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ZHCES organises a talk by Dr. Renny Thomas

ZHCES organises a talk by Dr. Renny Thomas

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ZHCES organises a talk by Dr. Renny Thomas
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ZHCES Seminar Series

 

TOPIC:

Brahmin (men) as Scientists and Science as Brahmins’ Calling: Caste in an Indian Scientific Research Institute

 

SPEAKER:

Dr. Renny Thomas

Department of Sociology

Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi

 

 

About the Speaker: Renny Thomas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. He was a Charles Wallace Fellow in Social Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK (2017-2018). He is also a recipient of American Academy of Religion’s Collaborative International Research Grant (2015-2016), New York, USA. His recent publications include, "Beyond Conflict and Complementarity: Science and Religion in Contemporary India.” Science, Technology and Society (Sage) 23 (1): 47-64 (2018), "Religious Rites and Scientific Communities: Ayudha Puja as 'Culture' at the Indian Institute of Science." Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science (Wiley) 53 (1): 95-122, 2018), “Narratives in Feminist Sociology of Science: Contextualizing the Experiences(s) of Women Scientists in India”,in Gita Chadha and M.T Joseph (eds) Re-Imagining Sociology in India: Feminist Perspectives, London: Routledge (2018). He is currently working on a book manuscript based on his PhD work, tentatively titled, Scientifically Religious, Religiously Scientific: Science and Religion in Contemporary India.

 

Abstract: The domination of Brahmins and other upper castesgave a Brahmanical identity to science in India, as they were perceived to be the ‘natural’ inheritors of scientific practice due to their expertise in Hindu scriptures. This ‘natural’ knowledge of Brahmin scientists has been constantly reaffirmed in the name of merit by many renowned scientists and students during my fieldwork in Bangalore. Furthermore, merit and passion for doing science was reinscribed and calibrated to denote the alleged castelessness and objectivity of science, thereby obfuscating the deep hierarchies of caste and gender in the practice of science. This paper intends to explore how the deliberate silencing of socio-cultural identities shaped the imagination of science and scientific practice in India. It will use both ethnographic data and biographies of Indian scientists to talk about how they constructed their identities as casteless beings. 

            

 

        DATE: 24th October, 2018 (Wednesday)

TIME: 3:00 pm

              Room No. 207, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES II 

                             (All are Welcome)

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.