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CSSS organises a talk by A.K.Ramakrishnan

CSSS organises a talk by A.K.Ramakrishnan

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CSSS organises a talk by A.K.Ramakrishnan
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Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

Invites you to CSSS Colloquium

 

On

The Crisis of Orientalism and West Asian Intellectual Responses

 

by

A.K.Ramakrishnan

(Professor, CWAS, JNU)

 

November 14, 2019 (Thursday), 11am

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

 

Abstract: The famous article by Anouar Abdel-Malek in 1963 examines the crisis of the Orientalist knowledge enterprise with deeper insights. Edward Said continues such a tradition with acritical interdisciplinary mooringthat had far reaching influence. The current presentation will introduce critical intellectual responses from the West Asian region on the assumptions of Orientalism by invoking the contributions of Jalal Al-e Ahmad, Sadik Jalal Al-Azm, Aziz al-Azmeh and others.

Bio-Note: A.K. Ramakrishnan is Professor and former Chairperson of the Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.  He has also been Director of the Human Rights Studies Programme at JNU. Earlier, he was Professor and Director of the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and Director of the School of International Relations and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. He was a Distinguished International Scholar at Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, USA and a Visiting Professor in Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.  He was also Erasmus Visiting Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain and Kaunas Technical University, Kaunas, Lithuania.Areas of his interest include West Asian Studies, Theories of International Relations, Gender and Postcolonialism. He has published widely in English and Malayalam. He has published the book US Perceptions of Iran: Approaches and Policies and co-edited Society and Change in the Contemporary Gulf. His articles and reviews have been published in journals such as International Studies, Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Contemporary South Asia, and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies.

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.