Liberal arts in India: Still a niche or the next big shift?
Once considered a niche pursuit, liberal arts education is now slowly finding its footing in India's academic landscape. As the country shifts focus from rote learning to interdisciplinary thinking, the liberal arts promise a more holistic and critical approach to knowledge. But is this transformation reflected meaningfully in Indian universities? Are students and parents beginning to see value in a liberal arts degree amid a still-strong bias towards engineering, medicine, and commerce?To understand where liberal arts stands today in Indian higher education, IndiaToday.in spoke to Prof. Chandan Gowda, Professor and Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Vidyashilp University, who has been at the forefront of shaping and advocating for liberal arts education in India.advertisementTHE GROWING RELEVANCE OF LIBERAL ARTS IN A CHANGING INDIAThe immense value of a liberal arts education in India cannot be in doubt. The social sciences and humanities offer a careful and critical understanding of the past and present of the country's social, political and economic institutions. In imparting this knowledge, they also help appreciate the diverse ways of knowing the Indian world: the work of historians, sociologists, political scientists, economists, psychologists, philosophers, novelists, artists, among others, illuminates the diverse perspectives through which Indian society can be understood. Liberal arts enable students to appreciate the depth and complexity of India - they are indispensable for higher education.HOW STORYTELLING SHAPES LEADERS AND CREATORSEthnography strives to make interpretive sense of cultural worlds. It has arrived at sophisticated means of doing fieldwork for understanding cultural practices in various fields. Ethnographic thinking, which heightens the awareness of and sensitivity to the cultural, political and moral lives of communities and societies, offers students a valuable intellectual orientation to the human condition. The core course in ethnography that all students do at Vidyashilp University acquaints them with rich ethnographic scholarship and field methods and helps them become empathetic and critically minded citizens, leaders and social observers.HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?advertisement
Sadly, the answer here is no. Students in the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, commerce, management, have little or no opportunity to encounter the sophisticated discussions in the liberal arts in their institutions of higher education. Even those who have chosen to study social sciences and humanities for their higher education do not usually encounter high quality curricula and learning environments in their colleges. The latter are essential for a well-grounded engagement with one's own society.BRINGING KANNADA STORIES TO LIFE IN THE CLASSROOMLiterature and cinema illuminate the complexities of the social world. Social science conversations gain immensely from engaging them since the latter help illuminate the diversity in the human self, in the imagination of community, in the experience of time, in the expression of critique, among others. Texts from Kannada - as well as from other language - literatures that explore these dimensions foster a rich and complex intellectual awareness among students.What kind of student does the School of Liberal Arts at Vidyashilp hope to nurture?A student with a solid appreciation of inter-disciplinary knowledge and an evolved capacity for critical thinking and deep regard for ethical practices.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
32 minutes ago
- India Today
The big fat Indian wedding is quietly triggering a climate chaos
The lavish "big fat Indian wedding" is a cultural spectacle known for its opulence, grandeur, and increasingly, its food over 10 million weddings taking place annually in India, these events have become one of the country's major sources of food wastage and a driver behind rising methane to Feeding India, an NGO working to combat hunger, anywhere between 30 and 50 kilograms of food is wasted at an average Indian wedding. In elite weddings, the amount can soar to a staggering 800 Globally, food waste is a serious concern. The Food Waste Index Report 2024, released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), a UK-based non-profit, states that one crore (10 million) meals are wasted every day report also highlights that household waste makes up the largest share, more than 60%, of this global food India, much of the wedding-related food waste is due to oversized buffets, inaccurate guest estimates, and a general lack of awareness about food donation. Photo: Generative AI by Ayushi Shrivastava) THE CLIMATE CONSEQUENCEThe consequences of this waste extend beyond empty plates. It's contributing significantly to environmental discarded food ends up in landfills, it decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen), producing methane, a greenhouse gas that is around 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of warming can linger in the atmosphere for over 20 years and is responsible for roughly 30% of the rise in global temperatures since pre-industrial change has already exceeded the thresholds set by the Paris Agreement. Food waste from weddings and other events continues to fuel this crisis. The