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

The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971

The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971

Event End Date
Event Title
The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971
Event Details
<strong>School of Arts and Aesthetics Jawaharlal Nehru University</strong> And <strong>Zubaan</strong> the launch of the book <strong>The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971</strong> By <strong>Nayanika Mookherjee</strong> Durham University Panel Discussion Pratiksha Baxi, (Associate Professor, Law and Governance, JNU), Shohini Ghosh, (Professor, Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia) Tanika Sarkar, (Historian and Former Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU) Tanweer Fazal, (Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems) <strong>November 21, 2016</strong> About the Book : Following the 1971 Bangladesh War, the Bangladesh government publicly designated the thousands of women raped by the Pakistani military and their local collaborators as birangonas ('brave women'). Nayanika Mookherjee demonstrates that while this celebration of birangonas as heroes keeps them in the public memory, they exist in the public consciousness as what Mookherjee calls a spectral wound. Dominant representations of birangonas as dehumanized victims with disheveled hair, a vacant look, and rejected by their communities, create this wound, the effects of which flattens the diversity of their experiences through which birangonas have lived with the violence of wartime rape.

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.