JNU | RTI | Directory | Contact Us | Emergency Services | List of Holidays
-A A +A

Reading Women Reading Indigenous

Reading Women Reading Indigenous

Event End Date
Event Title
Reading Women Reading Indigenous
Event Details
<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems School of Social Sciences </strong> <strong>CSSS Colloquium </strong> <strong>Dr. Vijaylakshmi Brara</strong> (Centre for Manipur Studies, Manipur University) a talk on <strong>Reading Women Reading Indigenous</strong> Date : <strong>September 3, 2015 </strong> <strong>Abstract: </strong>"Indigenous religions are characteristically based on oral traditions – 'the transmission of beliefs, rules, customs, and rituals by word of mouth'– rather than on written law and sacred texts. In these systems, indigenous women 'preside over rituals, preserve but also re-create traditions' Indigenous religions are not monotheistic, but tend to view the cosmos as made up of the living and the dead, each essential to the whole. Nature must, therefore, be nurtured. This is in stark contrast to the Western hierarchies of (masculine) intellect and (feminine) intuition or emotion, of objective and subjective, material and imagined reality. Such hierarchies may provide a basis for the view that the natural environment and 'inferior beasts' are there for humankind to explore and exploit." Gender narratives in Manipur have been based on ingrained belief system with a framework of historical antecedents. Women in this region are women embedded in their histories and these histories are in-turn embedded in their cultural past and mythical narratives. Therefore they bring out a different reading of women, from their western as well as the other Asian sisters. The way we perceive our women is evident in the mythology and legends and folklore of our region. The popular image of woman is of an independent minded, happy, hardworking with a sense of justice. There are stories of Imoinu, Panthoibi, Laijinglaibi, Pidonu etc who asserted their decisions, rebelled against the social order and had a mind of their own and are today used a complimentary nomenclatures for young girls and women. Does this indegeneity make us look towards the window opening to South East Asia? Do we then need to dig these matri past to bring out the corrective view of looking at our world? These two will be then the focus points of this paper. <strong>Bio-Data: </strong>Vijaylakshmi Brara is a sociologist and is presently Associate Professor at the Centre for Manipur Studies, Manipur University. Her major areas of academic interests are gender, culture and grassroots political institutions. Her research area has been north-east India for over two decades. She is the author of the widely acclaimed book, Politics, Society and Cosmology in India's North-East (OUP). She has around 25 published articles to her credit.

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.