Kurukshetra University to hold workshop on Indian history

20 November, 2011

The history department at Kurukshetra University is organising a three-day national workshop on new trends in indian historiography from 24 to 26 november, 2011

THE DEPARTMENT of History, Kurukshetra University is organising a three day national Workshop on the New Trends in Indian Historiography from 24 to 26 November, 2011 in the Faculty Lounge of the university. About fifty young teachers and research scholars of History from the colleges and universities of Haryana will participate in the three day celebrations, which will span from ancient, medieval period to modern and even contemporary Indian history. The KU Vice Chancellor Lt. Gen. Dr. DDS Sandhu has very graciously consented to inaugurate the workshop being held for the first time on this theme in the northern India.

The Chairman of History department and the Director of the National Workshop Professor Chattar Singh said that the workshop is aimed to acquaint the budding historians with the latest cutting-edge academic developments within the trends in historical research, for both in the pre-modern and the modern periods. Primarily, the focus of the workshop would be on Indian history, but there would also be some contextual references to non-Indian histories. The workshop would enable participants to formulate questions on their research data and to enhance their data-organizational skills so that they can tackle research papers and projects confidently.

The write-up of research methodology, setting out arguments and frameworks of analysis, the proper use of end-notes and foot-notes, which corroborates facts in the text, are all necessary for effective use of research methodologies. There will also be clear inputs as to what should be included in associated sections such as introductions and literature reviews. Participants should also, by the end of the workshop, have developed a sense of how to review and critique their own research work.

Dr. Singh said that the Department of History of Kurukshetra University offers higher academic courses leading to M.A., M. Phil, and Ph.D. Degrees recognized by all the universities in India and abroad since 1961. Its teaching programs are designed to provide students with a broad overview of world history narrowing down to focus on the history of India with special emphasis on socio-economic and cultural history of medieval and modern Indian History.

The studies are of great help in preparing students for competitive examinations at state and central levels and many students are occupying higher positions in civil , police and judicial services in Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi after passing out from this department. Famous Ghazal king late Jagjit Singh was a student of this department in 1963-64, informed Prof. Singh.

He said, at the research level, the Department’s primary focus is on the grey aspects of socio-economic and cultural history of the Punjab which also included Haryana. At the same time, an in-depth study of the linkages (socio-cultural and economic) of the Northern Indian region with other Indian regions and the outside world is also attempted. There is a two-fold aim of all research activities in the Department. (i) Widening the database in its studies of local and regional history and (ii) introducing an inter-disciplinary approach to understand the underlying social and economic realities of the history of the North India through the ages.

During the process of the proposed workshop, other social sciences disciplines and their subject-specific methodologies would be referred to in order to demonstrate how historical inquiries can use different methodological approaches and tools. The workshop will be structured as an intensive mix of lectures, presentation of seminar papers by participants, panel discussions, and the imparting of some essential soft-ware skills – e.g. power–point presentations and the like. The workshop will have resource persons drawn from nearby universities, but some eminent historians will also be invited from far-flung universities for enhancing horizon and understanding of the participants.

The workshop director said, the themes of the workshop will be the vastest period ranging from the ancient age to the contemporary period of Indian History. It is for the first time that such a workshop is being organised in Northern India for the young teachers and research scholars of History teaching in colleges and universities in north Indian states. Young research scholars and mid-career academicians from social sciences disciplines of central and state universities and colleges of northern states of Haryana, Chandigarh UT, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, UP and Delhi will be invited and selected to attend this workshop.

Most of the resource persons, specialised with their fields, will cover various trends in Ancient Indian historiography, including the status of History as a knowledge system for the study of Ancient India, Historiographical Trends in Hindu Period and historiographical Trends in Pre-Sultanate Period. The medieval period specialists will hover over many aspects of historiography , specially the Medieval Historiographical Approaches in Sultanate Period; Medieval Historiographical Approaches in Mughal Period, Post-Medieval and other recent trends in Historiography; and the experts historians on Modern History will delve upon Historiographical Trends in Colonial and Post-Colonial India covering the Modern Approaches to History, like Imperialist, Nationalist, Marxist, Subaltern Trends etc.; Changing Approaches to the Economic History of India; Research Methodologies, Sources/Data Collection, Interpretation, Quantitative Methods, References and Bibliography in History.

Many eminent historians and resource persons have been invited from neighbouring universities of New Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jammu, Meerut, Aligarh and Jaipur to minimize the expenditures. Most prominent among them are Prof. (Ms.) Mridula Mukherjee, former Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi; Prof. R.S. Aggarwal, Dean, Faculty of Arts, & social sciences, Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut; Prof. Joginder Singh, Director, Namdhari Chair, Department of History, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Prof. Inayat Ali Zaidi, Department of History, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi; Prof. Jigar Mohammed, Department of History, University of Jammu, Jammu Tawi, J & K; and Prof. Y.P.Bajaj , former Head of History Department of Punjabi University, Patiala .

There will be four or five sessions in a day, at least two each in the forenoon and afternoon, with tea breaks in-between and half-an-hour lunch at noon. Therefore, there will be, in total, 12 Sessions to be addressed by such great authorities of history in India. Dr. Surinder Singh Deswal, Registrar of the host university will address the valedictory function and distribute certificates to the participants on 26 November 2011 in the Faculty Lounge.