[Reader-list] Fwd: Conference on Visions of Indian modernity and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

[Tapas Ray [MAKAIAS]]

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Update and a friendly reminder --

*Confirmed speaker: Professor Shiv Visvanathan (keynote address).*


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tapas Ray [Gmail] <tapasrayx at gmail.com>
Date: 17 September 2014 15:16
Subject: Conference on Visions of Indian modernity and Maulana Abul Kalam
Azad
To: reader-list at mail.sarai.net


*Papers solicited. Registration is free, local hospitality will be
provided. Some funds are available for travel expenses.*

*Please send abstract by September 30. *


VISIONS OF INDIAN MODERNITY AND MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD
International conference, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian
Studies, Kolkata,
November 10 & 11, 2014

In the absence of popular sovereignty before independence, the people of
India were subjects of British colonial rule enjoying its protection and
owing allegiance to its sovereign power, not citizens possessing rights
in the political system. As independence meant the acquisition of
political citizenship, efforts of the national elite, which had played a
leading role in the freedom movement, were focused largely on the
struggle for political power against the colonial regime.

But the struggle for power was not the sole focus. The elite also
considered it necessary to mould the multitudes, both psychologically
and physiologically, in ways they felt was necessary for taking on the
British and for subsequently building a new nation-state. In other
words, they wished to mould the Indian people's subjectivity in certain
ways, to shape their ways of being on both individual and social levels,
in order to give a definite shape to the nation.

Considering that this elite was a product of modernity developed
organically in the West, superimposed on an older cultural order that
had developed through the cross-fertilization of South, Central and West
Asian traditions, its outlook could be expected to contain fractures.
This was indeed the case. The visions of figures like Gandhi, Tagore,
Savarkar, Golwalkar and Nehru, which may be taken as being paradigmatic of
different currents within the broader nationalist stream, have been
discussed by many writers and work on them continues as much remains to be
adequately explored in their voluminous corpuses. But a number of other
national leaders, who made significant contributions in the freedom
struggle and/or building the nation, have received significantly less
attention in this respect.

One of them is Maulana Abul Kalam Azad - among Nehru's contemporaries in
the freedom movement, one of the tallest in stature, a staunch opponent of
the partition and independent India's first Minister for Education. A man
of great erudition, the Maulana hailed from a background and had an
upbringing that were very different from those of others. Azad has written
that his father, an influential Islamic scholar, was implacably opposed to
(Western) modernity. Yet, the Maulana came to play a key role in bringing
modernity to India.

The following are two examples of the ways in which he contributed to
India's modernity. One was through religion: as an Islamic scholar, his
commentary on the Quran can be viewed as a modernist project, as it
rejected received wisdom and adopted a sophisticated, rational
interpretive approach or ijtihad. Azad even wrote in the Tarjuman-al-
Qur'an, Vol. I - reflecting a sensibility that might have been termed
postmodern in a later era - that the division of branches of knowledge
between ancient and modern had no meaning for him. Further, "The
trammels forged by authority never hindered me, and my insatiable
passion for knowledge has never forsaken me ... My heart entertains no
certitude which has not been pierced by all the thorns of doubt. My
spirit clings to no belief which has not gone through all the ordeals of
disbelief ...."

The second area of his contribution to modernity was education. It has
been noted by scholars that he was entrusted with the Education Ministry
because of his passionate committment to education, culture and scientific
and technical progress. His thinking was not exclusively
"Islamic" or even "oriental"; in spite of his immense scholarship in
Islam, he was also deeply influenced by Western thinkers like Rousseau and
was firmly committed to what was scientific in the Western system.

The contours of a distinct vision of modernity begin to emerge when we
view Azad through these optics. The aim of this seminar is to bring this
vision into sharper focus, delineate its contours more clearly, flesh it
out with facts and analyses along other relevant dimensions, and place
it within the context of the diverse visions of modernity represented by
other leaders of stature. Papers adopting any theoretical and
disciplinary approach, on any aspect of this problematique - either
relating to Maulana Azad himself or to the broader context discussed
above, are welcome. MAKAIAS wishes to publish a collection of these
papers as a book with ISBN number, through a publisher of repute.

Papers should be formated in the APA style and should not normally
exceed 6,000 words including list of references, but longer ones also
will be considered. They should be emailed as MS Word or OpenDocument files
to the three conference coordinators simultaneously by October 15, at the
following addresses. Acceptance will be notified through email by October
25. Abstracts not exceeding 400 words need to be emailed by September 30.

Local hospitality will be available. Support for travel expenses will be
considered for authors of selected papers.

Please direct questions to: Dr Tapas Ray at <tapas.ray at makaias.gov.in>

Abstracts and completed papers should be emailed as attachments,
simultaneously to the three addresses given below:

<tapas.ray at makaias.gov.in>
<dilkaramat at yahoo.com>
 <rafique.anwar at makaias.gov.in>

-------------------------
Tapas Ray, PhD
Fellow
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies
(Ministry of Culture, Government of India)
IB-166, Salt Lake, Sector-3
Kolkata - 700106, India
Web site: http://makaias.gov.in/