UNEP report notes that 'human-caused methane emissions could be reduced by as much as 45% within the decade,' a change that could prevent nearly 0.3C of global warming by 2045 and keep the planet within the 1.5C limit targeted by the Paris as one billion tons of food is wasted globally each year, about one-third of the world's population experiences food insecurity. Of these, 783 million people struggle with hunger. Globally, food waste is a serious concern. (Photo: Getty) This stark contrast calls for immediate action. Mindful consumption, better planning, and raising awareness about food recovery and donation can significantly reduce food wastage, especially at weddings. Institutional frameworks must be established to streamline food involved in food redistribution should be certified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to ensure food safety and 2018, the Delhi government took a notable step to reduce food waste by capping the number of guests allowed at weddings. A similar trend emerged naturally during the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions led to smaller, more intimate gatherings. However, such measures shouldn't be limited to times of smaller, more mindful celebrations can significantly reduce the enormous food waste typically generated at weddings. It's a step toward both environmental sustainability and social celebration of love and union should not come at the cost of the planet or hungry mouths. A shift towards responsible celebrations can make the big fat Indian wedding truly great for Reel
News18
an hour ago
- News18
Why It's ‘Kannada' For Karnataka & ‘Kannad' For North? ‘1st Language Interference' Explained
Last Updated: There has been a significant row over non-Kannada speakers' inability to speak the local language fluently. The simmering language debate in Karnataka has taken a new turn, this time, over the pronunciation of South Indian languages. A common point of contention is the frequent mispronunciation of 'Kannada" as 'Kannad," which has irked many locals. Even Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep joined the conversation, saying, 'Just like Hindi cannot be called Hind, Kannada cannot be Kannad." But the question remains. How did the phrase 'Kannad' come into existence? According to a recent discussion with linguists in Deccan Herald, many believe it's a result of 'first language interference", where a speaker's native language influences their pronunciation and usage of other languages. Why Do People Pronounce Kannada As Kannad? Meti Mallikarjuna, a linguist, professor and researcher at Kuvempu University, spoke to the outlet, explaining how linguistic structures are different for different languages, including Kannada and Hindi. 'While Kannada and other Dravidian languages are largely based on vowels, which means the words end with a vowel, languages like Hindi end with a consonant sound," he added. As a result, those unfamiliar vowel-ending languages are likely to struggle with the correct pronunciation and end up mixing it with a consonant sound. The linguistic expert went on to cite a few examples, showing the difference between the pronunciation in Hindi and Kannada, such as pustak-pustaka (book), ganith-ganitha (mathematics) and chintan-chintana (think). Likewise, DN Shankara Bhat, another linguist, stated how speakers make certain changes in pronunciation when they borrow more from other languages. 'The structure of the borrowed word may be different from what the speaker is exposed to in their primary language. This is the reason why North Indians refer to our language as Kannad," he added. Noting that the mispronunciation of Kannad is not necessarily wrong, as such adjustments are common, Bhat went on to share how English speakers have a distinction between alphabets but Indians do not. Sahiba, an academician and former Kannada professor, explained how pronunciation issues prevail among Tamil speakers as well when they converse in Kannada using Tamil grammar. 'The grammatical rules of the primary language are deeply rooted everywhere. Many speakers are only able to adapt to the grammar of a second language while speaking it is as much as their own primary language," she explained. Linguistic experts continued to emphasise that the variations in mispronouncing languages might not be deliberate, as not everyone is aware of it, and they have nobody to correct them. Despite being a common issue with speakers from all parts of the country, many within the state of Karnataka are still seen as being targeted for not speaking Kannada fluently or mispronouncing words. It reflects how language politics have been unfairly affecting those with limited access to linguistic support. First Published:
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
‘Earliest Indians were migrants…India has been connected to the world from the very beginning,' says historian Audrey Truschke
