Culture at cross-roads? – the International conference held at the University of Madras on March 14th and 15th 2024 (2)

Culture at cross-roads? – the International conference held at the University of Madras on March 14^th and 15^th 2024 (2)

14-03-2024 afternoon session[1]: The afternoon’s session (3 pm to 5:30 pm) commenced with a special lecture by Dr. Ananta Kumar Giri, who talked about what lies beyond cross cultures.  It was followed by the 1^st technical session from, where Assistant Professors of Post Graduate and Research Department of Historical Studies of Government Arts College for Men, Dr. M. Palani and Dr. J. Sadayamuthu preceded as the Chair and Co-chair respectively.  There were six presentations in this session. All the presenters focused on how various ideas, disciplines, concepts and issues overlap with cultures.  

Simultaneously, competition and cultural exhibitions were held where participants took part in Poster making, Crafts and Culinary exhibitions on the theme “Cultural diversity”. The judges for the competition were Ms. Arokiya Anbazhagi, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Women’s Christian College and Dr. Sasikala, Head of the Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Madras. The first day of the International Conference concluded with a talk by the chairperson Dr. M Palani.

15-03-2024 – the second day of proceedings:  The second day was held on 15^th March 2024. It started with the 2^nd technical session from 9:15 – 10:30 am with 8 presenters who presented a large variety of disciplines that interact with culture from street art to food, from uniform civil code to globalization.  This session was chaired by Dr. M.P. Damodaran – Head of the Department of Anthropology.  

It was followed by the 3rd technical session from 10:45am – 1pm chaired by Dr. Pareshwar Sahoo – Assistant professor in the Department of History at Utkal University and co-chaired by Dr. T Kausalyakumari– Head of the department of History – Ethiraj College. There were 7 presenters who focused on the topics such as women’s participation in politics, menstrual hygiene, archaeology, culture in early Madras and cultural identity vs intellectual property rights.

The student-paper presenters, generally had dealt with the topics taken for the purpose.

The paper presenter delved upon the topic of “theatre hall” and went on to list out all such auditoriums, halls, theatres, lecture halls etc., making sweeping remarks, before the establishment of such halls by the British, there was no culture (perhaps theatre culture) in Madras!

Audience- students

The paper presented on “menstrual hygienic”: The topic dealt with “menstrual hygienic” has been limited, but, making conclusions universal. Already many has researched in this topic[2]. It has been a favourite topic for many[3]. In Tamilnadu itself, there have been many studies covering Salem[4]. She conducted a survey with an English questionnaire, where, the subjects do not know English. This type of research has to be careful, as with the few samples, it cannot decide the fate of an entire state or country. Just by surveying the conditions of 100 persons, one cannot conclude the conditions of 100 crores population. She was stressing as if such “taboo” has been peculiar in India, without mentioning such taboo prevalent in other countries, perhaps, throughout the world. The Google Scholar shows thousands of books and papers on the topic[5] and therefore, it is better the paper presenter avoid bias and interpret the data restricting to her chosen area.

oppo_0

Students audience- backside

Intellectual property rights of the indigenous people: The Indian tribes, traditional knowledge etc., have been also a favourite topic[6]. The indigenous and tribals have many skills in science and technology, but they pass on them to their progeny from generation to generation[7]. They are not registering their cultural heritage and hence, others are copying and using it. Actually, in India, the Vanavasis (forest-dwelling people) were never disturbed and they continued to live with their facilities.  Even today, few islands of Andaman & Nicobar are not disturbed, as the indigenous tribes living there for millions of years never want to mix with others. Food, medicine and other requirements are provided periodically, some persons come and take them away, but, none are allowed to enter their islands.

Dr Pareswar Sahoo heading the session

Audience…….

Culture at crossroads – how it affects the Acts and Rules applicable to Indian women in 21st century: K. V. Ramakrishna Rao  – Culture at crossroads – how it affects the Acts and Rules applicable to Indian women in the 21st century. After discussing about many case laws, he concluded as follows: As it has been mentioned as “crossroads,” what the roads crossing each other has to be mentioned specifically, as it cannot be hypothetical. When people or peoples meet at the “crossroads,” i.e, the place of intersection of two or more roads, the action, interaction and counteraction among them have to be studied.  Thus, the judiciary, judicial judgments and Acts applicable to civil society have to be secularized completely.

