Contact: [email protected] www.uni-goettingen.de/cemis Student Uprisings and the Political University: Perspectives from India Roundtable Discussion Over the past year, university campuses across India have witnessed a series of intense and protracted student protests. Although decisions taken by the university administration have been the immediate target, the protests have been galvanized by a far wider set of socio- political concerns, ranging from caste and gender discrimination to the privatization of higher education and the concerted assault on democratic rights and freedoms by political authorities. The increasingly authoritarian tendencies of state power stand exposed in the fraught space of the contemporary Indian university. At the same time the university is also a place of active democratic experimentation and transformation, where student movements are forging solidarities across existing divisions of ideology and identity and building a new politics of hope and struggle. To understand the significance of student uprisings and the "political university" in the context of similar struggles that are unfolding in universities from South Africa to the United States, the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) of the University of Göttingen will host a roundtable discussion. Three senior Indian scholars with first-hand experience of the recent events at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), will present their reflections to a public audience. The conversation will be moderated by CeMIS faculty. Speakers Prof. Dr. Neeladri Bhattacharya, JNU Prof. Dr. Ayesha Kidwai, JNU Prof. Dr. Janaki Nair, JNU Moderators Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja, CeMIS Prof. Dr. Srirupa Roy, CeMIS Thursday 2 June, 18:00-20:00 Alte Mensa, Wilhelmsplatz 5, University of Göttingen

Student Uprisings and the Political University: … Uprisings and the Political University: Perspectives from India Roundtable Discussion Over the past year, university campuses across

Download PDF Report

Upload
vuthuy
View
218
Download
4

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Student Uprisings and the Political University: … Uprisings and the Political University: Perspectives from India Roundtable Discussion Over the past year, university campuses across

Contact: [email protected]

www.uni-goettingen.de/cemis

Student Uprisings and the Political University:

Perspectives from India

Roundtable Discussion

Over the past year, university campuses across India have witnessed a series of intense andprotracted student protests. Although decisions taken by the university administration havebeen the immediate target, the protests have been galvanized by a far wider set of socio-political concerns, ranging from caste and gender discrimination to the privatization of highereducation and the concerted assault on democratic rights and freedoms by politicalauthorities. The increasingly authoritarian tendencies of state power stand exposed in thefraught space of the contemporary Indian university. At the same time the university is also aplace of active democratic experimentation and transformation, where student movements areforging solidarities across existing divisions of ideology and identity and building a new politicsof hope and struggle.

To understand the significance of student uprisings and the "political university" in the contextof similar struggles that are unfolding in universities from South Africa to the United States, theCentre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) of the University of Göttingen will host a roundtablediscussion. Three senior Indian scholars with first-hand experience of the recent events atDelhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), will present their reflections to a public audience.The conversation will be moderated by CeMIS faculty.

Speakers

Prof. Dr. Neeladri Bhattacharya, JNU

Prof. Dr. Ayesha Kidwai, JNU

Prof. Dr. Janaki Nair, JNU

Moderators

Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja, CeMIS

Prof. Dr. Srirupa Roy, CeMIS

Thursday 2 June, 18:00-20:00

Alte Mensa, Wilhelmsplatz 5, University of Göttingen