A quarter of humanity today is made up of South Asians, and for the rest of the world, their lives are constantly being shaped by South Asian culture—be it through films, spices, yoga or religion. US-based historian Audrey Truschke begins her monumental work tracing 5,000 years of Indian history with this crucial reminder to her readers about the impact the subcontinent has made upon the globe for millennia. Truschke's India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent (published by the Princeton University Press) begins with the much-discussed and debated Indus Civilisation, and goes right up till the post-Independence period, including the caste wars of the 1990s and the rise of the Hindu right. Throughout her re-telling of Indian history, Truschke reminds her readers of the vital connections that India has maintained with the world from the very beginning of its existence, through migration, trade and cultural exports. The earliest of Indians, as she reveals, were migrants who built the foundations of urban civilisation and shaped the oldest literary tradition of the region in the form of the Vedas. She also underlines the necessity of understanding the past of the subcontinent through the lens of the marginalised, particularly through the voices of women and the oppressed castes. In an interview with Truschke talks about her findings of the Indus Civilisation, the use of literature written by women to tell the story of Buddhism, as well as the dark side of the history of Hindu nationalism. Excerpts from the interview: Q. Your book title suggests that it is about 5,000 years of Indian history. How and why did you decide on this specific number? Audrey Truschke: For the last century, the conventional beginning of Indian history has been about 4,600 years ago with the Indus Civilisation. That is where I begin my narrative. We rounded up for the title, because publishers like round numbers, so that is where the 5,000 comes from. I do not adhere to this time frame strictly, however. I do start in earnest with the Indus Civilisation, which began around 2600 BCE. But before that, I give a brief account of how people populated the subcontinent in the first place. And that story goes back 1,20,000 years. Q: Why do you choose to begin with the Indus Civilisation? Truschke: The beginning of Indian history geologically goes back millions of years when the subcontinent was formed; the Himalayas are still rising today from the crashing together of two tectonic plates. Human history in India goes back a more modest 1,20,000 years. I begin the book with recorded human history, devoting attention in earnest first to the Indus Civilisation, which was robust enough that it left behind significant material evidence for us to work with. Not all of the past is recoverable. But history is a positivist discipline. We work with the evidence we have. And so there is no value judgment that the Indus Civilisation was somehow more important than other groups of people doing other things in India around the same time. It is simply that they are the ones for whom we have significant material evidence to reconstruct their lifestyles. Q: We know that there is a lot of politics around the Indus Civilisation lately, with different political parties trying to appropriate it around religious or regional lines. How do you respond to that? Truschke: I think every single political party in India will be disappointed with my take on the Indus Civilisation. I know there is a huge push right now for it to be a Dravidian civilisation. There is no positivist evidence that shows that. It is plausible, but a lot of things are plausible. The bottom line is we don't know much about who the Indus Civilisation people were. We know they built cities. We know how they lived. We know a fair amount about their diet. These are certain things that are recorded in the material and skeletal records. But we don't fundamentally know who they were, except that they were from northwestern India. That was a long time ago, and we really don't know how the Indus people map onto modern linguistic, political, and ethnic groups. For those who are making modern political claims, that comes with all the limits of political claims. But insofar as some people are trying to make a historical claim, they need to be a little bit more realistic about the evidence. Q: There is a section in your book where you speak about the first Indians. Could you elaborate a bit on who the first Indians were? Truschke: I am taking from Tony Joseph there, who has an excellent book called The Early Indians. The first Indians were not actually the first Homo Sapiens to set foot on the Indian subcontinent. That would be the group that came 1,20,000 years ago. But they all died out. About 65,000 years ago, another migrant group came. They came eastwards roughly from Africa and entered the subcontinent, and some of those people survived. They have left behind a genetic lineage that is shared by some, not all, modern Indians. It is especially strong in South India. We call them the first Indians because they are the first ones to make it. Q: You also write that you have included a diverse representation of voices, especially those of women and the oppressed castes, in your telling of Indian history. Could you give a few examples? Truschke: Like many historians right now, I too think it is so important to have a more diverse set of voices when we are looking at the past. The thing is, it is hard because the people who tend to be recorded tend to be members of dominant social groups. In South Asia, that means they tend to be men, they tend to be upper caste, and they tend to be Hindu. I am looking for people who don't fit that bill. I think it is important to find diverse voices to explain key shifts in South Asian history. For example, when I cover the advent of Buddhism