Speakers: Patricia Mukhim, Editor, The Shillong Times; Sanjoy Hazarika, Commentator who works on the North East and its neighbourhood, author of three books on the North East; Pradip Phanjoubam, Editor, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics; Dr. Memthianngai Guite, Associate Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Shri S. N. Sahu, Columnist, Commentator and former Press Secretary to President K. R. Narayanan

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) and Trustee, IIC

This conversation marks the 33rd anniversary of the presidential assent to the Prasar Bharti Act 1990 and is the 30th discussion in the annual series

(Collaboration: Jan Prasar) 

The present edition of Creative Theory Colloquium seeks forth to explore the myriad aspects of pluralist, relational world that impacts the being and becoming in the cosmos, as parts of co-growing, collaborative space. In the process, the specific panels enquire into various themes including knowledge traditions and practices, space, gender, feminism, rights, democracy, power, vulnerability, precarity, religion, consciousness, democracy, resistance, and security.

Programme Schedule

Inaugural address at 16:30 

At 17:00
Unveiling Paradigm Shift: Towards Transformative Social Science in Contemporary Times

(Collaboration: Foundation for Creative Social Research, International Herbert Marcuse Society, USA, and The Raza Foundation) 
 

Speakers: Najaf Haider, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); Aparna Balachandran, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Delhi University; Harish Wankhede, Assistant Professor, Centre for Political Studies, JNU; Akanksha Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Janaki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University; and Divya Cherian  Assistant  Professor, Department of History, Princeton University

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) & Trustee, IIC 

The programme shall commence with the release of Divya Cherian's book Merchants of Virtue - Hindus, Muslims and Untouchables in Eighteenth-Century South Asia - Recipient of the 2022 Joseph W. Elder Prize in the Indian Social Sciences

What did it mean to be Hindu in pre-colonial India in the centuries immediately prior to British conquest? What do histories of Hindu identity have to do with histories of caste? These questions have taken on increasing relevance in contemporary India and in the Indian diaspora, with the assertions of the anti-caste movement being countered through references to historical scholarship that has demonstrated the ways in which colonialism remade caste. Centering the pre-colonial pasts of caste provides a new perspective into how categories of “Hindu,” “Muslim,” and “Untouchable” animated life, law, and local politics in India on the eve of colonial modernity. In turn, these insights are significant for the quest for social justice today.
 

Ethnomedicine and Tribal Healing Practices in India: Challenges and Possibilities of Recognition and Integration

Edited by Sunita Reddy, Nemthianngai Guite and Bamdev Subedi (Springer: 2023)

Speakers: Dr. Anandaraman Sharma PV, Professor and Head, Department of Panchakarma, All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi ; Dr. Ritu Priya, Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU

Chair: Dr. Shailja Chandra, Former Secretary, GoI & Former Chief Secretary Delhi & Public Policy Analyst
 

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory

By Thomas Hertog (Bantam: 2023)

Discussants: Dr. Sanil Unnikrishnan, Dean, International Relations & Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, St. Stephen’s College; Dr. Alphy Geever, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, St. Stephen’s College

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University and Indian Society of International Law

The Pollen Waits on Tiptoe: Selected Poems

By Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre; English translation by Madhav Ajjampur (Manipal Universal Press; 2022)

Discussants: Dr. H.S. Shivaprakash; Ms Smitha Sehgal; and Shri Madhav Ajjampur, translator of the book of poems

Chair: Shri Suhas Borker, Trustee, IIC
 

“There was Once a City by this Name”: Shahjahanabad before 1857

Illustrated lecture by Swapna Liddle, author and historian with specialization in the history of Delhi. Closely involved in the movement to preserve heritage monuments and sites. Dr. Liddle is associated with the Delhi Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)

Chair: Shubham Mishra

The talk will discuss, mainly in the context of cartographic evidence, the city of Shahjahanabad as it was before dramatic changes in the aftermath of the revolt of 1857, and the implications of those changes

Sanskrit and Tibetan Manuscript Study in Japan

Speaker: Dr. Kimiaki Tanaka, Research Fellow, Nakamura Hajime Eastern Institute and President, Tibet Culture Centre International, Tokyo
 
Organised by IIC-International Research Division with the support of Ministry of External Affairs; and in collaboration with World Buddhist Cultural Trust
 

Speakers: Prof. Archana Upadhyay, Chairperson, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Mr. Come Carpentier de Gourdon, French writer, analyst and consultant. He is Convener of the international editorial board of World Affairs- The Journal of International Issues

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University, Pune and Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi
 

Bharatiya Kala Mein Solah Shringar 

Illustrated lecture by Dr Sanjib Kumar Singh, Archaeologist and Museologist, National Museum 
 
In this presentation an attempt will be made to understand Solah Shringar through the representation of Indian art, sculptures and paintings through the ages.