An eight-part BBC series in which British art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores the pre-colonial history of some of Africa's most important kingdoms.

Episode 7: The Berber Kingdom of Morocco (60 min)
Director: Ian Lilley

It is easy to think of Islamic North Africa as Arab, rather than African. But the land that is now Morocco once lay at the centre of a vast African Kingdom that stretched from northern Spain to the heart of West Africa. It was created by African Berbers, and ruled for centuries by two dynasties that created tremendous wealth, commissioned fabulous architecture, and promoted sophisticated ideas. But art historian Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford reveals how the very forces that forged the kingdom ultimately helped to destroy its indigenous African identity.

(85 min; 1995; English)
Director: James Kent

The grand themes of Albert Camus' work and life are documented in three chapters: the Absurd, Revolt, and Happiness. His novels The Stranger, The Plague, The Rebel, The Fall and The First Man are all discussed, as well as his childhood in French Algeria, sometimes difficult friendships, role in The Resistance during WWII, 1957 Nobel Prize, his issues with Communism, living in exile in the '50s, and his accidental death at 47. His life is spoken about by the narrator, his sister-in-law, his son, his daughter, friends, critics, scholars and mistresses. The impression is of Camus as a charismatic, flawed, and yet principled man when it came to the task of confronting human existence without conforming.

POSTPONED

Speaker: Tony Joseph, journalist, former Editor, BusinessWorld and author of the best-selling book Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestor and Where we Came From

Chair: Ganesh Devy, Literary critic, activist and Chairperson, People’s Linguistic Survey of India

In the last few years, our understanding of how the world got peopled in prehistory has changed significantly, thanks mostly to recent advances in the discipline of Population Genetics. All large population groups, we know now, are the result of multiple migrations that lasted centuries and, in some cases millennia, in the ancient past, each of them driven by historical forces. This context is crucial to understanding how four large, prehistoric migrations contributed to shaping Indian demography as it is today.

(Organised by IIC-International Research Division)

Coordinated by Prof. Rajiv Ranjan, Shanghai University, China
 
On the Confucian Revival in Contemporary China

Speaker: Prof. Daniel A. Bell, Dean, School of Political Science and Public Administration, Shandong University (Qingdao) and Distinguished Chair Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai
 
Introduction: Prof. Rajiv Ranjan, Associate Professor, Institute of Global Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
 
Chair: Prof. B.R. Deepak, Professor and Chair, Centre for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
 
Confucianism was pronounced dead in the twentieth century. But the tradition has mounted a remarkable comeback over the last few decades in mainland China, both in official circles and in everyday life. What explains the Confucian comeback? What are the implications for Chinese society and the political system?
 
First in a new bi-monthly series of dialogues which aims to bring together scholars from India, China and around the world to deliberate on the cultural and historical connections; and India-China strategic competition in the region and beyond
 
 

Registration link
 

How Archaeology is Helping Improve Climate Models: A View from South Asia

Illustrated talk by Prof. Kathleen D. Morrison, Professor of Anthropology & Department Chair, University of Pennsylvania

and Curator for South Asia, University of Pennsylvania Museum

Chair: Dr. M. Nambirajan, Joint Director General, Archaeological Survey of India

Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea of India

By Dhirendra K. Jha (Vintage Books: 2022)

Discussants: Sh. Balbir Punj, Journalist and Columnist ; Sh. Pawan Khera, Chairman, Media &  Publicity Deptt. All India Congress
Committee ; Sh. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, Journalist and Writer and Sh. Dhirendra K. Jha, Journalist and Author of the book

Moderator: Sh. Hartosh Singh Bal, Political Editor, Caravan Magazine 

Unfilled Barrels: India’s Oil Story

By Richa Mishra (Bloomsbury India, New Delhi: 2022)

Discussants: Shri Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation; Shri Raghuvir Srinivasan, Editor, Business Line; and Ms Richa Mishra, Bureau Chief, Hyderabad & Kolkata, BusinessLine & Author of the Book

Chair: Shri Amitabh Kant, former CEO, Niti Aayog
 

Six String Story
Illustrated presentation by Theophilus Benjamin

The lecture-demonstration endeavours to take a look at the styles and kinds of music written for and performed by the guitar at different stages of the development of the instrument and through the different eras.

Theophilus Benjamin is one of the relatively few classical guitarists in the country who has had the distinction of having performed at various notable venues across the country. His primary focus is in the field of music education and he has been associated with some of the well-known academic institutions in the country as well as with some of the premier music schools in different parts of India

The Working of the Indian Constitution

Edited by Arghya Sengupta and Omita Goyal

To be released by Dr. Karan Singh, Chairman, IIC Editorial Board

Chief Guest: Hon’ble Shri Justice P.S. Narasimha, Judge Supreme Court of India

Followed by a discussion

Panelists: Justice (retd.) Smt Anjana Prakash, Senior Advocate and former Judge, Patna High Court; and Dr. Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy 

This volume is an attempt to understand the working of the Constitution by assessing the on-ground working of its five key promises: to make India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. Each of these aspirations is then tested through real-life case studies, data-driven analyses, personal memoirs or on-ground engagement. The holistic picture that emerges from the different essays in this volume will allow the reader to assess how the Indian Constitution has worked (or not) in the last seven decades.

With contributions by Anshul Avijit; Maidul Islam; Ronojoy Sen; Mari Selvaraj; Akhilesh Godi; Navin Chawla; Deepak Gupta; Sanjay Kumar; Diksha Sanyal; Siddharth Ramji; Faizan Mustafa; Ritwika Sharma; Bandeep Singh; Rajeev Bhargava; Madan B. Lokur; T.M. Thomas Isaac; Dinesh Siddiqui; Ritambhara Hebber; Arghya Sengupta; M.V. Rajeev Gowda; Gourab K. Banerji; Thomas Blom Hansen; Alok Prasanna Kumar; Vimala Ramachandran; Namratha Murugeshan; Cyril V. Darlong Diengdoh; Kirti Singh; Brinda Karat; Dipa Sinha; Pawal Dhall; and Aiman Hashmi