• Utopian concepts of egalitarianism in all spheres of Indians can be achieved only by true and complete secularization of Indian society leading to Social Justice.
• Therefore, religion should definitely be treated as personal concept instead of putting it on national agenda.
• As the ideals of Social Justice can be materialized by actual commitment, keeping reality in mind, all efforts should be taken to have uniform civil and criminal laws in the Indian context.
• If the secularization process is completed in true spirit, then there will not be any objection to such uniform civil code. For this broad-minded, educated and liberal scholars of secular but religious personalities should be consulted without any discrimination on any factor. As the UCC Bill introduced in 2019 has been still pending even in 2024, Indians may have to wait and see.
• In such process, not only the Indian Constitution, but also all Acts and rules can be secularized to the satisfaction of all sections of Indian society.
• But, unless all Indians follow them strictly, the ideals may not be implemented.
• Therefore, the people should not only be taught about their rights, but also others should sincerely help them to get their rights with responsibility.
• Thus, it is believed that Indians would achieve Social Justice through secular principles.

Archaeology, Processural archaeology and Cultural archaeology – are they at loggerheads or crossroads?: J. Soundaraajan and K. V. Ramakrishna Rao discussed about Archaeology, Processural archaeology and Cultural archaeology in the context of culture. After discussing the issues, he concluded as follows:

• As historical and archaeological chronologies have been different, they have to be correlated, corroborated and corresponded for the purpose.
• How the prehistoric (archaeological) dates and historic (written) evidences could be brought together at a meeting point has to be considered.
• Whether historical and archaeological cultures could be fit into such chronology or not- should be decided with the eras, dates and chronograms appearing in the inscriptions.
• Now archaeo-astronomical evidences and datings are not accepted by the field-archaeologists, but, they are used by others in the multi-disciplinary approach, even in the megalithic sites.
• The study of cultural change in the countries like India, is very difficult. As the vast country with the largest coastal areas had been interacting with many other cultures, the cross-cultural, cultural influence and related processes would vary during every 50-100 years, yet, the culture exhibited show some commonness.
• The 2500 years old sculptural evidences prove orderliness of the Indian art and architecture.
• The 3500-2500 years old literature and other non-material culture also show such uniqueness with less variance.
• All such consistencies are noted even in 21^st century proves that processural archaeology also works in India. 
• Thus, coming to the question – Archaeology, Processural archaeology and Cultural archaeology – are they at loggerheads or crossroads? – answer can be given – Yes.

The following papers were also presented:

Ganesan – Lambadis

Venkatesan – Tirukkural

Ramesh – Rock art of Tamilnadu

Vibin – Temples in Kanyakumari

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

Note: I was expecting inputs from our friends and waiting. As I could not get it, I posted this second part with the available material.

19-03-2024

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[1]  Based on the report received from the one of the convenors Dr Vamana Praphu Kumari.

[2] Sinha, Rabindra Nath, and Bobby Paul. “Menstrual hygiene management in India: The concerns.” Indian journal of public health 62.2 (2018): 71-74.

[3] Kamath, R., et al. “A study on knowledge and practices regarding menstrual hygiene among rural and urban adolescent girls in Udupi Taluk, Manipal, India.” Global journal of medicine and public health 2.4 (2013): 1-9.

[4] Balamurugan, S. Sangeetha, S. Shilpa, and Sheethal Shaji. “A community based study on menstrual hygiene among reproductive age group women in a rural area, Tamil Nadu.” Journal of Basic and Clinical Reproductive Sciences 3.2 (2014): 83-87.

[5] Van Eijk, A. M., Sivakami, M., Thakkar, M. B., Bauman, A., Laserson, K. F., Coates, S., & Phillips-Howard, P. A. (2016). Menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open, 6(3), e010290.

