leads to several interpretations - as the outcome of the process of transformation of non-state space to state space; phenomenon of state failure; processes through which the region has been sought to be governed since the early colonial period etc. My attempt is to comprehend the conflicts locating the region in its own historicity, and then by analyzing the interventions made by the postcolonial State to politically integrate the region. It has been observed that the State interventions resulted in formation of a new political class aggravating division of the tribal societies in terms of class. The process resulted in perpetuation of ethnic conflicts in the region providing enough space for the separatist, secessionist, or other forms of movements that grew historicizing ethnicity and articulating the differences reinforced by the logic of colonialism. Date: <strong>29TH September (Thursday)</strong>

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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.