The conference focused on the "social construction of gender in the Indian context by analyzing the various institutions such as education, household, community, market, and the state" and hoped that discussion would "help to evolve perspectives on development and strategies to counter the inter-linked forces of caste, class and patriarchy." Key guest speakers included Professor Amartya Sen and Professor Martha Nussbaum. Below you can view a selection of images from this most successful event:
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| Conference Inauguration: Lighting the lamp with Asha Mukherjee and Professor Amartya Sen |
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Asha Mukherjee delivers the Welcome Address
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| Remembering Smt. Amita Sen: Professor Martha Nussbaum delivers a special plenary lecture |
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| Professor Nussbaum in discussion with Asha Mukherjee and Arvinder Ansari |
If you would like to read more about the conference, please see below for the conference outline.
International
Conference: Women Creativity and Social Concern
Ashramkanya Amita Sen: 100th birth anniversary
Celebration) 5-7 Jan. 2012
Women’s Studies Centre, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan
In a life span
of eighty years, Rabindranath Tagore wrote two thousand five hundred poems,
seven novels, composed eighteen hundred songs and a number of plays, wrote,
directed and produced at least four well-known dance dramas (nritya natya/geeti
natya). Over the years these dance dramas and songs have become an inalienable
part of Bengali culture. As if that was not enough, in his late years, he took
to painting and produced almost two thousand paintings, which are believed to
be a new initiative in the world of art. A mere enumeration of these creative
aspects can hardly do justice to his incredible achievements and the great
contributions he made to the civilization. He took to interpretation of
Religion, History and Society proposing a new concept of “India”, preaching
internationalism when nations like Japan, Germany and Britain were preparing
for World war. He not only proposed but also implemented significant programmes
in rural reconstruction in pre-independent India. Needless to say, contribution
of this magnitude is not possible without a novel foundational attitude arising
out of a basic philosophical position. Over time his attitude towards Man and
the World changed and so did his philosophy.
Tagore was also
responsible for a revolutionary programme in education, using (mostly) his own
resources, which was fundamentally different from the usual form and style of
education under colonial regime. Even today, it is felt that his educational
programme gives us a new insight into the very concept of education. In
particular his concerns for women and society are well known. The women characters in his literary writings
ranged from a house-maid to a princess, from an unfortunate mother to a woman
deceived by an idea of false revolution and development propagated by a man. Chitranganda, heir to a royal family
convinced herself that to be worthy of the throne she should be like a man and
thereby imposed a false identity upon herself. But more paradoxical was her own
attempt to be worthy of Arjuna’s love by transforming the body of a beautiful
woman. Finally, she discovers that her
journey was actually a journey from one false identity to another – all
imposed, directly or indirectly, by the world of man. Another character Chandalika, living in the
periphery as an untouchable, meets a Buddhist monk who tells her that she is as
human as he is. She discovers her
humanity; but also develops desire for the monk and compels her mother to use
black magic to get him. However, she finds out the extreme pain the monk is
going through and rediscovers her humanity, not in desire, but in renunciation!
As we have said,
Tagore was not only a poet, a novelist, a composer and a painter, he was a
social activist too. For all his ideas to flourish, he needed a place. And he
knew that the cities could not anchor it.
So, came the revolutionary idea of Santiniketan – a place which would be
different from the urban myth of capitalist development ushered in by the
industrial revolution and absentee landlords investing their money in cities
like Kolkata which ultimately acts against the real development of humanity.
In Santiniketan,
he involved a host of women who were so eager to participate and enjoy the new
forms – of song, dance, plays, painting, nature, social relationship and
everything Tagore thought necessary for human development. It was not only
learning a few tricks but re-creating characters depicted in his plays and
dance-dramas. The women of ashram and
ashramkanyas achieved exceptional feats in staging the dance dramas and
creating unique styles in singing. In fact, Tagore put a heavy demand on our
women. In 1936, he was hoping for a new beginning of civilization and strongly
believed that women’s role is absolutely essential. He expected that women
would get rid of their conservative attitude, open their heart, sharpen their
intelligence and invest all their resources in the pursuit of knowledge and
experience. In his opinion, uncritical
conservative attitude is against the creative spirit. He was unequivocal in
claiming that if the women wish to participate in this transition, they will
have to rise above the age-old inertia and all sorts of imaginary fear to make
themselves worthy of the new beginning of civilization.
