The Centre for the Study of Social Systems
The Centre for the Study of Social Systems
The Centre for the Study of Social Systems
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.
Overview
Teaching and research programs of the Centre are organized around studies in theories and methods, on the one hand, and analysis of structures and processes of social systems on the other. The ordinance of our University provides considerable scope for innovation and flexibility with regard to teaching and mode of evaluation. Interdisciplinary orientation is reflected in structure as well as contents of the courses offered at both MA and MPhil levels. Courses at the MA level seek to combine theoretical and methodological concerns with the study of substantive issues related to the Indian society. At the MPhil level, emphasis is laid on the comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives. Both at the MA and MPhil levels, the Centre offers a wide range of optional courses. Of the 16 courses offered to the MA students, 5 are optional. A large number of students from other Centre's and Schools of the University also register for these courses. Similarly, the MPhil students can exercise their choice in selecting 2 courses from a wide range of optional courses available, besides the 2 compulsory courses namely, 'Theoretical Orientations in Sociological Analysis' and 'Methodology of Social Sciences'.