GITAM School of Humanities and Social Sciences (GSHS) Bengaluru is pleased to announce the organization of its first international conference, "Modernities Redefined: Perspectives from South Asia," to be held on February 22nd & 23rd, 2024, at GITAM, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Critics from South Asia have often debated the idea of modernity while highlighting the 'region' as having an epistemological locus. The interdisciplinary conference aims to redefine the limits of South Asian modernity beyond the dual domains of West and South Asia, i.e., modernities as interspersed in a complex and evolving relationship. While engaging with the theme through various prisms, the discussion intends to uncover nuanced insights into the complex dynamics of ethnicity, religion, social structures, and geopolitics, challenging the colonial/postcolonial dichotomy.

We invite papers from academicians, scholars, and researchers investigating the emergence and expression of modernity in South Asia. Abstracts addressed to the overarching theme of modernity and South Asia along with the sub-panels, although not limited to it, should be sent to the following email address modernityconference_gshs@gitam.edu  with "abstract" in the subject line, with a 100-word short bio note. Lodging and food will be provided. For more details, CFP, and registration, visit our website https://www.gitam.edu/modernityconference

• Sub-panels:

1. Visual Culture in South Asia
2. Technology and Social Change in South Asia
3. Tradition and Modernity: The Contested Terrain of Textual and Cultural Expression
4. Populist Politics in South Asia
5. Interplay of Gender, Technology, and Nature
6. Film and Popular Culture in South Asia
7. Politics of Migration in South Asia
8. Perspectives on Languages in South Asia

Inaugural Address- Prof. (Dr.) M V Narayanan (Vice Chancellor, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala) 

Keynote speakers- Prof Saurabh Dube (El Colegio de México), Prof Dilip M. Menon (University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) 

Valedictory Address- Prof Satish Deshpande (Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru)

• Key Dates:

1. Abstract and panel submission deadline: 21st December, 2023
2. Decision on Paper: 7th January, 2024
3. Final submissions: 14th February, 2024

Contact Information

Convener- Dr. Balu Sunilraj- tel:+918375988831, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Political Science, GITAM Bengaluru   

Convener- Mr. Muhammed Niyas A- tel: +918157834561, Assistant Professor, Dept. of History, GITAM Bengaluru

Contact Emailmodernityconference_gshs@gitam.eduURLhttps://www.gitam.edu/modernityconference

 Subject FieldsFilm and Film History, South Asian History / Studies, Women's & Gender History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology