Social justice in India
Delegates from the U of S College of Arts and Science will lend their expertise at an intensive workshop in India to help the next generation of researchers there advance social justice.
By Chris PutnamTitled Social Justice: Practice and Research, the June 19–30 workshop is jointly organized by the College of Arts and Science and the host university, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) in Gujarat, India. Social sciences and humanities experts from both universities, along with guest speakers, will lead sessions attended by about 60 participants from India.
The workshop is the latest in a series of efforts at building international “collaborative activities” between the U of S and IITGN, said Raj Srinivasan, head of the college’s Department of Mathematics & Statistics and one of the local coordinators—along with Professor of English David Parkinson—of the event. IIGTN and the college worked together on a similar summer institute on the theme of global health in 2015, and faculty and students from IITGN have made several visits to the U of S.
This year’s summer institute is based on the premise that teaching key research skills can be “a powerful tool to understand and address issues of inequality and injustice and to bring in social change,” said Ambika Aiyadurai, an assistant professor of anthropology at IITGN and a coordinator of the workshop.