[ Karyir Riba ]
ROING, 28 Mar: A two-day international seminar on ‘Ethnic cultural studies in 21st century: Prospects and challenges with special reference to Arunachal Pradesh’, jointly organised by the Research Institute of World’s Ancient Traditions, Cultures & Heritage (RIWATCH) and the Jomin Tayeng Government Model Degree College here in Lower Dibang Valley district, concluded on Sunday.
Delegates from India and countries like the USA, the UK and Germany presented their papers during the seminar.
While Prof Yashwant Pathak from the University of South Florida delivered a lecture on ‘Learning and interacting with global ancient traditions and cultures’, Dr Mark W Post from The University of Sydney spoke on the topic of ‘Sustenance of tribal languages in Northeast India: Issues and prospects’, Prof Uta Reinöhl from the University of Freiburg spoke on ‘Idu Mishmi (Kera’a) language and it’s relation with the neighbouring tribes’, Dr Sahil Nijhawan from the University College London spoke on the topic, ‘Between friends and foes: Reflections on the ethics of outside researchers as allies to Arunachal Pradesh’ indigenous people’, and Prof Simon John from RGU delivered a lecture on ‘Cultural resource management’.
Sixty papers were presented, and participants included delegates from the IIT Gandhinagar, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), the Tezpur University (Assam), the NEHU (Shillong), the Guwahati University, the Dibrugarh University, Rajiv Gandhi University (Doimukh), the Himalayan University (Itanagar), Jawaharlal Nehru College (Pasighat), the Arunachal University of Studies (Namsai), and the Indira Gandhi Government College (Tezu).
The themes of the seminar were ‘Ethics and tribal culture’, ‘Environment and tribal society’, ‘Politics, political institutions and tribal territory’, ‘Tribal economy and sustenance’, ‘Gender role and cultural space in the tribal world’, and ‘Tribal language and oral narratives’.
RIWATCH director Vijay Swami and senior coordinator Dr Razzeko Dele also spoke during the seminar, which was inaugurated by Padmashree awardee Satyanarayan Mundayoor.
