Themes
Experiences and Challenges of Teaching in India
Papers can focus on participants’ experiences of teaching in India. Particularly relevant to those who have been teaching for longer or in different positions (ex. As guest or ad hoc to permanent faculty), major shifts that have taken place etc. Rise of private universities, experiences in both public and private universities, changing appraisal parameters for faculty evaluations etc, will be important. Experiences of teaching social sciences in regional vs elite/established departments or new contexts- like engineering institutes and liberal arts departments etc.
Disciplinary Reconfigurations
Explore how the structural shifts in Indian academia have mapped on to teaching practices and disciplinary valuations. Are disciplines like sociology/anthropology experiencing a “crisis” where they are seen as less relevant, less employable, more susceptible to political/public critique and disciplining practices? There are also pressures to make disciplines marketable, so worth exploring how this has impacted what is taught– are there topics in sociology/anthropology that have less or more traction–, and how. A topic of critical consideration is also about the ethics, ways of doing, and training for “fieldwork” as a) skill-set acquisition is becoming an important measure of a discipline “value” (also reiterated in NEP), and b) many departments are increasingly offering courses centred on students doing short-term fieldwork. How do we (or do we?) ensure that ethnography is conducted with full awareness of its power dynamics and ethical implications for research participants? Many of these are not new issues– addressing continuities and novelties of the present moment are important.
The Politics of Teaching
This includes both teaching in an overarching political climate as well as everyday politics that we encounter in classrooms and institutions, and across institutions. Topics of interest may include the impact (for better or worse) of political correctness, how we navigate having or articulating a political opinion with students, shifts in students’ politics as well as the state of collective representation among faculty (the lack of unions in private universities, for example). Altering power dynamics between faculty and students can be explored alongside possible friction at the level of faculty, student body, administration. Participants may address institutional diversity and hierarchy (across regional, old established and up and coming higher-ed institutions), diversity and perhaps changes in student bodies etc.
Teaching as Care-Work
Papers and interested participants to think about how teaching is positioned as care-work. Attend variations across types of institutions, diverse social locations of students and faculty (class, caste, regionality as some examples). Also explore care-work as increasingly a part of faculty expectations and evaluations, who bears the burden, pedagogical implications, etc.