NOW OPEN FOR ALL

The idea of justice is a fundamental concept that has been debated and discussed by philosophers, legal scholars and ordinary people for centuries.

Much like a homonym, justice means different things to different individuals. Social Justice, Retributive Justice, Restorative Justice, Procedural Justice, Distributive Justice, Divine Justice—a necessity for social order and individual happiness; a ‘virtue’ or ‘moral duty’; a ‘fairness’ to protect individual rights and freedoms and social and economic equities or the ‘capabilities approach’ based on individual abilities to achieve goals and aspirations—the idea of justice—the most fundamental of all human values—is a complex and ongoing conversation, as different groups and individuals continue to debate what it means to be fair and just in different contexts and situations.

From racial and economic inequality to environmental injustice, our young are growing up in a complex and challenging world. It is our responsibility to help them understand these issues and to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to become active and engaged citizens.

Speakers and workshop facilitators at The Idea of Justice: Chapter 2 are:

Romila Thapar, Janaki Nair, Meenakshi Ganguly, Jerry Pinto, Gautam Bhatia, Shivangi Jaiswal, Angana Das, Nisha Abdulla, YLAC—Himani Chouhan, Gunjan Periwal and Nidhi Kinhal, and the History for Peace team—Meena Megha Malhotra and Urvi Shah.

Location: Shiv Nadar School Gurgaon

Address: Pahari Road, Block E, DLF Phase 1, Sector 26A, Gurugram, Haryana 122011, India.

Scroll down for the conference programme.

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REGISTRATION DETAILS

The cost per teacher is Rs. 1000 and per student is Rs. 750, which includes conference material, snacks and lunch.

Other professionals may also register with the payment of Rs. 1000. Please write to info@historyforpeace.pw for registration.

To register for this conference, please click here: https://bit.ly/3KFY1xZ

Payments will be accepted via cheque/demand draft only. Kindly draw the cheque/demand draft in favour of Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon.

Participants travelling from out of town will have to make their own arrangements for overnight accommodation, if needed.

Registrations open till 16 September 2023!

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SCHEDULE

26.9.2023

7.40 a.m. – 8.40 a.m. Registration

8.40 a.m. Welcome Address. Shiv Nadar School.

8.50 a.m. Opening Address. Meena Megha Malhotra, Director, History for Peace.

9 a.m. – 10.15 a.m.

Keynote Address:

Human Rights and Justice in South Asia

Meenakshi Ganguly

Meenakshi Ganguly is deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, overseeing the work in a number of countries in the region. She joined Human Rights Watch in 2004, and was formerly South Asia director. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Ganguly served as a correspondent for Time Magazine, and before that, worked with the Press Trust of India.

She has researched and documented a broad range of human rights issues in South Asia including failures in the criminal justice system; discrimination based on religion, caste, ethnicity, or sexual orientation; rights of refugees; violence targeting women and children; crackdown on freedom of expression and association; as well serious rights violations during insurgencies and internal armed conflict. She has published numerous articles on South Asia including for the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Scroll, Wire, Dhaka Tribune, The Kathmandu Post, among others.

Ganguly has a Masters in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics.

10.15 a.m. – 10.45 a.m. Coffee break

10.45 a.m. – 12.15 p.m.

Can ‘History Wars’ foster an Idea of Justice?

Janaki Nair

In South Asia, we have travelled for long down the road of ‘History Wars’ about origins, indigeneity, real and imagined historical wounds, etc. What chance of these promoting ideas of justice among young adults? As school text books become the site of interminable, and seemingly irresolvable contestations, how can the history classroom become a space for an alternative account that helps student think about conflictual pasts in ways that do not result in retribution or revenge, but foster ideas of peace and reconciliation? And therefore justice? Using some examples, this talk will make an argument for the building of historical temper among high school students.

Janaki Nair was Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has been a Fellow at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore. She has written on the social, cultural and political history of modern India. Her publications include Women and Law in Colonial India (Kali for Women 1996), Miners and Millhands: Work, Culture and Politics in Princely Mysore (Sage 1998) and The Promise of the Metropolis: Bangalore’s Twentieth Century (OUP 2005). She has also produced and directed 'After the Gold', a documentary film of the Kolar gold fields (Betcam Video 1997).

