Rethinking South Asia: Alternative Paradigms, Practices and Discourses

We invite abstracts for the inaugural Conference of the  Annual Indian Association for South Asian Studies (IASAS) to be held at the University of Delhi on 2-4 July 2020. This three-day conference will focus on themes related to South Asian Studies and will bring together scholars from across humanities and social sciences. 

South Asia, a region replete with historical and cultural continuities, is also defined by its common geographical, political, and economic fissures, traumas and solidarities. It represents a constant dynamic, from etymology to social sciences to humanities and world views. South Asian spaces and times embody multiple journeys be it, religion and region to civilization, nationalism and many shared heritages. Its experiences form stirring histories of mobility and migration, displacement and refugeehood, partitions as well as divisions and unity. Meanwhile, diverse  South Asian voices in the shape of its women, indigenous and tribal peoples’ movements along with anti-caste and class struggles  esconce the region into a robust politics of localization as well as globalization. Oftentimes referred to as a subcontinent, its philosophies and myths, as well as its societies and polities, have an inter-connected, contiguous and intricate fabric that has tended to wear out and evolve even while it remains stable.  In today’s world, South Asia represents an idea, a process and practice with past, present and future implications, differences and similarities in juxtaposition to each other.  Denoted as the world’s fastest-growing region, paradoxically it is also that part of the world where 40% of its poor live. Having traversed through multiple diversities and unrests, it continues to constitute varying and diagrammatically opposite worlds. From oppressive paradigms and un-freedoms to spheres of peaceful, non-violent, participative polities, societies, ecologies, economies, arts and literature - the region bears witness to all. 

IASAS welcomes panels and papers in English or in Hindi employing interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives inspired from (but not limited to): History, Philosophy, Political Science, Anthropology, Ethnography, Sociology, Psychology etc. We encourage submissions from research students, early career scholars, faculty members, and independent social scientists whose research falls under the spectrum of South Asian Studies. The conference hopes to generate new perspectives by exploring new as well as alternative and evolving research ideas and methods.  

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 April 2020

Language: English or Hindi

Submission Rules for a) Individual Abstracts 300 words; b) Panel Proposals 500 words

Please send your abstracts and proposals at: conference2020 [at] casss.org.in (conference2020[at]casss[dot]org[dot]in)

IASAS Membership fee: 1000 INR for one year and 10,000 INR for Life time

Modalities of Transfer of Registration and Membership Fee :

Bank Transfer: 

Bank Name: State Bank of India, AL Market, Shalimarbagh, New Delhi
Account Name: Centre for Alternative Studies in S.S. 

Account No. : 39160248430
IFSC Code: SBIN0020545 

MICR Code: 110004006

Note: It is mandatory to become a member of the IASAS to participate in the conference.

Organiser: Centre for Alternative Studies in Social Sciences (CASSS), New Delhi