{"title":"Education, Religion and Gender: The Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya in Punjab","authors":"Tripti Bassi","doi":"10.1177/0973184919892103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919892103","url":null,"abstract":"Schools are truly ‘microcosms of society’ since they reflect the larger dynamics of society. Women’s position in society also got replicated in their low participation in education among other fields. This article contextualises women’s education in the nineteenth-century Punjab. It briefly discusses approaches followed by various stakeholders like the Christian missionaries, the British and the social reformers in addressing this issue. Somehow, religious education remained intertwined with women’s education. The article seeks to demonstrate how religious socialisation happens through certain school processes and practices generating religious identities mediated by notions of gender. Established during the late nineteenth century, the Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya in Ferozepur started in a local Gurdwara but later emerged as a significant institution of girls’ education in Punjab. It nurtured ‘obedient’ and ‘religiously-oriented’ Sikh girls who then transmitted those values to the family and larger society. That is how it also cultivated a favourable environment for the schooling of girls. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the article seeks to explore the dynamics of Sikh identities that not only get constructed but also get established within a school setting. Factors like religion and gender intersect to create a complex web influencing the realm of education.","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919892103","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46282050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Suitable’ Locations for ‘State Private Universities’ in India: Anticipated Demand and State Regulatory Frameworks","authors":"A. Sengupta","doi":"10.1177/0973184919855889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919855889","url":null,"abstract":"In the last two decades, India has witnessed the establishment of a large number of private universities. While these institutions are spread across different parts of the country, one can observe certain locational patterns. Focused particularly on private universities legislated by state governments (as opposed to private deemed universities legislated by central government), this article examines the significance of anticipated demand and state regulatory frameworks in attempting to understand how private capital and state engage with the question of location of universities. This article is largely based on an analysis of data generated by University Grants Commission and All India Survey of Higher Education. It argues that while locational decisions of private universities are influenced by anticipated demand, state governments are often using careful customisation of regulatory frameworks as an instrument to facilitate the development of private capital in higher education.","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919855889","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42415202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identity and Its Transformative Dynamics in Knowledge Era: Some Critical Reflections","authors":"D. Singharoy","doi":"10.1177/0973184919858501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919858501","url":null,"abstract":"Collective identities of people have remained largely transitional despite largely remaining rooted in certain inherited essentialities. The essential dynamics of identity often get negotiated with various forces and processes like those of the economic transformation, technological reorientation, collective mobilisation, modernisation, colonisation, globalisation, penetration of information and communication technologies (ICTs), mass and social media among others. The contemporary society is marked by the fast transformation of its economic order from agriculture and industry to knowledge/information-driven post-industrial society, fast transference of information, images, ideas, services, goods and people across spaces and the borderless expansion of ICTs. These have paved the way for the emergence of a new social order which has been widely described as the knowledge society. Within this emerging economic, social and technological order, new varieties of social interaction and solidarities are constructed from within the pre-existing varieties causing a good deal of fluidity of collective identities on the one hand and their consolidation on the other. Thus, with fast social transformation and increasing interconnectivity and mobility of people across the globe on the one hand and consolidation of new forms of social collectivities on the other, the contours of contraction and configuration of identities have undergone phenomenal change. Against such a backdrop, this article is an attempt to develop an understanding of the nuances of identity: its essence, construction, transformation and configuration within the broad processes of social transition. This article is arranged in five sections. The Dynamics of Identity section deals with the dynamics of identity. In the Social Movements. Modernity, Colonisation, Globalisation and Identity: Changing Facets of Fluidity and Solidarity section, the processes of construction and reconfiguration of identity in the context of social movements, modernity, colonisation and globalisation are discussed. The key dimensions of the emergence of knowledge society are explained in the Emerging Knowledge Society and its Key Dynamics section. In the Solidarity and Fluidity in Identity: The Emerging Facets section, the emerging facets of solidarity and fluidity of identity are elucidated. Finally, the Conclusion section makes the concluding arguments.","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919858501","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44938860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Neglected Municipal School","authors":"Maxine Berntsen","doi":"10.1177/0973184919851966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919851966","url":null,"abstract":"In state and central governments, there is a widespread perception that it is the rural areas that are in the greatest need of government assistance. By the same token, it is assumed that the educational problems are more urgent in rural areas. In this understanding, the taluka town is willy-nilly classified as urban, and little attention is given to the fact that as far as government-run primary education goes, the town is worse off than the village (and undoubtedly than the large city). In order to discuss this further, I will narrate a couple of stories. These go back to the very beginning of our work, before we had started Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan or developed our approach to teaching early literacy.","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919851966","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42269633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perceptions of Diversity Among Faculty Members in Indian Higher Education Institutions: A Qualitative Investigation","authors":"Thaddeus Alfonso, S. Ganesan","doi":"10.1177/0973184919858180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919858180","url":null,"abstract":"Diversity studies have mostly been done outside India and have largely focused on race, gender and ethnicity. The relevance of these studies to India remains less explored. Hence, faculties from various disciplines were interviewed across six states and a union territory. Diversity awareness was substantial regarding familiar social categories that have received socio-political attention so far like gender. However, faculty limited gender diversity to entry-level recruitment and they seldom mentioned the need for women at professorial and leadership levels. Awareness about diversity domains such as gender identity, sexual orientation and race was inadequate. While diversity was considered essential for student admissions, it was not so for faculty recruitment. Though the majority acknowledged disability and age as diversity domains, there was insufficient preparation for engagement with disabled people and members outside formal age-groups. There is a need for instilling global and country-specific diversity awareness in the faculty.","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919858180","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42471810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Practice of Sociology: Comparative Study of Public and Private Universities in India","authors":"N. Jaiswal","doi":"10.1177/0973184919848900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919848900","url":null,"abstract":"The broad question that interests this article is how does one read and compare the negotiations public and private universities are making with the neo-liberal paradigm of knowledge production with reference to their social science curricula. Michael Apple’s (1993, Teachers College Records, 95(2), 222–241; 2001, Currículo Sem Fronteiras, 1(1), i–xxvi) argument that curriculum is not a ‘neutral assemblage of knowledge’ but a crafted vision of ‘legitimate knowledge’ produced by hegemonic powers within society forms the theoretical foundation for this article. To understand the changes within a university’s academic practice, this article analyses and compares the undergraduate and postgraduate sociology curricula of two public universities (Delhi University and Ambedkar University), an international university (South Asian University) and one private university (Shiv Nadar University), as well as engages with its practitioners to assess the everyday within these universities. The undergraduate and postgraduate sociology curricula across public and private universities indicate certain convergences in their academic approaches. The universities in question encouraged foreign university collaborations, reframed the course structure to strengthen the university-industry linkages and increased the employability of the students. Interdisciplinary and contemporary papers are offered through new modes of pedagogy. The mode of assessment also focus on writing research papers/dissertations and frequent visits to the field to develop an application-based approach to learning. The neoliberal paradigm of knowledge production affected the convergence of academic practices of public and private universities despite difference in governance structure. This convergence problematises the meaning of ‘public’ in a liberalised, privatised and globalised society.","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919848900","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48696199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Amy Stambach and Kathleen D. Hall (Eds.), Anthropological Perspectives on Student Futures: Youth and the Politics of Possibility","authors":"Sreejith Murali","doi":"10.1177/0973184919851982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919851982","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919851982","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43874077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Milind Brahme, M. Suresh Babu and Thomas Muller (eds), Inclusive education in India: Concepts, Methods, and Practice","authors":"R. Goswami","doi":"10.1177/0973184919857898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0973184919857898","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37486,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Education Dialogue","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0973184919857898","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49345378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}