Events at Centre for Contemporary Studies

Events at the Centre for Contemporary Studies in 2006

Events in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

74.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 16: Online feedback and discussion “I understand a fury in your words, But not the words”
	Suggested themes – · Course feedback · Assignment plans · On language, jargon, common-sense, and [scientific] knowledge – “I understand a fury in your words, But not the words.” On normal and revolutionary science – “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'”. On certainty and normal science – “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” [Note: The discussions will take off from these issues as discussed during the course, in an attempt to suggest further avenues]
	Saturday, 2nd December 2006 at 2:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m. yahoo online multi-user conference [Participants will need to send a yahoo id to asha.achuthan@gmail.com prior to the conference, and will need yahoo messenger to be able to access the conference]

73.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 15: Discussion of participant's assignments
	Session plan: In the first half, we will discuss standard formats of paper-writing and how methodologies of scientific disciplines feed into this, including reflexive approaches and which parts of research these reflexivities inhabit. This would include formats for proposal writing, data-gathering methods – quantitative and qualitative as they function in both social sciences and natural sciences - and ethical questions. We will go on to discuss some problems of these formats. We will go on to look at what might have been learnt or suggested in the course regarding valid criteria for knowledge production in the disciplines. This would involve some recap of questions raised regarding objectivity [and bias], context, interpretation, intentionality, and power. The second part of the session will concentrate on long assignment topics, and faculty and peer responses to abstracts that have already been put in.
	Saturday, 25th November 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, 466, Madhavan Park, Jayanagar 1st Block, 9th Cross,Bangalore- 560011


72.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 14: "Coding Citizenship: of Scientific Rationality and Technological Designs" by
	Kakarala Sitharamam Senior Fellow Centre for the Study of Culture and Society Bangalore
	Saturday, 18th November 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Choksi Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

71.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 13: "Science and Technology as Reasons of State and Market" by
	Kakarala Sitharamam Senior Fellow Centre for the Study of Culture and Society Bangalore
	Saturday, 4th November 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

70.	Seminar on
	"Colonialism and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: The Case of Chinese Medicine"
	Tuesday, 7 November, 2006, 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Choksi Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

69.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 12: "Critique II: But do anthropos think (love, hate)? Is intentionality (merely) a stance?" by
	Dr Vivek Dhareshwar Senior Fellow Centre for the Study of Culture and Society Bangalore
	Saturday, 4th November 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

68.	Lecture on "The many Indias and a search for a centre."
	by Prof. U. R. Ananthamurthy Jnanpith Awardee Sundararajan Visiting Professor Centre for Contemporary Studies Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
	2nd November, 2006, Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Ecological Sciences, Seminar Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

67.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 11: "Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that." by
	Vijay Chandru Chairman & CEO, Strand Life Sciences, Honorary Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Research Affiliate, Lab for Information and Decision Systems, MIT, Cambridge) There is no better symbol of anthropomorphized computers than Heuristic Algorithmic (or HAL) of the epic “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick (screenplay by Arthur C. Clarke). This lecture will focus on HAL’s legacy and the readings are drawn from a book of that title.
	Saturday, 28th October 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012


66.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 10: The Concept of Sociality in Biology by
	Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar J C Bose National Fellow, Chairman, Centre for Contemporary Studies and Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore The Grand Darwinian Dilemma - Why are animals so nice to each other?
	Saturday, 14th October 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

65.	International Seminar on
	Integrating Society into Science - Perspectives from Biology
	Friday, 13 October, 2006, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Faculty Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

64.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 9: The concept of "sociality" in the social sciences by
	Dr. Satish Deshpande Department of Sociology, Delhi University The concept of "sociality in the social sciences
	Saturday, 7th October 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

63.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 8: Technology and the 'irrational' by
	Dr. Satyajit Mayor Associate Professor, Cellular Organization and Signalling Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences & Dr. S.V. Srinivas Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society Learning to See II: Technology and the ‘irrational’
	Friday, 6th October, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012


62.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 7: Is what is Realistic really Real? by
	Dr. Ashish Rajadhyaksha Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore Learning to See. Is what is Realistic really Real? The Realism debate
	Saturday, 23rd September, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

61.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 6: Science-as-Knowledge/ science-as-practice by
	Dr. Srikanth Mallavarapu Srikanth Mallavarapu has a Ph.D. in English from SUNY, Stony Brook and works on Science Studies and Literary Theory and Dr. Asha Achuthan Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore
	Saturday, 16th September, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

60.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	In addition to the formal course sessions on Saturdays, we present a series of talks on topics related to the overall theme of the course.
	“Latour and Critique”
	by Dr. Srikanth Mallavarapu Srikanth Mallavarapu has a Ph.D. in English from SUNY, Stony Brook and works on Science Studies and Literary Theory
	Thursday, 14th September, 2006 at 4:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

59.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 5: Examining claims of objectivity in history and anthropology by
	Dr. Rochelle Pinto Junior Fellow Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore
	Saturday, 9th September, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

