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CSSS organises a seminar by Roland Lardinois

CSSS organises a seminar by Roland Lardinois

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CSSS organises a seminar by Roland Lardinois
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

 

cordially invites you to the

 

THURSDAY COLLOQUIUM

 

on

Rank Factories. The coaching industry at Kota (Rajasthan)

 

by

Roland Lardinois

 

on 26th OCTOBER 2023 at SSS II,
ROOM 013, 3:00pm-5:00pm


Abstract: The aim of my communication is to present the coaching market that has developed in the city of Kota (Rajasthan) where thousands of aspiring engineers come every year to prepare the entrance exams notably for the Indian Institutes of Technology. This work is the result of a five-month field work carried out in 2014. In order to understand sociologically the structure and functioning of this market, whose effects are sometimes dramatic for students, we need to break with the rhetoric of ethico-political condemnation and consider together the state policies, entrepreneurial logics and family strategies that contribute to the organization of this system. To this aim, quantitative and qualitative data are used, as well as a few novels written by students, which can be read as personal testimonies to objectify an extreme experience.

 

Roland Lardinois is sociologist, Directeur of Research Emeritus at the French National Center for Scientific Research and member of the South Asian and Himalaya Research Center at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris).
 

Roland Lardinois has a multidisciplinary academic background. He started studying history and geography and completed his MA (1976) in geography with a study of the demography of the Guntur District (Andhra Pradesh). Specialized in demography with a professional diploma of Expert Demographer (1974), he wrote his PhD (1980) on the demographic history of the 1876-78 famine in South India. Meanwhile, from the mid-1970s, he attended Pierre Bourdieu’s teaching at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and at the Collège de France (Paris) and later on he joined the editorial committee of Bourdieu’s journal Actes de la recherches en sciences sociales. He completed his French Habilitation (2007) in sociology with a thesis on the genesis of the sociology of India in France. His research on India covers several areas, notably historical demography of South India, history of the family, before focusing for the past 15 years on the history and sociology of the Indian engineers. Meanwhile he carries on his research on the French Indologist Sylvain Lévi who taught Sanskrit language and literature at the College de France before WWII, and he has published several books (in French) on this scholar.

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.