The Department of Liberal Arts at IIT Bhilai is excited to announce the second Graduate Research Meet (GRM) on (Re)imagining ‘Progress’. Conventionally the idea of progress is understood as a linear trajectory towards improvement, scientific advancements, and socio-economic and technological developments. Progress, in contemporary times, can be seen as a holistic concept pertaining to not only societal but also individual betterment — more as a cultural, economic and psychological reality. Thus, the idea associated with progress needs to be contested in the contemporary era marked by global political crises, economic inequality and changing sociocultural paradigms and power dynamics to analyse how the concept of progress has evolved, its implications and applications.

In these recent times of global crisis, when regressive, exclusionary and reductive approaches are being normalized, reassessing the term progress from an interdisciplinary perspective seems imperative to make the term and the associated ideas, more inclusive. The idea is to prioritize both individuals and communities; nations and indigenous cultures; look for equity and aspire towards economic, psychological and emotional well-being of individuals and communities by re-assessing the normative and hegemonic narratives. While literary and cultural studies often critique the western idea of modernity and its notion of progress as unidimensional and linear; sociological studies enumerate that progress for societies, nations and individuals holds different connotations from historico-political and cultural perspectives. Such broader discussions also spearhead to explore the pursuit of progress for both the individuals and the nations, which may come up with newer ways of re-imagining progress from historical, sociological, economic, and psychological perspectives.

We welcome papers that explore these themes from historical, sociological, cultural, psychological, and economic perspectives. The potential scope includes several thematic concerns, which explore urgent global and national issues with the focus on latest innovative and frameworks, but not limited to the following:

Inclusive healthcare systems for equitable access
Advancing gender equality through inclusive policies
Sustainable development in the age of environmental precarity
Promoting mental health and well-being
Progress and the post-colonial context
Ecocriticism and environmental challenges in South Asia
Representations of progress in literature, media, and popular culture
Ensuring access to economic opportunities and reducing income disparities

Submission link: https://forms.gle/U8dyoGeZJhgBHTCH9