| Subject: 1st Biennial GSA Conference |
Author:
Ramnik Shah
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Date Posted: Sun, May 21 2006, 18:55:33-4
I cannot yet see a link for feedback on the GSA Conference; maybe it will appear soon but in the meanwhile let me offer some observations which may help kick start more responses.
For a first attempt, this was quite an achievement and we should applaud all concerned, the organizers, the sponsors and the contributors for bringing it about, and the delegates for making it a success! It was however a crowded and varied programme and as the time allowed for the presentation of papers was strictly limited, I felt that we did not get an opportunity to explore all the pertinent issues in depth nor, alas, to attend the selective sessions that we would have wished. Maybe others have a different take; it would be interesting to know. Perhaps a more seminar like structure could be devised for the next conference, with more lattitude to participants to expand and examine the contents. The sheer range of the subjects covered shows that the concept of Gujarat Studies has both a huge hinterland and a vast potential for ongoing research and discourse.
The Conference also did well to maintain a fair balance between the purely academic and the non-specialist interested parties: no one side therefore dominated or felt that their `ownership` was either threatened or hijacked. `Lay` Gujaratis felt equally valued and for the experts (whether Gujarati in terms of origin or language) this was (or least one would like to think so) a unique opportunity to have a dialogue with those with whom they would otherwise maintain a professional distance.
From the general to the specific, the slight and unintended re-arrangement of the schedule on the first day actually turned out to be for the better, because it meant that we had an excellent start, with Prof Azim Nanji`s stimulating address and a deeply thought-provoking closing one by Prof Bhikhu Parekh. Lord Parekh was characteristically frank, in the nicest possible way, in speaking about the strengths and weakness of Gujaratis: his points about our flat sense of humour, lack of intellectual pursuits,
absence of literary and artistic accomplishments were well made, as against the more aggressive and higher profiles of our Punjabi and Bengali counterparts. It is a cliche` to say we are an essentially mercantile community, but maybe therein lies the explanation: just as you can`t get blood out of stone, so does it not really boil down to our genes? If so, what are the solutions? Nurture and new enviroment (as in the diaspora) is certainly one, but equally another is widen the ethnic frontiers -marry `outside` and bring in fresh blood, surely?
I do feel however that two particular areas of interest of mine, ie. diasporan perspectives (in the context of the wider South Asian diaspora across the globe) and comparisons with other Indian ethnic communities (except by Professor Parekh, as noted above) did not receive enough exposure; that is certainly something that could be done better next time.
That said, congratulations in particular to Sharmina Mawani and Anjoom Mukadam. Well done!!
RAMNIK SHAH
Sun 21.05.06
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