National Seminar on The Scourge of Scavenging: Revisiting the Question of Sanitation/Scavenging/Scavengers,08 to 10-Nov-2017, IIAS SHIMLA

Call For Papers:

India has been consistently critiqued, locally and globally, for its inability to ban the inhuman practice of manually cleaning human faeces, otherwise popularly known as manual scavenging. Different stake-holders have consistently argued towards achieving clean and safe practices in sanitation, particularly with respect to the disposal of human waste. In order to do so, governments have set up committees such as the 1949 Barve Committee and programmes such as the Central Rural Sanitation programme to the contemporary Swachh Bharat campaign. The major findings of these committees has been that the scavenging system in India is a customary practice that, along with the social stigma attached to it, is carried forward from one generation to the next. It is in this context that attempts were later made to improve the working conditions of the sweepers and to remove the social stigma related to the occupation, thereby leading to the formation of the National Commission for SafaiKaramcharis towards the rehabilitation of scavengers. The committees and the programmes did not attain their goal towards abolishing manual scavenging. As a result, various civil society groups began arguing against the apathy faced by sanitary workers and campaigning for better working environment through books, documentaries, legal cases. If one NGO focused on the complete ban on manual scavenging, another would focus on introducing toilets that are cost effective. Adding to the already existing problem, financial liberalisation in India has further endangered the job security that scavengers earlier had. If earlier dignity of labour was the fight of scavengers, then after liberalisation even their basic survival was brought to question. With the contemporary resurgence of Dalit movements, the complete annihilation of caste once again became an articulated demand, one that could not be achieved without eradicating manual scavenging and the insanitary conditions within which scavengers are made to work. 

The Indian Institute of Advanced Studies will organize a three-day national conference to revisit the question of sanitation, scavengers, government policies, linguistic and migrant identities, place of toilet in house constructions and in town planning and to debate the position of the manual scavengers and the association of the profession with the wider caste system. The conference will look into the different modes through which manual scavenging has been addressed and raise pertinent questions and criticism regarding the profession as well as the practice of sanitation in South Asia. The influence or inefficacy of government policies and measures, the marginalized status of scavenging community and the social reality of their existence shall also be discussed in an attempt to forge a new understanding of sanitation and scavenging in India and to develop new solutions to the longstanding social concerns surrounding the issue. Students, faculty members, activists, bureaucrats, NGOs, policy makers and independent researchers working on related topics are invited to send their papers/abstracts to <email> by <date>. Selected papers shall be presented during the conference and the selected papers would be brought out as a book.

Sub Theme

• Histories, Sociologies and Anthropologies of Manual Scavenging
• The Indian State and Scavenging
• Scavenging and Media: Photography and Cinema
• The Toilet in Popular and Monumental Architecture
• The Economy and Ecology of Scavenging
• Representations of Scavenging in Literature
• Popular Struggles around Scavenging
• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and the Question of Manual Scavenging
• Critiquing the Gandhian response to scavenging
• Law and Scavenging
• The role of NGOs
• Scavenging and Scheduled Caste

The last date for submission of abstract (500 words) is 15 August, 2017 till 12:00 midnight. 

The Institute intends to send Invitation letters to selected participants by 08 September, 2017.

It is the policy of the Institute to publish the papers and not the proceedings of the seminars it organizes. Hence, all invited participants will be expected to submit complete papers (English or Hindi), hitherto unpublished and original, with citations in place, along with a reference section, to the Academic Resource Officer, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla – 171005 by 31October, 2017. Style sheet for the submission of papers may be downloaded from the IIAS website http://www.iias.org/ content/shss.

IIAS, Shimla, will be glad to extend its hospitality during the seminar period and is willing to reimburse, if required, rail or air travel expenses from the place of current residence in India, or the port of arrival in India, and back.

A limited number of participants will be invited for the Seminar. Those interested in participating should send (preferably by email) an abstract (500 words) of the proposed paper along with their C.V. to:

Dr. B. Ravichandran

Fellow Indian Institute of Advanced Study Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla – 171005.Mobile : 09966208677

E-mail:ravi.ciefl@gmail.com

Ms. RenuBala  

Academic Resource Officer 

Indian Institute of Advanced Study Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla- 171005 Tel: 0177-2831385Email: aro@iias.ac.in

International Conference on Incorporating Folklore Studies in Management Practices,26th -27th December 2017,KIIT University, Bhubaneswar

Venue: KIIT University

The word, ‘folk’ has wide range of understanding and connotations – ranging from ‘natural’ to ‘native’ to ‘traditional’ to ‘rural’ and in some cases ‘from the heart.’ The ‘outpourings from the heart’ of native or traditional people later takes the form of folklore. folklores are oral traditions, traditional knowledge and beliefs of cultures often having no written language and they are transmitted, generally, by word of mouth. Like the written literature they contain both prose and verse narratives in addition to myths, dramas, rituals etc. All the cultures have their own folklores. In contrast and traditionally, literature is understood to mean any written work.

