In 2012, I got involved in the activities related to the Department Conference quite accidentally. ‘Negotiating Conflict’ was the second edition of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Academic Conference and the team structure was complicated, to say the least. Since it was envisioned as a bi-annual event, there were two teams responsible for conducting the conference under the Department Secretaries for the year 2011-12 and 2012-13. Arun Sudarsan and Chandni Chandran were the secretaries for the latter period and their team consisted of super coordinators and coordinators from the third, fourth, and fifth years. I was a second year student blithely unaware of the serious academic goings-on in the department. I do not even remember hearing the call to be a part of the conference by volunteering to do the leg-work. Yet, by virtue of my friendship with people who did put their hands up, I ended up working closely with the Publicity team and, closer to the date of conference, even as part of the Facilities and Requirements (FR) Team. The actual event of the conference itself is a blur in my head and all I can remember is a certain level of excitement and satisfaction at its end. Along with a headful of terms that I could not yet process.
This accidental encounter paved the path to another accident and a much more serious involvement with the conference. In 2013-14, for the first and only time till date, we had a dedicated Conference Head. Jacob Roshan was deeply dedicated and had a clear vision for the conference. Jacob entrusted in me the heavy responsibility to handle the position of an Event Coordinator for the Economics stream. This was the result of a change in course structure that reduced the streams from three to two, just English Studies and Development Studies. Jacob, an Economics student himself, decided to persist with the three stream structure of the conference. It will be an understatement to say that I proved to be a disappointment to Jacob, being an English Studies student, lazy, and for quite a few other reasons. Yet, what I gained from this experience was immense. Working with Dhivya Jothi, Adithya Unnikrishnan, and Jacob was inspiring and educational. The team managed to organize an intellectually stimulating conference around the theme ‘Urban Spaces’. The highlight was the workshops which provided a hands-on experience to the participants.
In my fourth year, I found myself as a part of the conference once again and this time it was in the crucial role of the Department Secretary. Yashasvini Rajeshwar, my co-secretary, and I were off on a journey of self-exploration and mini enlightenment. The set of questions that we needed to find solutions for, right in the beginning, were regarding the structure of the team and of the conference itself. Given the fact that the only batch that specialised in Economics were the final years, we had to reconsider the precedents set by our seniors. After much deliberation, and considering the special interest shown by Dr. Malathi D who took over the mantle as the Head of the Department, we decided to maintain the three stream structure of the conference. The process did initiate discussions on the possible alternatives in the structure and also regarding the goal or purpose that the department sets for the conference.
Though the purpose is defined, modified, and executed in accordance with the vision of the representatives of each year, there are certain aspects that get normalized over the years. We came to a consensus that the conference should strive to maintain its academic tenor while trying to be accessible to a range of audience from the freshmen undergraduates in our Department to the research scholars and professors. Regarding the team structure, we decided to restrict our own roles as Department Secretaries to the organizational aspects. We also decided to expand the publicity team, drawing from Yash’s experience of being a part of the 2014 conference. We formalised the participation of PhD scholars in the organizational process tapping into a tradition that Jacob had initiated. 2015 conference ‘On Migration’ also was the first to hold a pre-conference lecture and poster presentations.
One of the major highlights of that conference was also the pre-conference lecture by P Sainath, leading journalist on rural affairs. We also received about 125 abstracts. The best of the lot were selected for paper presentations and poster presentations. After engaging sessions of academic discussions and workshops, the conference wound up with a film screening session and panel discussion led by Prof. Ira Bhaskar and Dr. Aysha Iqbal. The pre-conference lecture and the movie screenings were widely attended proving that they were as popular as they were academic.
The experience of running the conference was unique. Through trial and error, Yashasvini and I were able to develop a division of work in a way that both of us drew upon our strengths and complemented each other. Above all else, I forged a relationship with her which was stronger than when it began and more importantly, the knowledge to spell her name right.
Most of this extends to the rest of the team as well. We met frequently, divided work, worked independently, and had our fair share of fun. The members of our team either enjoyed themselves well or were too scared to admit the contrary.
In my final year, having entrusted the responsibilities of organisation with Dhananjay and Krupa, I attended the conference as part of the audience, immensely enjoying the progress that the event had made over the years. The 2016 conference pondered on the theme of ‘Grappling with the Sacred’ and took a bold move towards restructuring the conference from a stream wise to a theme wise organisation. The team’s work was commendable ensuring a smooth transition and thus solving the question of ‘Economics stream’ for the time being. The session featuring Lata Mani was the most memorable.
My involvement with the conference came to an unceremonious end this year when my attempts to be a part of the paper presenters in the 2017 Conference on Traversing the Margins as my abstract was quite politely rejected. I sincerely hope that it is not over for good.
Warmly,
Aswin.
Article 19 