Prof. Samuel Jay Keyser
'The Mental Life of Modernism'
Date : April 2, 2021, 07:30 PM (IST)
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Abstract: This talk is about my book, The Mental Life of Modernism (MIT Press, 2020). It addresses a problem that I have wondered about for the whole of my academic life.Something happened at the turn of the 20th century in the so called “sister arts” of poetry, painting, and music as they were practiced in western civilization. This work does not address the question of similar shifts in other cultures, assuming there are such shifts. But it does reflect on the universal nature of human cognition with respect to the sister arts as they are practiced throughout the world.
In the West the sister arts of poetry, painting, and music all underwent a sea change at virtually the same time. This shift has typically been viewed as a cultural one that resulted directly from technological innovation (painting), millennial anxiety (music) and metrical exhaustion (poetry). However, none of these explanations generalize. Each one is tailored to its own genre. I suggest that there is, in fact, an underlying explanation behind all of the changes if one views the innovations as the result of cognitive and not cultural factors. Finally, I argue that precisely the same kind of change occurred 250 years earlier with science’s shift away from a mechanistic model of the universe to a theoretical model occasioned by Isaac Newton’s principle of action at a distance. Modernism and Newton’s Scientific Revolution are two sides of the same coin.
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Samuel Jay Keyser, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a Peter de FlorezEmeritus Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy and former Associate Provost at MIT. He has published extensively in the fields of linguistics and lexical structure that has made him an authority in the history and structure of the English language. He is Editor-in-chief of the journal Linguistic Inquiry. He has also authored several non-academic books including a children's book of poems which was designated the Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Award book. His recent book The Mental Life of Modernism: why poetry, painting, and music changed at the turn of the twentieth century talks about the mind's evolution in the modern era while drawing parallels with the 17th century Newtonian scientific revolution. Apart from scholarly work, his artistic inclinations towards music and poetry have made him popular as a trombonist and a poet.
Prof. Satyabrata Rout
Abstract: Theatre is a creative artform that reflects the essesce of human cognition. How we see the world and how do we react in situations as unique as well as unique in different ways. Theatre direction allows conveying unspoken emotions that we share through depictions of visuals, sounds, transitions and metaphorical contextualizations.
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Satyabrata Rout is a senior Professor at the Department of Theatre Arts, S N School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad (UoH) is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in the field of Theatre Direction. He is also a Fulbright fellow. He is one of the pioneers of ‘Visual Theatre’ in India, and has authored ‘Scenography: An Indian Perspective’. He has directed number of plays, participated in national and international theatre festivals and conducted numerous theatre workshops across the globe. His production; Matte Ekalavya (Ekalavya once again) conferred him with the prestigious META (Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award) award in 2013 in the area of Play direction. His recent play ‘Tumhara Vincent’ (Yours Vincent) bagged the best manuscript award by Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi in 2015. He has travelled extensively in Europe, America and Asian countries on teaching and training assignments, including East-15 Acting School, England and International Bio-drama School, Colombia. He also has two books to his credit; On the Crossroad of Theatre (Book related to Theatre, Published by Vijaya Books, Sahadra, Delhi) and Animal Farm (Odia adaptation of George Orwells political novel, published by PEN IN Books, Bhubaneswar).
Introspection into Contemporary Indian Theatre Through a Personal Journey
Date: March 19, 2019, 4.30 PM (IST)
Prof. Bhangya Bhukya
Abstract: Communities serve as stable ecosystems of budding social cognition. The social and economic structures of micro communities bear secrets to their collective consciousness. In India especialls, the adviasis have been dwelling in forests lands for ages and have come up with naturally sustainale and individually viable way of living.
