CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: THE MAKING OF MODERN DEMOCRATIC INDIA

Christian Educational Institutions: The Making Of Modern Democratic India

Organized by: Indian Institute of Advanced Study; Assam Don Bosco University;Salesian College Sonada & Siliguri
27-29 April 2011

The colonial project in India has been revisited by scholars of different disciplines from many an angle. The 200 and more years of colonial presence in Indian subcontinent is singularly marked by the fact that Christian institutions especially offering education dotted the length and breadth of the country (the subcontinent). The prevailing studies focus on the mission enterprise, and its impact on society especially in the casteist or tribal cultures into which a new religion made inroads. They analyze, from various angles, the interpretations ascribed to the society the missionaries came to adopt as well as critique the traditions they found difficult to accept and were in the process of reworking. The perspectives available within the records of various church related organizations, chronicling their respective works, differ probably from the critical assessments of later periods. The Educational mission of the Christian Churches deserves therefore reconsideration from a post colonial standpoint adoptive historical, anthropological and sociological perspectives. It would thus add to the existing studies by G.A. Oddie, David Mosse, Kenneth Ballhatchet, Shashi Joshi etc.

There is a felt need for critical and exploratory search into the origins and the developments of the much sought after Christian education in the Indian subcontinent. The relationship these institutions have had especially in constructing the modern vision of life and paving the way for scientific temperament and the aspiration for modernity in the subcontinent deserves critical scrutiny.  Such a study would throw up not only the vicissitudes faced by the educational project by their promoters but also unveil to what extent they were a part of the colonial agenda and whether it succeeded or failed in attaining its originally intended goals in moulding a new society in India. Therefore an exclusive study into the processes by which they got implanted/established within specific historical cultural contexts and the sustainability of its accomplishments in terms of the arrival of the modern democratic India deserves further exploration.

The patronage received by the Christian Education carried out in schools and colleges across the length and breadth of the country, whether they were urban centrally located institutions or in far outlying areas at the peripheries of the nation braving untold odds of terrain and cultural contrasts, calls for a reassessment.  What were their goals? What did they achieve? What process of change did they initiate? What obstacles did they confront? How were they received? are questions that need to be discussed anew.  

The making of modern India, even if perceived as an ongoing and incomplete project, the transition of the Educationists vision from its imperial colonial dependency syndrome to an indigenous church establishment and their preparedness for facing the task of nation building deserve critical exploration. This would in turn also be a tribute to the great men and women who toiled behind the growth of prominent institutions as well as enable a critical review of their contemporary role in continuing with the project of democratizing Indian society.

The proposed seminar intends to explore the role played by the Christian Educational Institutions (CEI) – in the awakening of political and cultural consciousness or in critiquing caste consciousness and promoting egalitarianism enshrined in the Constitutional vision of modern democratic India.

Towards this goal the themes would come within the purview of the seminar:

The operative premise of the upcoming seminar is that Christian and Christian-inspired education has been one of the most telling features of Modern India but has been little explored as one of the constitutive foundations of Indian society. This could be done by scouting the target groups they served, the gaps in access they filled, the notions of modernity they instilled, the new grounds they covered and in looking sharply at the ways in which they negotiated the political contours of the time especially in order to keep pace with the ever increasing aspirations in society of embracing modernity.

In this background the above topics will revolve around the following explorative parameters:
A.    Christian Education, National Movement and India’s Constitutional  Democracy
B.     Philosophical moorings, pedagogy and societal impact
C. Central Normative Concerns: Evangelisation, Order, Modernity & Science,     Democracy, Nationalism, Justice, Freedom, Equality etc.
D.    Political leadership and political process
E.     The disadvantaged groups and Christian Education
F.     Management and institutional culture
G.    Christian Education and the Making of India’s Secular democracy

Date of the Seminar: 27-29 April 2011
Venue: IIAS,
Rashtrapati Nivas,
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Organized in Collaboration with:
Don Bosco University, Guwahati
Department of Christian Studies, Chennai
Salesian College, Sonada & Siliguri
CBCI Commissions for Education & Culture, Social Communication
 & Inter Religious Dialogue

Organizing Committee:

Peter Ronald De Souza, IIAS
George Thadathil, SCS
Stephen Mavely, DBU
Valerian Rodriguez, JNU
Virginius Xaxa, DU
Valson Thampu, St Stephens
MD Thomas, CBCI
Kuriala Joseph, CBCI
George Plathottam, CBCI
Pushpa Joseph, DCS, MU

Guidelines for the Presentation of Papers
1. Presentations should be original and is to be delivered in English.
2. The title of the Paper will appear on the opening page of the text together with the author’s name, the name of the Institution to which he or she belongs, professional title, postal address, telephone and email address. Footnotes will be at the end of each page and Reference lists or bibliographies will be kept to the end of the piece. APA style is to be adhered to.
3. A summary of between 150-200 words to be given.
4. Tables, figures and illustrations will be numbered and ordered within the actual text.
5. Papers will be sent in Word format (Windows or Macintosh).

 Deadlines for Presentation
Concerning the presentation of Papers to the National Seminar on “Christian Educational Institutions: The Making of Modern Democratic India” there are two important dates that have to be borne in mind in order to ensure your participation and the eventual publication of your paper.

15th March 2011 is the deadline for the presentation of the summary of the Paper (together with an obligatory abstract). This should also be accompanied by an indication of the core theme toward which the proposal would best contribute.

Authors who propose Papers that are subsequently selected by the Organizing Committee have the right to their public presentation and publication as a text document in the Seminar Proceedings, a compilation of all academic contributions.
Presentations will be vetted by two referees, chosen from both the Organizing committee itself as well as from external collaborators, experts in the relevant fields of knowledge.

The Organizing Committee’s decision to either accept or reject the proposed Papers and the thematic session into which they will be placed will be made by the 30 March 2011.

15th April 2011 is the deadline for the presentation of the complete text of the Paper, in strict adherence to the aforementioned norms.
The completed Paper should be sent by email, in Word format, to the following address: directoriias@gmail.com ; principal@salesiancollege.net

Dr George Thadathil sdb
Principal, SCS & Organizing secretary,
National Seminar Partners: IIAS, ADBU, SCS.

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