12.15 a.m. – 1.30 p.m.

Exploring Questions of Justice Through Dalit Literature [Tentative title]

Jerry Pinto

Translating the Dalit Experience

Jerry Pinto interrogates his own practice of translating Dalit works including important autobiographies and short stories.

Jerry Pinto is a poet, writer, editor and translator. He is the author of Em and the Big Hoom, which won him The Crossword Prize, the Hindu Lit for Life Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award. His poetry collections include Asylum and I Want a Poem and Other Poems. He has translated Daya Pawar's path-breaking autobiography, Baluta, and several works such as Sachin Kundalkar's debut novel Cobalt Blue, Mallika Amar Sheikh's I Want To Destroy Myself, Ganesh Matkari's Half-Opened Windows, Baburao Bagul's When I Hid My Caste, Eknath Awad's Strike A Blow to Change the World among others. He is currently working on Damodar Mauzo's novel. He won the National Award for Best Writing in Cinema for Helen: the Life and Times of a Bollywood H-Bomb. He has also been awarded the Windham-Campbell Award for Fiction and the Valley of Words Award for Fiction.

He is on the board of directors of MelJol that works on child rights. He has also taught journalism at the Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai.

1.30 p.m. – 2.30 p.m. Lunch

2.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m. Parallel workshops

[STUDENTS] GROUP A –

Learning to Live with Difference – The Anne Frank Human Rights Defenders Programme

Angana Das. Mayukhi Ghosh

As India partners of the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, PeaceWorks—an initiative of The Seagull Foundation for the Arts has developed a Human Rights education module that uses literature, film and visual arts to engage students in understanding human rights. Using discursive, analytical and creative activities this workshop explores issues of identity and discrimination with the aim of inspiring students to become human rights defenders.

Angana Das is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Her research explores children’s voices on the Happiness Curriculum in Delhi government schools and the social, cultural and contextual factors that influence their happiness and well-being. Prior to her PhD, Angana worked as a researcher on projects related to the Happiness Curriculum, Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education Act, remedial teaching and school leadership in India. Her research interests include education for happiness and peace, social and emotional learning in non-western contexts, and arts-based peace-building approaches. She holds an MPhil in Education, Globalization and International Development from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Conflict Analysis and Peace Building from Jamia Millia Islamia. Angana is a recipient of the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship and the Cambridge International Scholarship.

Mayukhi Ghosh is an undergraduate student reading history at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, India. Her interests include histories of language, particularly lexicography in the early colonial period of India as well as histories of education and knowledge production.

[STUDENTS] GROUP B –

Unveiling Justice: Ideas and Exploration

YLAC—Himani Chouhan, Gunjan Periwal, Nidhi Kinhal

The idea of justice has been a part of philosophical discussions for centuries. Even the Preamble of the Indian Constitution guarantees justice to all its citizens. But how does one decide what is just, and does the idea of justice remain unchanged over time?

This workshop aims to create a space for the students to understand how the idea of justice comes alive in their everyday decisions. It also aims to explore the interlinkages of justice with the concepts of equality and privilege, and how citizens can come together to envision and build a more just society.

Himani Chouhan is an Officer, Programs, at Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC). She is an alumna of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, with a Master's degree in Public Policy. She is also a former Teach for India Fellow and has worked extensively on community participation in education and children's social and emotional learning. Her core areas of practice are primary education, child rights and governance.

Gunjan Periwal is currently working as a Programs Associate at Young Leaders for Active Citizenship. She graduated from Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts with a major in International Relations and a minor in History. With an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts, she takes an interdisciplinary approach to research and design thinking. Her areas of interest include qualitative research, historiography and South Asian socio-cultural history.

Nidhi Kinhal is an Associate, Programs, at Young Leaders for Active Citizenship. She holds an MA in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, with prior academic training in anthropology, sociology, and philosophy from Ashoka University. She currently volunteers with Aaina, a social media initiative that encourages reflection on education and the inequalities within it. She is interested in working with adolescents to co-create spaces for reflection.