58.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 4: The "Scientific Method"; qualitative and quantitative research practices; role of scientific objectivity and bias; interpretations of research by scientists and the public. by
	Dr. Harini Nagendra Asia Research Coordinator,Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University & Adjunct Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore.
	Saturday, 2nd September, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

57.	A Film: CODING CULTURE A series of two films on Bangalore’s Software Industry July Boys (30 mins) and Fun @ Sun (32 mins)
	GAUTAM SONTI In collaboration with CAROL UPADHYA Produced by National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India Supported by Indo-Dutch Programme for Alternatives in Development, The Netherlands
	Thursday, 31 August 2006, 6:00 p.m., Department of Physics, Lecture Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

56.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 3 by
	Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore Literary studies as a discipline has a specific kind of origin in the English-speaking world, going back to the 19th century. The main object of study, "literature", also comes into being in its present-day sense roughly at the time of the Industrial Revolution. Today this object is surrounded by different sorts of practices of reading and interpretation, some of which have come to be seen as obvious and natural. This session gives an overview of the history of interpretation in literary studies, concluding with Jacques Derrida's essay which - drawing on concerns from linguistics and philosophy - posed a radical challenge to conventional notions of interpretation.
	Saturday, 26th August, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

55.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 2: Introduction to key concepts and issues. The road map of the course by
	Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore "Two cultures and Two traditions: Old debates and new perspectives" and Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore "Two cultures - How the mind of a natural scientist works, for better and worse"
	Saturday, 19th August, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

54.	CCS and CSCS Course on:
	“Production of Knowledge in the Natural and Social Sciences”
	Session 1: Inauguration by Prof. U. R. Ananthamurthy & Prof. Roddam Narasimha
	Saturday, 12th August, 2006 at 2:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

53.	"Between Living and Thinking: Problems in the Interdisciplinary Production of Knowledge"
	by Prof. R. Radhakrishnan Chair Department of Asian American Studies and Professor of English and Comparative Literature University of California, Irvine
	Tuesday, 25 July, 2006, 4:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

52.	A Film: *"Diya"* (*56 min*; produced by Ms. Judith MacDougall)
	Centre for Cross-Cultural Research Australian National University Canberra, Australia
	The lives of families who make, sell, and use diyas-small terracotta oil lamps used in Hindu ceremonies-are explored through following the "life history" of the diyas themselves. The film follows a diya through its creation on the potters' wheel and observes the lively social life of an extended family of potters, to the bazaar where it is sold as a commodity, then to a mother and her children performing the Diwali rituals. Finally it is discarded and returned to the earth. This film represents an experimental approach to material culture.
	Thursday, 13 July 2006, 6:00 p.m., Department of Physics, Lecture Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

51.	Lecture on "Toward an Indian Theory of the Imagination: The Sixteenth-Century Break-Through in South India." by Prof. David Shulman Faculty of Humanities, Institute of Asian & African Studies The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
	Tuesday, 4 July, 2006, 4:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

50.	Lecture on "The Artificial, the natural and the necessary in Aristotle's Physics II" by Abhijeet Bardapurkar Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
	Thursday, 22 June, 2006, 4:00 p.m., Seminar Hall, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012
	Abstract: What explains the curious mixture of the natural and the teleological in Aristotle's Physics II? The answer, that this talk attempts to outline, lies in his conception of the relationships between the natural and the artificial. Focusing on these "natural-artificial linkages" will help us understand how unique Aristotle's naturalistic enquires were: how he could locate the causality in what exists, without solely relying on the necessities.

49.	Public Lecture "Human Dignity in Times of Emergency"
	by Prof. Dr. Dieter Grimm Rector, Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, Germany Member, Global Law Faculty, New York University Former Judge, German Constitutional Court
	Prof. P. Balaram, Director, Indian Institute of Science will preside.
	17th April, 2006, Monday,, 4:00 p.m., Faculty Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012
	Summary: Human Dignity in Times of Emergency The constitutional order of postwar Germany is based on the principle of human dignity. Many recent constitutions all over the world followed this example. Different from fundamental rights, which can be limited by law, human dignity is regarded as an absolute principle. In the current situation of terrorism and emergency some authors and state authorities in various countries began to question the absolute protection of human dignity. The lecture will explain the meaning of dignity and comment on some of the doubts raised, e.g.: Are there situations in which torture may be permitted? Is it compatible with the principle of dignity to kill a number of people (for instance passengers in a plane captured by terrorists) in order to save an even greater number from being killed? Dieter Grimm is Professor of Public Law at Humboldt University in Berlin and at Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, and Rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Study). From 1987 to 1999 he served as a Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. He is a member of the Academia Europaea, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

48.	Lecture on "The Role of Science in International Environmental Law Making."	Cancelled
	by Prof. Dr. Bharat H. Desai Jawaharlal Nehru Chair in International Environmental Law Chairman, Centre for International Legal Studies School of International Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi
	13th April, 2006, Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

