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ABOUT THE THEATRE FOR PEACE SEMINAR

ABOUT THE THEATRE FOR PEACE SEMINAR

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ABOUT THE THEATRE FOR PEACE SEMINAR
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<strong>JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, ORGANISATION AND DISARMAMENT (CIPOD) AND ASSOCIATION OF ASIA SCHOLARS (AAS)</strong> <strong>'Theatre for Peace' seminar</strong> by <strong>Ajoka Theatre</strong> Date: <strong>Friday, 18 September 2015</strong> <strong>ABOUT THE THEATRE FOR PEACE SEMINAR</strong> 'Theatre for Peace' seminar is a part of a two-year long 'Theatre for Peace' programme, initiated by Ajoka Theatre. Theatre has always been a tool and a platform for peace-building and conflict resolution. As a social, cathartic and communicative form of performing arts, theatre enables communities to speak to each other, act out unpleasant and troublesome thoughts. It reaches the mind through the heart and can work when other forms of dialogue and debate have failed or have been blocked due to prejudice, vested conflicting interests or disinformation and distortion. At an individual level, theatre helps its actors or members of the audience to explore or confront their traumas, irrational attitudes and psychological hurdles. 'Theatre for Peace' is an area where exciting and insightful work has been done by theatre practitioners and peace activists in different parts of the world. There have been remarkable initiatives in conflict-ridden or post-conflict societies in East Europe, Latin America, South Africa and India. These experiments have ranged from theatre performances, theatre workshops and theatre-in-education courses. They have focused on issues such as enabling warring communities to interact, enabling post-conflict communities to reintegrate and rehabilitate and promoting pluralism and multiculturalism in societies on the verge of violent conflict. In these activities, pre-production research, rehearsal or improvisation processes and post-performance interaction with the audience are as important as the theme and quality of the performance. The process of theatre-making is valuable and therapeutic for the actors and their communities. In South Asia, communalism, sectarianism, extremism, racism, gender, class or faith based bias are rampant and have frequently led to violent strife and social upheaval. Theatre practitioners and peace/community activists have played a valuable role in dampening the fire of hatred and prejudice and creating a yearning for peace and understanding. However there is a need to share such experiences and also learn from the work of similar groups in other parts of the world. An interaction between theatre for peace activists will indeed strengthen the movement for peace-building and socially relevant theatre in the region.

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.