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Dr. Bhukya is an active historian from India and specialized in modern Indian history from undergraduate to Masters level, in the process developing a strong interest in the history of subaltern and marginalized groups whose history is largely neglected in mainstream history. He did his M. A. and M. Phil from Hyderabad Central University and Ph. D from University of Warwick, UK, on Ford Foundation International Fellowship on the topic of ‘Power, Subaltern and Identity: Making of the Lambada Community (a nomadic/pastoral community) in Hyderabad State’. He was Postdoctoral Fellow in 2010 at SOAS, University of London on British Council Visiting Fellowship. His research interests are community histories, the effects of power/knowledge, governmentality and dominance on subaltern communities, particularly adivasis; the state and nationalism, and identity movements by forest and hill peoples in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Presently he teaches history in the Department of History at the University of Hyderabad. Before this, he has taught history at Osmania University from 1997 to 2010, and at The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad from 2010 to 2014. He is also associated with adivasi (indigenous) people’s human right activism in India. Some of his recent publications are History of Modern Telangana (New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, 2017), The Roots of the Periphery. A History of the Gonds of Deccan India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017), Subjugated Nomads: The Lambadas Under the Rule of Nizams (New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, 2010) and several articles in leading international social science journals. He is now working on the histories of Adivasi autonomy.
Contested Rationalities: Adivasis and their world view
Date: November 30, 2018, 4.30PM (IST)
Dr. Jayasree Subramanian
Abstract: The talk would try and give a brief outline of critiques of science and then engage with what is meant by ‘Feminist critique of Science’. It will describe the range of criticisms that feminists have advanced against science and illustrate each with an example. Finally, the talk would say a few words about neuroscience and feminism.
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Dr. Jayasree Subramanian is currently teaching in TISSHyderabad, obtained her PhD from the School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad. During her stay in the University, she got involved in campus politics, which became a cradle for her to learn feminist and caste-based concerns. She currently works on social justice concerns in mathematics education. She carried out an empirical study to understand how gender makes a difference to doing science in India, focussing on premier institutions in Bangalore. This study was published in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies in 2007. She also worked with Eklavya-an NGO working in the field of education, for seven years before joining TISS.
Feminist Critique of Science: Who Should Care
Date: March 16, 2018.
Feminist Critique of Science: Who Should Care
Date: March 16, 2018.
Prof. Aloka Parasher Sen
Abstract: ‘Cognition’ occupies an important space in the retrieval of the past as it enables historians to understand the notions of time and belongingness in unraveling the nature of the human condition in early India. Sound, Speech and Memory – these are three domains of utmost importance to understand Indian cultural heritage. I shall throw open the discussion on each of these to highlight examples from history of music, language studies and the tenacity of orality respectively that remain central to defining our sensibilities even today. In other words, I explore how sound intonation (nada), speech incantations (vac) and story symbolism (katha) relate to generating creativity and thus shape our cognitive site for, developing our collective culture, at times, transmit and enhance our traditions and, at still other times, as even heal our individual or collective consciousness.
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Prof. Aloka Parasher Sen teaches at the University of Hyderabad, India since 1979 and recently retired as a Professor of History and former Dean School of Social Sciences. She has also served as the Director of International Affairs at the University of Hyderabad. She is the author and editor of more than 7 books/monographs and has published widely in the areas of social, economic, cultural and religious history and archaeology.
Culture and Cognition: History’s dilemma
Date: March 9, 2018
Prof. Usha Raman
Abstract: We find ourselves in a highly connected, rapidly changing world. The boom in communaction with the advent of cell phones has undoubtly revolutionized the way humans talk to each other. We can communicate through voice calls, written messages and also video calls, giving the listener an experience of a virtual meet-up. While not undermining the growth that has accompanied this change, we have to introspect on the ways in which our sense of individuality has been altered. The need to project a perfect self is consistent across social media platforms which has affected our perception of our own lives. Is it possible to be your original self and stay socially connected through digital media. There are challenges in this process that we will walk through.
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Dr. Usha Raman is a Professor at Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad. Her research has been in the fields of cultural studies of science, science and health communication, clinician-patient communication, children’s media, and digital culture studies. Usha is an honorary fellow of The George Institute for Global Health. She is also the Editor of Teacher Plus, a monthly magazine for schoolteachers in India and writes a fortnightly column on learning skills for The Hindu’s Education Plus titled Backpacker’s Guide. She is the author of Writing for the Media (Oxford University Press, 2009) and has a blog titled “What are words worth?”