[6] Munzer, Stephen R., and Kal Raustiala. “The uneasy case for intellectual property rights in traditional knowledge.” Cardozo Arts & Ent. LJ 27 (2009): 37.

[7] Bengwayan, Michael A. Intellectual and cultural property rights of indigenous and tribal peoples in Asia. London: Minority Rights Group International, 2003.

Culture at cross-roads? – the International conference held at the University of Madras on March 14th and 15th 2024 (1)

Culture at cross-roads? – the International conference held at the University of Madras on March 14^th and 15^th 2024 (1)

Banner kept at the entrace of the F-50 Hall of the University of Madras

 The International Conference on “Culture at cross-roads?”: The International Conference on “Culture at cross-roads?” was held on March 14th and 15th 2024 at the University of Madras, F-50 hall jointly organized by the Anthropology department and Vanama Arts Trust, T. Nagar. Dr M. P. Damodaran and Dr Prabhu Kumari Vamana convened the conference accordingly. Last year, 2023, the Two Day International Academic (Blended Mode Summit on “Culture, Heritage and Nation Building” was held at the University of Madras on February 1st and 2nd 2023 at the Hall of Management Studies, University of Madras[1]. I have posted the proceedings in detail and they can be accessed and read from here[2]. It is happy to note that they have been active and organizing conferences every year, encouraging young students, researchers and others. As they have been delving into culture mainly, they gave a concept note on the topic and it is as follows.

The anthropology department hosted the conference….

“Culture at crossroads?” – concept note: Culture is regarded as the spectacle of human life, the prettiness of humanity! Culture made us unique beings of the world. It is a complex whole, including knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom and any capabilities. It is acquired and transmitted from generation to generation over time and space. Culture is our expression, verbal, non-verbal, and visual composition of human history and ways of life itself. The charm of culture and heritage shines in and on art, architecture, dance, music, folklore, integrity of the people and what not. The food, textiles, antique costumes, jewellery exhibits a phenomenal difference of assimilation, acculturation and diffusion due to enormous influence of modernity and globalization. Culture on CrossRoads is a multidimensional process that has created and is continuously creating unique traditions in transformation multifariously.

The culture at crossroads, how understood….

Views in a national and international perspective: The physical crossroads from time immemorial are reifying the human imagination to such an extent that subjects ranging from arts to science or sports to archery did ever remained as an exception. While migration processes conditioned by historical and anthropological events created a unique culture that is now on crossroads. Each twist and turn in the development of mankind has not only created a uni-fold unique environment in any and every sphere of escarpment, influencing the lifeways absolutely or else. This international conference is a channel to express where the indigenous ideas when mixed with heterogeneous ideologies of any or the same country, developed and is also incessantly creating an amalgamating, unifying, revivifying novel unique cultures, of course at times or vice versa! Hence, the Conference will offer a worthwhile exercise of exchange of knowledge and sharing of views in a national and international perspective through a multi-disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary viewpoint.

Bharatiya Samskruti – the Culture of Bharat – has been mentioned in a Telugu daily!

Cross-roads – what it connotes?: By and large, all dictionaries Oxford, Cambridge, Collins, Brittanica, Merriam-Webster etc., give the following connotation:

• As many roads meet at a point, the traveller is bewildered as to proceed further in a particular direction;
• a crucial point especially where a decision must be made
• a crisis situation or point in time when a critical decision must be made
• one has reached an important but uncertain stage to take a decision
• one has reached a very important stage in its development where it could go one way or another.

Thus, the Western connotation has been searching for, reaching at crossroads and thus find a resolution. However, in India, the travellers, drivers and caravans are happy to each chowk (चौक), kutroad (கூட்ரோட்) or crossroad, as they could meet fellow-travellers, eat food, take rest, spend time with others or even do business. Thus, the contrast can be found and appreciated.

