JNU | RTI | Directory | Contact Us | Emergency Services | List of Holidays
-A A +A

CSSS organises a seminar by Ranjeeta Dutta

CSSS organises a seminar by Ranjeeta Dutta

Event From Date
Event End Date
Event Title
CSSS organises a seminar by Ranjeeta Dutta
Event Details

Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

CSSS Colloquium

Ranjeeta Dutta

(Assoc. Prof., CHS, JNU)

 

Will be presenting a paper on

Imagined Geographies And Regional Conformities: Political Geography And Early Modern South India

 

Date & Time: February 7, 2019 (Thursday), 11am

Venue: CSSS Committee Room (No: 13), SSS-II

Abstract: The paper will attempt to understand the different ways in which space was visualized in southern India and became the basis of differential geographies conceived at various points of time in the historical past. Narratives in pilgrimage literature, and political texts that abound from fourteenth and fifteenth century onwards had their own geographical vision and associated with it their respective notions of history, region and identity. Identifying the intersections between geography, historical imagination of a space and political identities, it will be argued that though these narratives located in their specific contexts conceived the space according to their respective worldviews as sacred, political and regional, as the case may be, they were in conversation and competition with each other. Thus, these varied and complex geographical imaginations produced an interconnected frame within which the ideas of local and cosmopolitan circulated and generated contesting cultural and social identities.

Bio-note: Ranjeeta Dutta teaches at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Previously, she also taught at the Department of History and Culture in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her research interests are religion and religious identities with special emphasis on the peninsular region. Her publications include a monograph titled, From Hagiographies to Biographies: Ramanuja in Tradition and History (2014) and an edited volume (co-edited with Rameshwar Prasad Bahuguna and Farhat Nasreen) titled, Negotiating Religion: Perspectives from Indian History (2012).

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.