Second Graduate Students Seminar

The senior students of Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin American Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies with the support of the Faculty organized the Second Graduate Students Seminar on 13 November, 2006.  This Seminar, initiated last year, aims at inculcating among the graduate students a culture of research, participation and engagement with Hispanic or Hispano-Indian texts in order to expand and challenge their own realm of knowledge. They are encouraged to take risk in terms or ideas. This year the broad theme was “Self Awareness/Question of Identity as a Politico-Cultural Construction and a Site of Problematization in 19^th and 20^th  Century Hispanic Texts”. Ten senior students and research scholars participated in the same over a period of three sessions. The Seminar generated lot of debate and interest. The Centre plans to expand the coverage of the Seminar beyond the Centre’s ambit.

Lecture-Slide show on ”Itlay: the Many Minar Treasures to discover”

On the 16 November the Italian section of CSPILAS, under the guidance of Ms. Georgia Cantele, Italian teacher in the Centre, organized the lecture-slide show on “Italy: the Many Minar Treasures to discover” in which eminent Italian scholars visiting India participated. Professors Fabio Scialpi and Tiziana Lorenzetti, University of Rome, in their presentations, underlined the connections between India and Italy not only in terms of ideas but also in the use of symbols and icons relating to deities and architectural elements. The lectures were widely attended and appreciated by students and faculty of the University as well as invitees from outside. The Director of Italian Cultural Centre, Ms. Patrizia Raveggi was the Chief Guest. She as well

the Chairperson of the Centre, in their remarks, spoke of the need to expand the scope of Italian studies at JNU and highlighted the importance of the theme treated by both scholars from Italy.

Lecture and Film Show on Colombia

The Colombian Ambassador to India, H. E. Mr. Pedro Pablo Bedoubt, visited the Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin American Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies and give audiovisual presentation on Colombia and also inaugurate the series of Colombian feature films shown at the Centre. The Ambassador made a very lucid presentation about the history of cultures in the Colombian region and the present political, economic and cultural realities of the country. The audience was treated to an excellent documentary made in Colombia on the theme. This was followed by a well-known Colombian feature film in Spanish titled “The Ambassador of India” with subtitles in English. The function was attended by a very large audience consisting of students and faculty as well as invitees from outside which included diplomats from other Latin American countries such as their Excellencies the Ambassadors of Uruguay and Paraguay. The Centre Chairperson expressed his profuse thanks on behalf of the Centre for this collaboration. The Centre looks forward to the projection of a series of Colombian films some of which are based on well-known literary works of writers like Garcia Marquez.

S.P. Ganguly
Chairperson, CSPI&LAS/SLLCS

Meet the Writer

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) organized an evening of popular talks on the 2006 Nobel Prizes on 27 October 2006.

The Nobel Prize winners in 2006 are John C. Mather of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA and George F. Smoot of University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA (Nobel Prize in Physics “for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation”), Roger D. Kornberg of Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA (Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription”), Andrew Z. Fire of Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA and Craig C. Mello of University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, MA, USA (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discovery of RNA interference  gene silencing by double-stranded RNA”), Orhan Pamuk of Turkey (Nobel Prize in Literature “who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures”), Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and Grameen Bank of Dhaka, Bangladesh (Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below”), and Edmund S. Phelps of Columbia University, New York, NY, USA (The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel “for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy”.

The speakers were

Professor Subir K. Sarkar (SPS, JNU) for Physics
Dr. K. Natarajan (SLS, JNU) for Chemistry
Professor Sudha Bhattacharya (SES, JNU) for Medicine
Professor Chaman Lal (SLL&CS, JNU) for Literature
Dr. Praveen K. Jha (SSS, JNU) for Peace

Professor Rupamanjari Ghosh, President, JNUTA, presided over the function. Dr. Andrew Lynn, Dr. Devendra Choubey and Dr. Neelima Mondal were the programme coordinators on behalf of the JNUTA.

CITD welcomes Professor Joseph Stiglitz

Nobel Laureate economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz visited the Centre for International Trade and Development (CITD) of the School of International Studies on 16 December 2006 for informal interaction with graduate students and faculty of CITD.

The session began with a brief and warm message of welcome to Professor Stiglitz by the Chairperson, CITD Professor Amit Shovan Ray, who said that it was a matter of great honour, pride and privilege for CITD to have Professor Stiglitz visiting the department.

Professor Stiglitz spoke about some of his recent titles, namely Making Globalisation Work, Stability with Growth and Fair Trade for All, and discussed his concerns pertaining to global issues like intellectual property rights, environment, capital flows and trade liberalization. The presentation made by Professor Stiglitz was largely in an interactive mode with plenty of questions, comments and observations from the faculty and students of CITD. We were overwhelmed by Professor Stiglitz’s candid, incisive, informative and encouraging response to each query. The session lasted for more than two and a half hours.

Amit Shovon Ray
Professor, CITD, School of International Studies