The 9th Annual Academic Conference organized by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, was held from January 23, 2020-January 25, 2020. The theme of the Conference was ‘Rethinking Violence’. Across three days, nine panels and six lectures were held on various subjects such as gender and sexuality, literature, language, history, disability, memory, and trauma. Through the panels and lectures, the inter-linkages between different subjects in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the broader theme of the Conference were explored and discussed in detail. The inauguration ceremony of the Conference was held at Madhava Hall on Thursday, 23rd January.
The event was kickstarted by Professor S. P. Dhanavel (Acting Head of Department) who delivered the Welcome Address. He welcomed the audience on behalf of Professor Umakant Dash (Head of Department) and the Organizing Team. Stating that violence occurred because of a lack of harmony, peace, and balance, Professor Dhanavel quoted Mother Teresa in emphasizing the strong connection between peace and family. He mentioned that while statistically violence might have reduced since the
turn of the century, mental violence is on the rise. He ended his address by extending a special welcome to the Chief Guest—Professor Jagadeesh, Dean of Academic Courses, and the Guest of Honor—Ms. Merlin Freeda, Director of Operations at International Justice Mission.
Following the Welcome Address, Professor Santhosh Abraham (Faculty Convener of the Conference) was called upon to introduce the Concept Note. He began by mentioning the themes of previous editions of the Conference, such as ‘Grappling with the Sacred’, ‘Subjugated Knowledge’ and ‘Identity and Citizenship’. He stated that violence is a contested subject that has multiple dimensions, and is of interest to several academic disciplines. He highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of the theme by drawing attention to the various panels to be held during the Conference. He mentioned that this year’s Conference received more than 750 abstracts from all across India and the rest of the world. Before ending his address, he particularly thanked the efforts of the Concept Note team in filtering and reviewing the large volume of abstracts.
After Professor Santhosh’s introduction, the compère called upon Professor Merin Simi Raj (Faculty Convener of the Conference) to make a few remarks on the theme of the event. She began by welcoming the audience, especially the participants and presenters. She stated that the most important contribution of the Conference lied in curating detailed discussions of violence through several disciplinary and theoretical frameworks. She termed it as a memory-making exercise in all aspects — personal, private, structural and institutional. She thanked the efforts of the Organizing Team, noting that the Conference was a student-led event.
Following Professor Merin’s remarks, the Chief Guest of the day—Professor Jagadeesh Kumar, took to the stage to speak a few words. Expressing his happiness at being invited to the event, Professor Jagadeesh spoke about the violence inherent in science. He quoted Darwin in stating that the violence or in-fighting within the species must be minimal to prevent extinction. He stated that the evolution from single-celled amoeba to the present-day fully-grown humans was a testament to this. He used the examples of Buddha, Mahavir, Gandhi, and Jesus, in arguing that three out of the four most prolific personalities who taught and practiced non violence were from India. He ended his address with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “The moment you resort to violence, you lose the argument. You become a loser”.
After Professor Jagadeesh’s address, the compère called upon the Guest of Honor—Ms. Merlin Freeda, to take the stage. Ms. Merlin attended the event as a representative of the International Justice Mission (IJM), which was the Presenting Sponsor of the Conference. She expressed her happiness in being able to collaborate with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and praised the Organizing Team on choosing the theme. She elucidated upon the work done by IJM in protecting poor people, especially exploited women and children, across the world. She provided riveting details of a recent rescue operation that they had conducted in collaboration with the Puducherry Police. Through her examples from the field and conversations with exploited persons, Ms. Freeda noted that violence is an everyday occurrence that is predatory and hidden in nature. She ended her address by congratulating the Organizing Team and wishing for the Conference to be a success. Professor Rajesh (Faculty Convener of the Conference) presented a memento to the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honor. Following this, the compère called upon Professor Mayilvaganan to deliver the keynote lecture titled ‘The Geopolitical Matrix of Violences’.
Report by Meenakshi V.
Photography by Sakshi Malpath and Ganesh Dileep
Article 19 