[STUDENTS] GROUP C

Exploring Ethics and The Idea of Social Justice

Amreeta Das

This workshop aims to engage students in meaningful discussions about the relationship between ethics and social justice. Participants will participate in interactive and reflective discussions to explore questions such as: What does ethics mean to young people? Why is it needed? What is fair and just in different and diverse contexts? Students will be encouraged to reflect on their individual and collective sense of ethics by creating their own “Ethics Wheel”. The activities and discussions will encourage students to critically assess ethical dilemmas, empathise with diverse perspectives, and reflect on what they can do to apply their sense of ethics to promote social justice in their community.

Amreeta Das has finished her B.A and M.A in English Literature from Jadavpur University in 2021 and worked as a writer and researcher at DAG Museums, Kolkata. At DAG she broadly worked on a range of education initiatives that equips students and teachers to use art in the classroom and co-led heritage walks. Her areas of academic interest are South Asian print culture and more specifically the circulation and reception of printed pictures in periodicals and ephemera, time consciousness and temporal discipline in colonial Bengal, history and sociology of colonial pedagogy, among others.

Amreeta has interned at History for Peace during which time she has conducted workshops and been part of research and development of teaching resources.

[TEACHERS] GROUP A –

Initiating Critical Dialogues on Caste with School Children

Shivangi Jaiswal

Children’s understanding of caste is often shaped by everyday conversations and practices in their families, communities, and households, or through their exposure to different forms of media. The educational spaces where they spend most of their time are also not devoid of caste. Caste continues to reproduce itself in complex ways. Sameer Mohite’s work on the thinking of school going children on caste reveals how caste matters in friendships, sports, games, perceptions of hygiene etc. Furthermore, given the challenges of the current times, when children are more likely to be influenced by propaganda, misinformation, and fake news due to the extensive use of digital media, it is our collective responsibility as educators to equip children with critical thinking skills and create spaces for dialogue on caste-based structural inequalities in classrooms. It is, therefore, pertinent to ask: To what extent does the existing curriculum engage critically with the caste question? Besides, as Michael Hines, a historian of education, says, “There’s a challenge that teachers have to face about learning to be comfortable teaching uncomfortable topics”. What are the common challenges educators face in teaching caste effectively at the school level? This interactive workshop aims to provide a platform for school teachers to deliberate upon such fundamental questions and offer possible ways to initiate a dialogue on caste with schoolchildren. The workshop has two parts. Part I focuses on “what we teach” (curriculum), and Part II discusses “how we teach” (pedagogy). Participants will be introduced to diverse resources, activities and strategies that could be used to work towards a critical pedagogy that facilitates meaningful dialogues on questions of caste. Participants are encouraged to bring their respective History and Civics syllabus, curriculum overview, or textbooks for a more engaging discussion during the workshop.

Shivangi Jaiswal is a historian by training and holds a PhD in History from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her thesis explores the intersection of caste and labour in the crucial decade of the 1940s. Besides, she has also pursued research in the history of medicine and oral history and has published papers across these areas of research in reputed journals and edited books. She currently teaches History, Integrated Humanities and Theory of Knowledge in the International Baccalaureate Programme at the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad. She has previously worked with the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute and the Association of Indian Labour Historians. Her teaching practices and research experience, informed by the rigour of historical methods, aim to make classrooms a space for critical inquiry through research-based learning for children.

[TEACHERS] GROUP B –

Learning to Live with Difference – The Anne Frank Human Rights Defenders Programme Meena Megha Malhotra

As India partners of the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, PeaceWorks—an initiative of The Seagull Foundation for the Arts has developed a classroom module that explores issues of identity, discrimination and prejudice through the history of Genocide, the Holocaust and the true-life story of Anne Frank to inspire students to become Human Rights Defenders. This workshop will introduce some activities from this module to teacher participants.

Meena Megha Malhotra is founder-Director of History for Peace

[TEACHERS] GROUP C –

Teaching Justice

An interactive workshop for teachers of middle and high school on teaching concepts of justice in age appropriate ways. Here, we will unpack the relationship between justice, power, and gaze.

