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The Games of Truth in Communist Politics

The Games of Truth in Communist Politics

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The Games of Truth in Communist Politics
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<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems School of Social Sciences</strong> <strong>Seminar Notice</strong> <strong>Dr. Rajarshi Dasgupta</strong> (Centre for Political Studies, JNU) a talk on <strong>The Games of Truth in Communist Politics</strong> <strong>Date :January 15, 2015</strong> <strong>Abstract: </strong>Radical politics often involves the imperative of speaking truth about oneself and one’s relationship to the world. This is best expressed in the Gandhian notion of satyagraha that shows how truth becomes transformed in the process from the way it is thought in scientific discourse. We have not however paid enough attention to such practice in political formations like the communist movement, for instance. I propose to do this by framing this practice as games of truth that are played in the course of activism by communists in India, particularly in Bengal. The paper highlights three key aspects of this practice in communist experience. First, we discuss how there is a production of truth around certain practices of declassing by activists. Second, we analyze how such truth is institutionalized in a formal protocol of self-criticism. Third, we explore how this truth often exceeds the economy of protocol and deliver a critique unsettling the games. The paper concludes with a different wager of speaking the truth that is urgent to revive today. <strong>Bio-Data:</strong> Having graduated from Presidency, Kolkata, Rajarshi did MA and M.Phil at CPS, JNU and D.Phil at Oxford. After defending his doctoral thesis on culture and communist politics in India, he joined as Fellow at CSSS, Kolkata, where he worked on village politics and refugees in urban history. Rajarshi joined CPS in 2008 and has been regularly teaching courses on political economy and Marxism. He has also introduced a new optional course on Biopolitics in CPS M.Phil. Currently writing a book on Indian Marxism, Rajarshi has widely published and presented on key aspects of Left politics in India.

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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.