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Some Missing Interpretations of Caste

Some Missing Interpretations of Caste

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Some Missing Interpretations of Caste
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<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems School of Social Sciences</strong> Seminar Notice <strong>Prof. Avatthi Ramaiah</strong> (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) a talk on <strong>Some Missing Interpretations of Caste</strong> <strong>Date : January 27, 2015</strong> <strong>Abstract: </strong>Caste continues to remain one of the highly contested and researched social issues world over, despite the fact that the exercise of comprehending caste has been there in the academia probably since the day caste surfaced. There have been number of explanations and interpretations regarding its origin and context, and accordingly there have been justifications and oppositions to its relevance in the modern era to human society in general and to the Hindu society in particular. In the course of intense debate over the caste question, some arguments seem to have been over emphasized, while others have not at all come to the center stage of academic debate, particularly in the discipline of sociology. The lecture would bring to light some of hitherto missing interpretations of caste. Bio-Data: Dr. Avatthi Ramaiah is currently a Professor at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He obtained his M.A. (Social Work) in 1984 from the Loyola College, University of Madras, M.Phil. (Population Studies) in 1987 and Ph.D. (Sociology) in 1999 from the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His of academic interest pertains to the broad area of caste and development. He has published extensively on issues relating to caste, including a book in 2007 on "Laws for Dalit Rights and Dignity". He had been a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University in 2009 under the Fulbright Senior Scholar Programme. He was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Hull, UK in 2010. Subsequently, he was also a Visiting Fellow at the Asia Research Centre of the London School of Economics. Presently, Prof. Ramaiah is a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Advanced Studies which is a part of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, 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.