Department Of History

The History Department organised its annual academic fest, Maazi-o-Mustaqbil on the theme ‘Histories of Love, Longing and Desire’. Ten sessions were held over two days in April, comprising guest lectures delivered by eminent scholars from various disciplines and edutainment sessions conducted by distinguished artists. The sessions aimed at situating and historicizing the conceptions of love and desire in various contexts through the interpretation of oral and textual sources. Ms. Urvashi Butalia discussed the ideas of love and loss in the aftermath of the partition and explored the notion of desire for one’s homeland. A panel discussion chaired by Prof. Farhant Nasreen, Prof. Jaya S. Tyagi and Prof. G Arunima attempted to historicize the theme from the perspective of ancient, medieval and modern historiographical traditions. Prof. Charu Gupta discussed the conceptualization of pleasure and the circulation of vernacular pornographic literature in colonial India. A book discussion was conducted by Prof. Farhat Hasan on his work ‘Voices in Verses’ which located the voices of women and reconstructed their cultural memory through a reading of Urdu poetic traditions in 19th century India.

Dr. Brahma Prakash and The Urban Folk band hosted an edutainment session that explored the concept of resistance in love, using revolutionary songs from folk traditions to convey these ideas. Dr Karen Gabriel’s lecture delved into the themes of representation, pleasure and containment in mainstream Bombay cinema. ‘The Delirium of Love and the Desire for Freedom’ were contextualized within a theoretical framework and discussed by Dr. Shakeel Anjum. The academic gathering concluded with a cultural performance by Ms. Shikha Sharma, who interpreted concepts of devotion and love in Kathak dance. The Books, Films and Heritage Club of the department held a screening of ‘Raah Sangharsh’ from the series ‘Love Storiyaan’ and an Open Mic encouraging creative participation from the student body. An interactive exhibition was organised through the collaboration of various
departmental teams which helped students engage with the theme through a curation of love letters, photographs and poetry. A paper presentation competition on the theme was hosted by the editorial board of Ijtihad, the academic journal of the History Department. The Research and Development Team of the department organised several pre-events which allowed the students to resonate with the theme through insightful sessions with notable speakers. Prof. Lee Edelman’s lecture provided students with an in-depth exploration of the history of queer theory, offering introductory insights into key concepts and the notion of queerness. Faculty member Ms. Nayana Dasgupta attempted to decode the conceptualization of desire in medieval Bengal through a reading of Mangalakavyas. The Books, Films and Heritage Club organised a poetry reading session on ‘The Mirror of my Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women’ and a queer heritage walk at the Siri Fort.

During the year, the department organised several speaker sessions inviting notable guest lecturers and alumni including Prof. Tirthankar Roy who delivered a guest lecture on global economic history. Prof. R. Mahalakshmi’s lecture discussed the historiography of the Indic goddess cult and elaborated on its nomenclature, cultic contestations and mythic resolutions in the Brahminical-Puranic context. The Alumni cell of the department organised a guest lecture by Ms. Adrija Chowdhury, an alumna of the college, on the interdisciplinary scope of history and journalism. A session on ‘Domesticity and Gender in Early Modern India’ was conducted by Dr. Vijayant Kumar Singh. A seminar was hosted in collaboration with the Northeast Cell on the theme of ‘Beyond Borders: Exploring Transnational Histories in Northeast India during the British Era’ which invited Prof. Joy LK Pachau, Dr. Deepak Nadrem and Dr. Papori Bora, as part of the Viksit Bharat initiative. Dr. Jane Buckingham delivered an online guest lecture on the theme of ‘Writing Disability History in India.’ Faculty member Dr. Pankaj Jha engaged students in a discussion on the history and development of post-modernist thought and theories. A book discussion was conducted by faculty member Dr. Prabha Rani, on her recent publication, Through the Ages: From the Epic to the Dravidian Movement.

A series on academic writing and research practices was conducted by the editorial board of Ijtihad, the academic journal of the History Department. These sessions attempted to familiarize students with scholarly research and writing through discussions by Dr. Pankaj Jha and Dr. Ruchika Sharma on the identification of research interests and the usage of primary sources. The editorial board and the Research and Development team collaborated with AAINA Education to organize an online workshop on the ‘Routes towards Academic Literacy’ which explored the social influences on reading and learning and addressed issues of accessibility in academic literacy. Ushni Dasgupta and Soumyaseema Mandal, alumnae from Lady Shri Ram College, were invited for a session focusing on pursuing post-graduate studies abroad in history and related disciplines. The editorial board also conducted the intricacies of reading, writing and pursuing history writing with reference to Katherine Antonova’s book, The Essential Guide to Writing History Essays. Further, Ms. Jiya Pandya was invited in collaboration with REACH, the Equal Opportunity Cell, to inform the students about disability history in the post-colonial context. In addition to speaker sessions, Ijtihad organised reading circles contextualizing and historicizing diverse issues. Reading circles were held on ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas’ by AK Ramanujan, ‘The Museum is National’ by Prof. Kavita Singh, ‘Wretched of the Earth’ by Frantz Fanon, ‘Draupadi’ by Mahasweta Devi, ‘Less than Gay: A Citizen Report of Homosexuality in India’ and ‘On the Poverty of Student Life’. The board collaborated with the Research and Development team of the department in compiling a resource drive to help students contextualize the history of Palestine.

The Books, Films and Heritage Club of the History Department took several initiatives which helped students engage with historical materials and gain insights through interactive heritage walks, screenings and reading circles. Guided heritage walks were conducted in the campus of Lady Shri Ram College, the National Museum, and Jahaz Mahal. ‘Surveilling a Crime Scene’ by Alan Hunt was screened in collaboration with TABEER, the art and discussion club of the Department of English. The club, further, hosted an episode screening of ‘Dickinson’ and a reading circle on Mahmoud Darwish’s A River Dies of Thirst in collaboration with the Books and Documentary Club of the Philosophy Department. An exhibition was organised in collaboration with LSR College Magazine which focused on the personal histories of the student body. The Aesthetics Team of the department hosted an interactive workshop historicizing the craft of woodblock printing. A curatorial walkthrough of the exhibition ‘Delhi Durbar: Empire, Display and the Possession of History’ was conducted in the Delhi Art Gallery. The students of the department were also taken for a day trip to Raza Library in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, as part of the Viksit Bharat initiative. A group discussion was conducted around ‘Perceptions of Vikaas’ as a Viksit Bharat initiative. The Photography and Videography team held an online photography competition on the concept of the ‘Wall of Generations.’ A movie screening of ‘Joyland’ was organised by the Research and Development team of the department.

The annual publications of the History Department are Nazariya and Ijtihad, the research journal. The theme of Nazariya for this academic session was ‘Language and Identity’. The editorial board of the History Department also curated blog submissions on the theme of ‘Histories of the Mundane’. The Photography and Videography team introduced Kagami, the annual photo journal of the department, during this academic tenure.

President – Yashaswi Sagar
Secretary – Tara Abraham
Treasurer – Aparajita Shrivastava