THE IDEA OF INDIA An International Conference on Teaching History In 2015, at the annual conference that launched the History for Peace project, Dr Barbara Christophe delivered a powerful keynote address that has since served as a prism, refracting ideas that strengthen our objectives. Speaking about memory, history and history textbooks and the ambivalence inherent…
Day 3: 17 August 2017 The final day of the conference began with a keynote address from Vijay Prashad, author and Professor of International Studies, threw a new light on history and the idea of India. Prashad contextualised history as ‘possibility, not chronology’, and looked at various schema: from Ayn Rand’s influence and reach, to considering…
Day 2: 16 August 2017 The second day began with an invigorating session titled ‘The Unequivalence of Violence: the Communal Question in Janam’s Plays’. Sudhanva Deshpande, editor, thespian, director and member of Jana Natya Manch (Janam) used various written and visual excerpts from Janam’s productions to talk about the evolution of communalism and the challenges of…
Day 1: 15 August 2017 The first day of the conference began mid-morning in Tollygunge Club. Teachers from various schools across India were in attendance , participating keenly in the various sessions of the day. Naveen Kishore, the Managing Trustee of The Seagull Foundation for the Arts, addressed the gathering with a few opening remarks. He…
Opening session: Conversation between Romila Thapar and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. 14 August 2017 The opening session of the third annual History for Peace conference—The Idea of India—was a conversation between Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Romila Thapar. As Spivak said, the audience ‘eavesdropped’ on a conversation between ‘two old friends’ as they deconstructed the potential meanings…
