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CWS organises a lecture by Charu Gupta

CWS organises a lecture by Charu Gupta

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CWS organises a lecture by Charu Gupta
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CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S STUDIES, JNU

Invites you to a Seminar on 

 

Destabilising the Sexual: Translating and Transforming Sexology in the Vernacular

 

by

Charu Gupta

(Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Delhi)

 

In early twentieth century north India, besides the reformist impulse, erotic consumerism became a part of the growth of print and publishing boom in the vernacular. There was widespread production and commodification of sex writings in Hindi. The problems and possibilities of transmitting, translating and transforming sexology at this time will be examined in this presentation through the writings of Santram BA (1887-1998), a radical Shudra caste reformer, who wrote several articles and books on sex and birth control, including on the one hand, translations of some of the Sanskrit sex classics, and on the other, of Mary Stopes’ writings into Hindi for the first time. Santram’s writing not only contribute in creating an archive for the study of sexual sciences in India, they also help in addressing the vernacular as a significant, if ambivalent, site for reproduction and contestation around matters of sex. The vernacular became a means that offered a discursive space of thinking and argumentation, combining sex, desire, eroticism and science in indigenous ways. Utilizing repertoires of representation and circuits of production, the presentation argues that Santram created spatial-intimate spaces to celebrated sexual relationships, not only conjoining the private-public, but also opening up an ancillary terrain of textures of touch and sexuality and registers of transgressive sexual norms.

 

Date: 28th August 2018, Tuesday, Time: 3.30 PM to 5.30 PM

Venue: CHS, Committee Room No.326, Third Floor, SSS-3

All Are Welcome

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.