RONO HILLS, 26 Mar: A two-day national seminar on ‘Evolving state of Arunachal Pradesh: Contemporary social science research in tribal state of Arunachal Pradesh’ was jointly organised by Rajiv Gandhi University’s (RGU) anthropology department and the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, here from 25-26 March.
Asiatic Society General Secretary Dr SB Chakrabarti highlighted “the importance of collaborations for carrying out such productive sessions,” and said that “such joint events have been exercised earlier as well, including border-related projects in Arunachal Pradesh with the department of anthropology,” which, he said, may contribute immensely to the state.
Anthropology Department Head Prof Sarit K Chaudhuri said that “such seminars are an attempt to create a platform for the upcoming social scientists to reflect on the state of Arunachal Pradesh when the government of Arunachal is celebrating 50 years of the bordering state since it became a union territory.”
RGU Registrar Dr NT Rikam emphasised that “native scholars of Arunachal have to engage themselves in meaningful research, so that the mainland people are aware of the tribal societies of this bordering state.”
Asiatic Society President Prof Swapan K Pramanik spoke about “approaches for understanding the Northeast as a region,” and expressed hope that “the variety of papers accepted for the seminar would enhance the current state of social science research in Arunachal Pradesh.”
RGU’s Political Science Professor PK Panigrahi highlighted “the evolving nature of social science research in post-colonial Arunachal Pradesh.” He emphasised on the ongoing social science research, which he said “is more problem-oriented and much analytical in nature, where indigenous scholars have tried to deal with crucial issues of respective communities as well as the state in general.”
Prof Panigrahi also stressed on “the need for research on some of the more challenging areas which are faced by people of the state as well as region in general.”
RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha called for “more social science research work related to the state by the indigenous scholars.” He advised the upcoming scholars to be dedicated towards the research areas in which they are working, and also spoke on the significance of social science research in the context of Arunachal.
He encouraged budding scholars to select research topics which will be beneficial for the state and its people.
RGU’s History Department Head Prof Ashan Riddi brought out diverse issues linked with the theme, and shared his thoughts on “issues and concerns of social science research in Arunachal Pradesh from a historical point of view.”
Asiatic Society treasurer Sujit K Das also shared his views.
The seminar featured separate technical sessions, which included many burning topics under various themes, such as evolving state and autonomy, economy and livelihood concerns; traditional institutions and gender issues; evolving religious beliefs and rituals; evolving culture and heritage issues; aspects of health and media, and ethnicity and dynamics of borderland.
Altogether, 37 papers were presented during the seminar.
