Distinguished Academics Prof. Shruti Kapila and Prof. Faisal Devji at the NLS Campus this Week
December 12, 2023
This week, NLS will be hosting two distinguished academics Prof. Shruti Kapila from the University of Cambridge, and Prof. Faisal Devji from the University of Oxford, on campus. The two Professors will be interacting with the NLS community as part of various sessions during the week.
Prof. Shruti Kapila
Shruti Kapila is Professor of History and Politics at the University of Cambridge, Director of Studies at Corpus Christi College and Co-Director of Global Humanities Initiative. Her recent book, ‘Violent Fraternity: Indian Political Thought in the Global Age’ (Princeton, 2021), reconstructs the most consequential political concepts that have defined India’s democracy, including sovereignty, subjectivity, religion and violence. She is also a renowned political commentator on forums such as the BBC, Financial Times, and Al Jazeera, and regularly writes a fortnightly column for The Print.
Prof. Faisal Devji
Faisal Devji is Professor of Intellectual History and Political Thought at the University of Oxford and Director of the Asian Studies Centre at St. Antony’s College. He has authored four important books on globalization, militancy, non-violence, and the history of nationalism, including ‘Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea’ (Hurst & Co, 2013) and ‘The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence’ (Harvard University Press, 2012).
December 14, 2023 (5 pm) | NLS Public Lecture
Room 201, OAB, Krishnappa Hall
On Thursday, Professor Shruti Kapila will deliver a public lecture titled ‘Legislating Democracy: Ambedkar and the Future of India’, with Mr. Arvind Narrain as the discussant.
Arvind Narain is Visiting Faculty and PhD scholar at NLSIU working on the legal and political thought of Ambedkar. He was a founding member of the Alternative Law Forum and has authored ‘India’s Undeclared Emergency: Constitutionalism and the Politics of Resistance’ (Westland, 2022).
Abstract
Independent India’s constitutional and legal edifice was a political rather than a social revolution. B R Ambedkar instituted caste as a primary political category. Embedded in violence and as the source of India’s sovereign power, Ambedkar redirected caste as fundamental to Indian democracy. In casting Ambedkar as a thinker of radical and republican democracy, this lecture will also explore its ramifications for Indian law and politics today.
This event is open to all including members of the public.
December 15, 2023 (5 pm) | Panel Discussion
Conference Room, Ground Floor, Training Centre
On Friday, NLS will host a panel discussion featuring Prof. Faisal Devji, Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Dr. Rinku Lamba. The discussion will be centred on Professor Devji’s new and unpublished research work on ‘Gandhi’s silence’.
Abstract
Gandhi praised silence as a moral virtue opposed to the political importance of voice. He considered the understanding derived from communication to be incomplete and unequally accessible, with its knowledge of others motivated by the desire to control them. While Indian nationalists wanted their voices heard by the colonial state, the Mahatma was concerned instead with the limits of voice and communication. He criticized their claims to authenticity and focused on the incommunicable element crucial in all human relations. How might ignorance, as the necessary ground of such relations, then, serve to augment rather than limit moral and political life?
This event is open only to the NLS community. As the venue has limited seating capacity, this event is on a sign-up basis. Those interested are required to sign up physically on a sheet kept in the VC Office.
December 16, 2023 (11 am) | Group Reading Session
Conference Room, Ground Floor, NAB
On Saturday, NLS will organise a reading group session on ‘Methods and Approaches of doing History and Theory, specifically, Intellectual History and Political Thought’ involving Professor Faisal Devji and Professor Shruti Kapila. The discussion will mainly revolve around questions of methods and approaches of doing history and theory generally, and specifically, intellectual history and political thought.
This event is open only to the NLS community. Two separate papers authored by our distinguished academic visitors will be made available to those who sign up for the session.
For further details, please contact the VC’s Office.