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ICSSR invites research proposals on history of traditional art forms
The Indian Council of Social Science Research has for the first time invited research proposals on the history and sociology of traditional art forms across the country that highlight the “unifying Bharatiyata or Indianness”
The Indian Council of Social Science Research has for the first time invited research proposals on the history and sociology of traditional art forms across the country that highlight the “unifying Bharatiyata or Indianness,” officials said.
This was in line with the government’s efforts to look at India’s traditional knowledge in different aspects as a part of implementing the National Education Policy of 2020. The autonomous body typically focuses on research in areas related to core social sciences and economics.
The vast expanse of India provides great scope for intercultural, interdisciplinary and holistic critical inquiry into the intricate aspects of a civilization that has an unbroken unifying tradition of thought, according to the project guidelines released by the council on Thursday. The study of folk forms, festivals, sculptures, art and architecture, paintings, music, dance forms, literature, rites and rituals, community practices, sects, doctrines, metaphysics and cosmogony of Bharat will open new “vistas of knowledge”, they said.
“The classification of regions of the country may be based on climatic, geographical, political, ethnographic or cultural factors, but the epistemological quest for “gyana (knowledge)” runs deep into the beliefs and practices of the people across the nation,” the guidelines said.
Human and social sciences form a complex whole as a dynamic field of inquiry, said Dhananjay Singh, the council’s member secretary. “The diversity of lived experience, artistic creations and folk and cultural performances provides a rich ground for new epistemology of people to be recorded and studied,” he said. “The idea behind giving this call for empirical research studies on art, craft,culture and folk traditions is to explore the two-dimensional lived realities of Indian people that finds expression in folk knowledge, regional and national, that are interlinked.”
The council will prioritize educational institutes and departments over individual researchers under the programme. “We encourage institutes, nd centres and departments to submit proposals that seek to explore new paradigms and ways of knowing the rich local and regional traditions of art and craft, culture and folk as single components as well as related structures of knowledge making,” Singh said.
Each selected proposal will be given two years to complete and will be allocated up to ₹70 lakh in instalments, the council said. Researchers will be expected to be observe and study their chosen subject on the ground. The last date for applying is February 10.
Last year, the council had given a call for research proposals to assess the reach and socioeconomic impact of 31 government schemes. Prior to that, it had given two special calls for short term research on social science dimensions of the Covid-19 pandemic, and culture, history and geography of scheduled tribes.
