Lectures

The India Ki Khoj program included 6 lectures:

Today's India: Does Gandhi Matter Anymore?
Architectural Landscapes of India
Imagining India: Many Voices, Many Narratives
Dance and the Indian Nation
Re-imagining a Queer Future: Creating movements in a resistant Gujarat
Science in Ancient India: Is it a Myth, Oxymoron, or a Reality?

'Today's India: Does Gandhi Matter Anymore?' was given by Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of the famous Mahatma Gandhi. In this lecture, he argued the idea that Gandhi's ideas are still relevant, but that these ideas would not necessarily be promoted by the majority in today's India, due to a rise in nationalism across the country. He expressed that Gandhi's primary message was "Fear not, Hate not." and while he was able to successfully transmit the "Fear not" message across the country, the majority of Indian people did not resonate with the "Hate not" statement. This allowed the Indian people to free themselves of British Colonial rule, but not to do so without some violence.

Professor Rajmohan Gandhi

'Architectural Landscapes of India' was given by Jigna Desai, a professor of architecture at CEPT university in Gujarat. In her lecture, she showed many images of types of architecture throughout India's history. While this architecture was specific to the region during ancient times, architecture became more homogenous across the country one factories were made to build the elements of the structure in a consistent way. Professor Desai showed many structures that were created by carving stone out of mountains. This was a form of architecture that I had not seen previously and found particularly interesting.

Professor Jigna Desai

'Imagining India: Many Voices, Many Narratives' was given by Madhumita Sengupta, an assistant professor in history at IITGN. Dr. Sengupta focused on how to define an Indian citizen, as these people come from a wide range of lifestyles and cultures. Sengupta compared South Indians with those from the North most regions and illustrated just how different two Indian citizens could be. Sengupta focused on those of the Hindi religion for the sake of time, but noted that India is even more diverse than could be seen from a single lecture, as there are also many muslim and jain Indian citizens.

Assistant Professor Madhumita Sengupta

'Dance and the Indian Nation' was given by Arshiya Sethi, a scholar of Indian dance in Delhi. Sethi taught us about many types of Indian dance. While she focused on the 8 "official" dances of the nation, she made sure to inform us that these dances are picked somewhat arbitrarily by a government committee and that there are over 3,000 folk dances that could be made into "official" dances of the nation. Sethi addressed Western influences on Indian dance, such as the influence of hip-hop dance and in turn addressed the influence that Indian dance has had on the dance of other cultures. While Sethi believed that some amount of transfer in dance style between nations is inherent, she also addressed the cultural appropriation of the Indian people that has occurred in the America's, where Americans that are not of Indian descent wear Indian dress and perform using distinctly Indian dance styles.

Scholar Arshiya Sethi

'Re-imagining a Queer Future: Creating movements in a resistant Gujarat' was given by Anahita Sarabhai, founder of LGBT+ group Queerabad. Sarabhai narrated her life's experience as a queer person, beginning with her coming out story at age 11. Sarabhai contrasted her experience at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, USA with her experience in Ahmedabad, India, where homosexuality was illegal for most of her life thus far. While Sarabhai found queer groups in Ahmedabad with which to share her experience, she found that these groups did not satisfy her desires for a queer community, as the groups consisted primarily of gay men and were not inclusive of the especially marginalized transgender community. Sarabhai highlighted the creation and growth of her LGBT+ group 'Queerabad', which now has over 500 members that regularly show to events and over 3,000 online followers.

Activist Anahita Sarabhai

'Science in Ancient India: Is it a Myth, Oxymoron, or a Reality?' was given by Krishnamurthy Ramsubramanian, a professor at IIT Bombay. Dr. Ramsubramanian had a particularly hands on lecture, leading the group through scientific problems, with a focus on rotation of the planets. Dr. Ramsubramanian also explained concepts that were foreign to most of the group, such as why only half of the moon is ever facing the earth during its rotation.