about 2,400 years ago, I cite from the Therigatha, which is a collection of poems and hymns by Buddhist women, collected in the early centuries BCE. Later on, I bring in female voices, for example, when I talk about the Hindu reform movements and criticisms of Hinduism that arose in the 19th century. I do talk about some of the men, such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda, but I also talk about Pandita Ramabai, a Brahmin woman who later converted to Christianity. It is harder to bring in voices from the oppressed castes. From ancient India, for instance, we have very little to nothing that was actually written by Shudras and Dalits. It is not until later that we get texts authored by Shudras and Dalits, but I at least try to bring in texts about them. For example, I have a section where I am talking about caste in the 17th century, and I talk about some Shudra kings. I also print part of a Telugu drama written around 1700 CE. It is written by an upper caste individual, but it depicts a Brahmin in a very poor light. It depicts this Brahmin who is lusting after a Dalit woman and is abusing his Brahmanical privilege. He cites Sanskrit verses to her and plays with religion to try to lure the Dalit woman. This is not a Dalit voice, but at least it is a Dalit character. You work with what you have for the historical evidence. There is no getting around the fact that dominant groups are better represented in the South Asian historical record. That is true of all histories in all parts of the world, but that does not absolve historians of doing the hard work of trying to recover what we can, both about and from the perspective of less-discussed, less-represented groups. Q: You also write that India, throughout its ancient and medieval history, has had global connections. Could you elaborate on some of the key historical moments when India's connections with the world were of key importance? Truschke: India has been connected to the world from the beginning and throughout. How people get to India is a story of repeated migrations. The Indus Valley Civilisation had extensive trade connections with Mesopotamia and, possibly through Mesopotamia, with ancient Egypt. The people belonging to Vedic society, which was founded and flourished after the Indus Civilisation, were also migrants. They came from outside into northwestern India and composed the Vedas. The Vedas are an Indian composition, but the language group of that community does have roots from outside originally. People, things, and ideas also left the subcontinent. And South Asia then has some remarkable cultural exports starting in the few centuries before the turn of the CE era. Of course, Buddhism is probably the most well-known one, which travelled both on the sea trade routes and along the Silk Roads, surviving ultimately largely outside of the subcontinent. There are also stories, such as the Panchatantra, and games like chess and Parcheesi that are still popular across the West today. Then there is Sanskrit that travels east to Southeast Asia. All of this attests to India and the subcontinent more broadly being part of an interconnected world. Q: We know that history in India has become a major topic of debate. How would you say your book addresses the current politics around history in the country? Truschke: Firstly, I think my book is pretty staunchly, openly, and decidedly a non-nationalist history, down to the title. As I say in the introduction, the India that I refer to in the title is not the modern nation state of India. The modern nation state of India was born yesterday from a historian's perspective. It is less than a century old. I use India in the title and throughout most of the book, until the last couple of chapters, in its historic sense of the subcontinent. It is a geographical designation, and it very much includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, and southern parts of Afghanistan. I realise that is going to be a little uncomfortable for a lot of readers who are really used to India being the modern nation state with militarised borders, an army, and a set of nationalist symbols. The second way in which I address nationalism—and I think this will be particularly important for younger readers, under the age of about 30 or 35—is by giving a fair amount of the history of Hindu nationalism. I think Hindu nationalists do not like talking about their own history. There are some dark parts of that history, the Nazi loving stuff, the fascist stuff, the fact that it is largely a European import, and the fact that it was unpopular for most of its existence. Forty years ago, no respectable Indian would touch Hindu nationalism. I think that is very hard to understand if you are 30 years old and living in Hyderabad or Bombay or Delhi or Ahmedabad or wherever, and Hindutva is what you know. My book charts that history, among many other facets of Indian and South Asian histories. Adrija Roychowdhury leads the research section at She writes long features on history, culture and politics. She uses a unique form of journalism to make academic research available and appealing to a wide audience. She has mastered skills of archival research, conducting interviews with historians and social scientists, oral history interviews and secondary research. During her free time she loves to read, especially historical fiction. ... Read More
