Workshop on research in South Asian studies tomorrow

Programme expected to open up opportunities for Indian students

Platform for dialogue: Doctoral researchers from different fields in South Asian Studies will be presenting their papers at French Institute of Pondicherry. File photo

French Institute of Pondicherry is organising a two-day workshop in Puducherry on July 20 and 21 to help Indian research students to interact with the American, European and Sri Lankan scholars.

During the workshop ‘Research in South Asian Studies: A Platform for Dialogue’, doctoral researchers from across the country and abroad will focus on different fields of research in South Asian studies.

From subjects like the history of food, micro finance to inter-caste marriages, debt bondage in Tamil Nadu and classical Tamil and Sanskrit literature, the doctoral researchers will present their work and discuss the problems and challenges they face.

With emphasis on multi-disciplinary approach in research, Anand Pakiam, head of Communications, said: “This is a unique workshop where the doctoral researchers from different fields in South Asian Studies including Indian languages, literature, social sciences, anthropology, history and archaeology are invited to present their papers.

He added that the workshop will open up opportunities for the Indian students to interact and share knowledge with the American and European researchers working on South Asian studies. The resource persons will guide and provide them a holistic perspective in Indian studies using different approaches and multiple perspectives.

Multiple perspectives

“Any field can be interconnected and studied through multiple perspectives,” he said.

Renowned historians, senior archaeologists and writers from Tamil Nadu including V.Geetha (historian and feminist writer), Professor Y.Subbarayalu (epigraphist), P.R.Subramaniam (linguist) and contemporary Tamil folk writer Kanmani Gunasekaran will be present at the workshop to guide them through their work.

Nearly 30 students and five or six resource persons will be attending the workshop.

The IFP has been conducting workshops for the people involved in South Asian Studies and especially students, every year, from 2009. V. Prakash, a post doctoral fellow in the IFP in classical Tamil and one of the organisers of the workshop, said that when he was a doctoral scholar he had immensely benefited through interacting with foreign scholars during one such workshop.

Now, Mr. Prakash actively works and teaches Classical Tamil for students from American and European Universities.