Prof B. V. Sharma, Director, and Anthropological Survey of India: Generally the paper speakers and presenters first discussed about “culture at cross-roads?” according to their own understanding and then proceeded to their topic. Prof B. V. Sharma, Director, and Anthropological Survey of India also proceeded in the same way to deliver his inaugural address. He first discussed about “culture at cross-roads?”, taking in as a metaphor, pointing to a situation, where, decision-making process becomes difficult. That men are different from the animals, he explained how cultures change with time. The globalization also affects culture and creates “digital divide” among the people of the world. In the context of India, it is well-known that how unity and diversity held continue to preserve its culture. Each ethnic group has a cultural marker and transmission of culture takes place from generation to generation.  There have been certain practices that are still followed even today, as followed some 2500 years ago. This has been the uniqueness of India.

The HOD, the Dance-historian, the Registrar, the host……

Dr S. Elumalai, the Registrar of the University -presidential address: Dr S. Elumalai, the Registrar of the University delivered his presidential address differentiated between the clash of civilizations and clash of cultures. Agriculture, sericulture, aquaculture, horticulture, etc., he tried to interpret that culture shows the diversity, differences and variance. Yet, there have been common factors in Indian culture. The “Clash of Civilizations” is a thesis that people’s cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post–Cold War world. The American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington argued that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures. It was proposed in a 1992 lecture at the American Enterprise Institute, which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled “The Clash of Civilizations?”, in response to his former student Francis Fukuyama’s 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man. Huntington later expanded his thesis in a 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. After “the Clash of civilizations,” though, “the clash of cultures” is also talked about[3], there have been differences of opinion. Under the context of globalization also, it is discussed.

Dr Swarnamalaya…..

the audience

Dr Swarnamalya, Dancer & Cultural Historian – special address: Dr Swarnamalya, Dancer & Cultural Historian delivered a special address. She used Tamil words to denote culture and it appears superficial. Though she tried to interpret “Panpadu,” (பண்பாடு) with different nuances, but, she had forgotten “Kalacharam” (கலாச்சாரம்). However, in India, cultural strands have been interwoven and connected to each other. She recollected her association with the university also, as she got PhD from here, and she was rehearsing practice for the inaugural function of Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam, for President of India etc.

the audience

Dr T. Chandralekha, former Dean, Dr MGR Educational Institute & University: Dr T. Chandralekha, former Dean, Dr MGR Educational Institute & University gave a special address online. In general, she talked about culture and other aspects. As it was online mode, it was not clear, what she was speaking about and the audience was at a crossroads. The students at the back were also talking to each other. Therefore, this type of “online” discourse can be avoided.  

the audience

On-line / hybrid mode and its effectiveness: Nowadays, the on-line mode is used, but, it has been monotonous and there is no connect between the speaker and the audience. The speaker goes on speaking or reading from the paper or from the screen of the computer and there would not be any “lively” interaction. Many times, the audience starts talking with each other, without listening to the speech of the invited guest.  because of the artificiality. Even, if a person presents a paper or talks at regular conference, the whole audience may not be interested in listening to. Also, some time is wasted from the beginning to end due to technical and other problems. During the Corona period, it was used and now sometimes continues with inherent limitations.

the audience

List of papers not given: As the list of papers was not given, it was very difficult to know who was the paper presenter and what was his paper. Each paper presenter, just came and presented the paper. There was much generalization without any specifics, where the audience could not get attracted. Too much repetitiveness, vague narrative and verbose also do not attract the audience.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

17-03-2024

the audience

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[1] K. V. Ramakrishna Rao, The Two Day International Academic (Blended Mode[1]) Summit on Culture, Heritage and Nation Building was held at the University of Madras on February 1st and 2nd 2023 at the hall of Management Studies (1), February 9, 2023.

The Conference on Culture, Heritage and Nation Building held at the University of Madras on February 1st and 2nd 2023 (1)

[2] K. V. Ramakrishna Rao, The Two Day International Academic (Blended Mode[1]) Summit on Culture, Heritage and Nation Building was held at the University of Madras on February 1st and 2nd 2023 at the hall of Management Studies (2), February 9, 2023.

The Conference on Culture, Heritage and Nation Building held at the University of Madras on February 1st and 2nd 2023 (2)

[3] Fagan, Brian M. Clash of cultures. Rowman Altamira, 1998.