At his
insistence women of the ashram not
only actively participated in all the activities of ashram but also enrolled themselves in different courses in
Kala-Bhavan, Sangit-Bhavana and many of them excelled in their pursuits. Kiranbala Devi, wife of Kshitimohun Sen
enrolled in Kala-Bhavana and being invited by Nandalal Bose, actually did a
sculpture on the wall of Shyamali. Nandalal’s wife, Sudhira Devi, initiated
creation of a style of ornaments mostly using natural ingredients – different
flowers, leaves etc. Others like Gouri Bhanja, Jamuna Devi created a style of alpana, batik and other forms using indigenous style. In the process these
indigenous forms were raised to the level of art. This creative spirit was
continuously translated into a programme of social development through the
programme of Rural Reconstruction Tagore started in Sriniketan.
It is this program in which Ashramkanya Smt. Amita Sen participated
actively throughout her life. When she was two and a half years old she had drawn Tagore’s attention
so much that he brought her activities in a stream of images in a song and since then she remained an integral
part of Santiniketan Ashram. Her whole life can be seen as dedication to humanity
and “development” in Tagorean sense. She was an integral part of Tagore’s
experiments and she carried the mission forward as long as she was alive. She
was the editor of a handwritten magazine “Gurupalli”
when she was a student and later of Sreyasi
- the feminist magazine started in early nineties. She was the lead dancer in a
number of productions in Santiniketan and Kolkata. She was Sampadika
(Secretary) of Ashmrik Sangha and became a member of Visva-Bharati Court for
two terms. She was trained in lathi khela,
chura khela and Judo. As a woman she
never felt any inhibition and made contribution in every aspect of life- dance,
literature, writing, social and cultural activities and provided personal care
to the sick, old and needy. Her house
was a home to many, especially to those who came from outside. Through her collection of essays and memoirs Anando Sarbo Kaaje, Santiniketane Ashramkanya, Chole Jay Din and Shirish Bakul Amer Mukul,
we find the rich cultural history of Santiniketan interwoven into life stories
and interesting incidents. It is well-known that three santhal villages on the
west of Santiniketan were part of the Santiniketan Society. Amita had very intimate
relation with the villagers and would always stand by them in their need. She truly believed that ‘serving humanity is
the true service’
The conference would be dedicated to her memory to
celebrate her 100th birth anniversary.
The objective of the proposed conference is to
discuss various aspects of women creativity, participation in social life,
Tagore’s school and the role of women and Tagore’s views on Development and
provide participants a platform to critically examine these ideas and their relevance today
as well as to provide with the tools and skills required for understanding and
mainstreaming gender. The conference
intends to focus on social construction of gender in the Indian context by analyzing the
various institutions such as education,
household,
community, market, and the state and to help to evolve perspectives on
development and strategies to counter the inter-linked forces of caste, class
and patriarchy. It will also examine the impact of mainstream development and
globalization processes on women, particularly from the marginalized sections
in our society. Tagore realized from his own experience of the villagers’
attitudes and their social behavior that strength can be generated only in a
self-reliant village society developing its own locus of power and its own
momentum of growth and charity would not lead to the
empowerment of people and thus, education is necessary.
Conference Participants
1. Martha Nussbaum; Professor, Department of Law, Chicago University, U.S.
2. Deepankar Chatterjee; Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, U.S.
3. Aishika Chakroborty; Associate Professor, Department of History, Brahmananda Keshav
Chandra College, Kolkata
4. Pulak Datta; Associate Professor, Department of Graphics, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan
5. Dr. Mirja Juntunen; Director, Nordic Center in India
6. Sanjukta Dasgupta; Professor, Department of English and Dean of Faculty of Arts, Calcutta
University
7. Tista Bagchi; Professor, Department of Linguistics, Delhi University, Delhi
8. Nilanjan Banerjee; Indira Gandhi Center for National Integration, Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan
9. Aparna Chowdhury; Alapini Mohila Samiti Deer Park, Santiniketan
10. Amit Hajra; Department of Rural Extension, Sriniketan Visva-Bharati
11. Sharmila Roy Pommot; Paris, France
12. Swati Ghosh; Simanta Pally, Santiniketan
13. Maitreyi Chowdhuri; Professor, PCK, Visva-Bharati
14. Bijoy Mukherjee; Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Visva-Bharati
15. Rakesh Chandra; Professor, Department of Philosophy, Lukhnow University