47.	Lecture on "Creating the Modern World: The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 1799-2006"
	by Dr. Frank A.J.L. James Professor of the History of Science The Royal Institutio England
	29th, March, 2006, Wednesday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

46.	Lecture on 'The British Library and its South Asian Treasures'.
	by Dr. Penny Brook Asia, Pacific & Africa Collections The British Library United Kingdom
	28th, March, 2006, Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

45.	Lecture on "High Culture from the Commerce of Cotton: The formation of the John Rylands Library in Manchester"
	by Dr. Stella Butler Head of Special Collections and Principal Keeper The John Rylands University Library The Universityof Manchester United Kingdom
	27th, March, 2006, Monday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

44.	Lecture on "Retirement and a Career in Scottish Archives, the Story of Digital Imaging at the National Archives of Scotland"
	by Mr. Rob Mildren Head of ICT The National Archives of Scotland Thomas Thomson House United Kingdom
	21st, March, 2006, Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

43.	Lecture on "Indigenous Tribes of the Andamans and Nicobars: Pre-Tsunami Life and Culture"
	by Dr. Lotika Varadarajan
	8th March, 2006, Wednesday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012
	Located in the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman and Nicobar units can be divided into two sets of islands, the Andamans and the Nicobars inhabited respectively by Negrito and Mongoloid groups. Very little is known about the chronology behind this pattern of habitation. The material presented here was gathered in the course of field work undertaken on the islands during the years 1996 - 2002. Despite the many seeming changes the basic cultural fabric has remained anchored in the hunter gatherer lifestyle documented by British anthropologists in the early decades of the twentieth century. Since my research interest lay in the mapping of traditional knowledge systems viewed through the universe of the outrigger, I had necessarily to work closely with community leaders. Resulting from the recent tsunami many of the custodians of memory are now no more and this documentation is, therefore, of added interest among local groups.

42.	Lecture on "South Asian Sea-going Watercraft"
	by Dr. Lotika Varadarajan
	2nd March, 2006, Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012
	There is a great deal of literary evidence with regard to the existence of pre-Islamic maritime activity in South Asia. While the presence of Indian traders in West Asia, Southeast Asia and Indonesia can be substantiated, little is known about the Indian crafts, which may have navigated these waters. The available decoded indigenous sailing manuals, supported by the initial comments of the Portuguese Indian Ocean pilots, corroborate indications of direct nautical contact by South Asian rather than carrier vessels. The characteristics of maritime sailing crafts along the Indian littoral tends to be region specific, having evolved in response to local hydrographical conditions. Ethnological evidence points to much variety in the kinds of coastal vessels used. Not only were there dugouts and rafts but also outriggers, apart from planked vessels. All planked vessels were shell built by expert craftsmen for whom engineering drawings were, in essence, expendable. The oral tradition has been taken as being synonymous with an empirical one leaving little space for technological innovation and creativity. Nor has credence been given to an overlap between astronomical knowledge and nautical practice. There has been much debate as to whether nails had been used in ship carpentry and whether the lateen or the square sail prevailed. This presentation will spell out the main categories of Indian maritime crafts based on specificity in terms of carpentry traditions. The stage would thus be set for the depiction of Indian shipping prior to the shifts that occurred after exposure to European tradition

41.	Lecture on 'Using a poet's archive to write institutional history: Rabindranath Tagore and his Visva-Bharati'.
	by Dr. Uma Dasgupta Editorial Fellow Centre for the Study of Civilizations New Delhi
	28th February, 2006, Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

40.	Lecture on "Developing Archives of Contemporary Scientists".
	by Peter Harper Director National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists, University of Bath, United Kingdom
	13th February, 2006, Monday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

39.	Seminar on “The Pursuit and Evaluation of Science – Do we need new paradigms for both?”
	2nd February, 2006, Thursday, 9:00 a.m to 5:30 p.m., Faculty Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012

38.	Lecture on "Reclaiming Scientific Temper"
	by Dr. Meera Nanda Research Fellow Templeton Foundation USA
	24th January 2006, Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012
	The talk is aimed at revisiting and reviving the much-misunderstood idea of "scientific temper" in Indian society. The Indian scientific community , it will be argued, has a responsibility to bring the world-view and methodology of modern science into a critical dialogue with the cosomological and metaphysical elements of popular thinking. Scientific temper has a crucial role to play in the creation of a secular cultural space in India.

37.	Public Lecture "How the Brain Generates Consciousness"
	by Baroness Susan Greenfield Director The Royal Institution of Great Britain United Kingdom
	9th January 2006,Monday, 2:30 p.m., Material Research Centre, Auditorium (MRC Auditorium), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012
.
36	Lecture on "A Deeper look at Gandhi, the Philosopher"
.	by Prof. Akeel Bilgrami Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy and Director, Heyman Centre for the Humanities Columbia University, USA
.	7th January 2006, Saturday,, 4:00 p.m., Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, 466, 9th Cross, First Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore 560011
.

Events in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

Return to CCS home page