Department Of History

History Association- Annual Report, 2022-23.

Lectures and Talks
The department conducted seven guest lectures with prominent academics, some of whom include Prof. Sanjay Subrahmanyam who discussed the nuances of autobiographical writing as a source for studying the past.  A deconstruction of Nehruvian modernity was done by Prof. Margrit Pernau through an analysis of the Hindi film Mahal. Prof. Mahesh Rangarajan’s lecture titled “Rethinking the Anthropocene: History as if Asia and Asians Mattered” acquainted students with the intricacies of environmental history. Prof. Madhavi Menon foregrounded concerns surrounding sex work in India and invited students to think through epistemological foundations of the concepts of ‘public’ and ‘private’ that shape debates on sex work.  Other speakers discussed  themes that ranged from Sufi architecture in Delhi to traditions of European Alps communities.

Academic Meet:
‘Maazi-o-Mustaqbil,” the annual academic fest of the Department of History was organized on the theme “Histories of Labour and Leisure”. Ten guest lectures were held over the course of two days, i.e., 28th-29th March 2023, with eminent academicians from across disciplines. The lectures aimed at deconstructing histories of work and leisure; assessing the histories of the workers as not merely subjects of history but as individuals and communities with rightful agency. Prof. Gadi Algazi interrogated the historical meaning and materiality of ‘work’ undertaken by scholars in his talk titled “Do Scholars Work”.   Dr. Dilip Simeon’s lecture on “The Social Division of Time” questioned the sharp divisions between work time  and leisure time and argued that recuperation, rather than  ‘recreation’, is accessible for labouring groups. Prof. Prabhu Mohapatra spoke on the right to be lazy and the culture of non-work in the context of Capitalist Work Ethic. Prof. Uma Chakravarti, Dr. Chitra Joshi and  Prof. Archana Prasad spoke on the intersection between gender and recreation in different historical periods.  Dr. Aparna Balachandran’s talk  on “Finding Ramaswamy: Domestic Servants and Archive of Labour in Early Colonial Madras”, Dr. Sangeeta Dasgupta’s lecture on “Reading Adivasi Archive”, Dr. Shivani Kapoor’s presentation  on “Labour and Leisure through the lens of caste” and Prof. Virginius Xaxa’s lecture on “Forms of Leisure and their Changing Patterns: The Case of Plantation Labour in North Bengal” examined the intersectionality between histories of leisure and histories of Adivasi, caste and labour. A screening of Charlie Chaplin’s short film “Pay Day” and an open-mic cultural event were also conducted. All the events saw enthusiastic participation by students and faculty members.

Research and Academic Writing Workshop Series:
This was a three-part lecture series on key aspects of academic writing and research practices. Dr. Vijayant Kumar Singh spoke on Citation Techniques and Formatting a Research Paper (1st March 2023). Dr. Vasudha Pande addressed Basics of Research Methodologies and Framing a Question for Research (2nd March, 2023).Dr. Pankaj Kumar Jha covered the topic of Using Sources to Form an Argument (3rd March, 2023).
Movie Screenings and Discussions
Books, Films and Heritage Club conducted two discussions on books and films-  Screening of Satyajit Ray’s black and white classic, Devi (1960) on 29th September 2022 and Students’ Group Discussion on the Classic Novel ‘The Little Prince’ on 2nd February 2023.
Resource management and Inclusivity Measures:
The resource team within the department made all academic materials and documents accessible for PWD students and  provided poster descriptions and alt texts for screen readers. Additionally, the team translated and transcribed all publicity content, important notices and Previous-year examination question papers in Hindi.
Mentor-mentee committee: Each first-year student was assigned a mentor from the second and third years to aid with the transition into college.
Field Trips:
A Department visit was organised to ‘Tipu Sultan: Image & Distance’ hosted by the DAG museum, New Delhi’ on 26th and 27th August 2022. Students also visited the National Museum, Humayun’s Tomb, Qutub Complex,  Nizamuddin Dargah, Uttara Swami Malai Temple as part of their Skill Enhancement Courses
Department Publications: 
Nazariya and Ijtihad  are two annual academic publications of the Department of History.  The themes for this academic session were  “Language of Othering” for Nazariya (annual magazine) and  “Borders and Transgressions” for Ijtihad (annual journal).

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