Literature, in written form, helps in preserving the folklores and oral traditions. But for the literature in this form, the world would have lost almost all the folk and oral traditions. Written books, as recordings of folklores help in passing on the lofty thoughts and ideas to posterity with no or very little changes in contrast to oral traditions where they often get lost in transition. Literature also can highlight the relevance of the stories of the past to the generation of the present, something which the oral traditions cannot strongly do.The existing professional literature would have us believe that the primary managerial action is that of a reflective and systematic planner. Conversations with preservation practitioners and community members led him to identify 14 reasons. These include creativity, architecture, beauty, history, sacred, learning, sustainability, and economics, However ancestors, identity (individual, civil, state, national and universal), continuity, memory, and—perhaps most significantly—community can also be included . Significantly historic preservation needs to pay more attention to "cultural significance.

Heritage tourism, as a cultural tourism segment, is “the evocation of the past and inherently about visions or understanding of the present, and a key justification for the preservation of both material cultures and traditional practices, in what they can tell contemporary communities or tourists about themselves and others. It is something of a paradox of modernity that at the same time that relentlessly seeks modern people, also hankers after something older, more authentic, or traditional”

Incorporating folklore literature in management practices in corporate world can definitely work wonders. It is argued that all businesses must have a plan and, if for but no other reason than by default, it is the manager's responsibility to see that one is developed. Therefore myths, stories, fables etc can be considered as exemplary in our daily life as professionals, leaders in corporate world. 

Places and local communities are also their cultural past which should be valued it in the present, as our respondents point out. It is our belief that only through a participated cultural and territory planning and management it will be possible to value cultural identity and consequently value the tourist experience. Planning and management should lay on a local/regional cultural dynamic concerned with educational values based on the various expressions of art. Regarding folk dance, it should be recognized that once it is closely linked to many other expressions such as music, rituals, festivities, musical instruments, objects, artefacts, ornaments, to promote the folk dance knowledge is to promote knowledge about identity.

In this context, folk dance valorisation, as a touristic resource, should be rethought over so that not only young people but also the ones of other age fringes might integrate this expression of the popular culture as their own more than for the others. This demands several educational dynamics.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this conference is to bring together researchers, scientists, folklorists engineers, and practitioners , corporate executives, academicians research scholars to exchange and share their theories, methodologies, new ideas, experiences, applications in all areas related to the theme to a common platform. The basic objective of this conference is:

• Emphasizing the importance of both spirituality and skill for leadership and sustainable management. 
• Sensitizing leaders and management practitioners to incorporate folklore in management practice. 
• Exploring mechanisms for developing preservation of tangible heritage of India
• Proposing practical approach and skill based models for leaders and management practitioners. 
• Highlighting role of folklore literature for environmental sustainability. 
• Discussing ways to develop culturally skilled people in developing and under developed economies.

Authors are encouraged to submit their papers describing original work on the conference theme and the following sub theme but not limited to:

Sub-Themes:

Folklore and Culture resources Management

Culture and religion

Folklore and Religious Studies

Folklore and Management Practice

Folklore and Time Management

Cultural Analysis and Management Practices

Inter-cultural Communication and Management 

Folklore, Literature and Management

Developing New management Strategies through Folklore Studies

Teaching ethnology and folklore: what future

Religious texts and Management

Memory and difficult knowledge

“Real” and “fictional” times: culture and new technologies

Time and fairy tales

Time and temporalities of popular and traditional cultures

Management of museums in a digital age 

Folklore and Tourism Management

Economic Practices for Livelihood

CALL FOR PAPERS:

An abstract of about 100-150 words and at least 5 key words must reach the organizers before 30th July 2017 as an email attachment to icfmp1@gmail.com. 

All the papers accepted for presentation will be published in Literaria, UGC listing No. 48685 and Creative Forum UGC listing No 41751 with an ISSN number. The best five papers will be published in Purushartha, Scopus Indexed Journal. The papers should be in MS-Word format with Times New Roman font, 12 point size, 1.5 line spacing(3000-5000 words) and be in the MLA style (7 th. edition).

REGISTRATION FEES:

Delegates: Rs 4000(without accommodation)

Delegates outside India: 5000 INR (without accommodation)

Research Scholars: 2000INR (without accommodation)

Delegates with accommodation: 5000INR

Modest accommodation for the delegates would be provided inside the campus on request.

Address for Correspondence

Dr. Deepanjali Mishra

Assistant Professor

School of Humanities

KIIT University

Bhubaneswar 751024

Personal email id: deepanjalimishra2008@gmail.com

Conference id: icfmp1@gmail.com