Nisha Abdulla is a theatre maker and educator based out of Bangalore. She is the Artistic Director of Qabila, a collective that centers new writing and the dissenting imagination. She is also founder member of OffStream, a collective that makes and enables anti-caste creative projects and community.

27.9.2023

9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Parallel Workshops

[STUDENTS] GROUP A

Exploring Ethics and The Idea of Social Justice

Amreeta Das

[STUDENTS] GROUP B

Learning to Live with Difference – The Anne Frank Human Rights Defenders Programme Angana Das, Mayukhi Ghosh

[STUDENTS] GROUP C

Unveiling Justice: Ideas and Exploration

YLAC—Himani Chouhan, Gunjan Periwal, Nidhi Kinhal

[TEACHERS] GROUP A

Teaching Justice

Nisha Abdulla

[TEACHERS] GROUP B

Initiating Critical Dialogues on Caste with School Children

Shivangi Jaiswal

[TEACHERS] GROUP C

Learning to Live with Difference – The Anne Frank Human Rights Defenders Programme Meena Megha Malhotra

11 a.m. – 11.30 a.m. Coffee break

11.30 a.m. – 12.45 p.m.

The Question of Ethics

Romila Thapar

Romila Thapar is a pre-eminent Indian historian specializing in the field of ancient India. She is Professor Emerita of ancient history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Thapar’s research into early Indian history has heralded the ground-breaking shift from the scholarly treatment of ancient history as Indology towards establishing it as a social science. Her work has reimagined the questions that were typically asked of textual and archaeological data in the study of ancient Indian history. Consequently, her scholarship has transformed historiography as a field and embedded modern perspectives of writing history into the study of ancient India. Thapar holds honorary doctorates from Brown University, the University of Oxford, the University of Chicago, Edinburgh University and the University of Calcutta among others. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Kluge Prize (American Nobel), is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is an honorary fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and St Margaret’s Hall, University of Oxford. Thapar’s works include seminal books such as Interpreting Early India, Narratives and the Making of History, Cultural Pasts, Essays in Early Indian History, Early India, and Which of Us Are Aryans? Rethinking the Concept of Our Origins. Her most recent book, published by Seagull Books in 2020, is Voices of Dissent.

12.45 – 1.45 p.m. Lunch

1.45 p.m. – 3 p.m.

The Indian Constitution: Conversations with Power

Gautam Bhatia

This discussion will examine the Indian Constitution from the lens of power: it will consider who, under the Constitution, has power, how power is exercised, upon whom it is imposed, and how it is constrained. It will be shown that the Constitution is a terrain of contestation where different and opposing visions of power clash with each other, and how every act of interpretation is an act of reconfiguring the Constitution's power relations.

Gautam Bhatia is a lawyer, legal scholar and science fiction writer based in New Delhi. He is the author of The Transformative Constitution (2019) and Unsealed Covers: A Decade of the Constitution, the Courts, and the State (2023), and of the science fiction duology, The Wall (2020) and The Horizon (2021). When he's not wandering around the corridors of the court, you can find him at home, where he hosts monthly meetings of the Delhi Science Fiction Book Club, which all are welcome to join.

3 p.m. – 5 p.m. Parallel Workshops

[STUDENTS] GROUP A

Unveiling Justice: Ideas and Exploration

YLAC—Himani Chouhan, Gunjan Periwal, Nidhi Kinhal

[STUDENTS] GROUP B

Exploring Ethics and The Idea of Social Justice

Amreeta Das

[STUDENTS] GROUP C

Learning to Live with Difference – The Anne Frank Human Rights Defenders Programme

Angana Das, Mayukhi Ghosh

[TEACHERS] GROUP A

Learning to Live with Difference – The Anne Frank Human Rights Defenders Programme

Meena Megha Malhotra

[TEACHERS] GROUP B

Teaching Justice

Nisha Abdulla

[TEACHERS] GROUP C

Initiating Critical Dialogues on Caste with School children

Shivangi Jaiswal

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