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Tribal Culture, Cultural Genocide and the Importance of Remembering

Tribal Culture, Cultural Genocide and the Importance of Remembering

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Tribal Culture, Cultural Genocide and the Importance of Remembering
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<strong>School of Arts &amp; Aesthetics, JNU</strong> a talk by <strong>Felix Padel</strong> on <strong>Tribal Culture, Cultural Genocide and the Importance of Remembering</strong> <strong>Friday, 6 November 2015</strong> <strong>Abstract : </strong>Dance, song, stories, painting house walls, making things - the arts are at the centre of India's tribal cultures. But these cultures are under attack from every angle now, with mass displacement to make way for industrial projects, dams, sanctuaries and firing ranges; and assimilation into the mainstream through an education system that - with some notable, outstanding exceptions - display gross insensitivity towards indigenous cultures, whose own system of education and knowledge transmission avoided imposing on the individual or even telling children what to do, trusting the momentum of each child's unique impetus towards learning. In this context, it is important that people remember these cultures, and support the many ongoing initiatives to stay on the land, in community <strong>Speaker: </strong>Felix Padel, the great, great grandson of Charles Darwin, is a sociologist/anthropologist and activist; author of "Sacrificing People: Invasions of a Tribal Landscape" (1995/2010), "Out of This Earth: East India Adivasis and the Aluminium Cartel" (with Samarendra Das, 2010), and "Ecology, Economy: Quest for a Socially Informed Connection" (with Ajay Dandekar and Jeemol Unni, 2013). He is presently Visiting Professor at the North East India Studies Programme, JNU.

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.