Date: 16-17 October, 2014
Venue: School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad
The Centre for Study of Foreign Languages, School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad has organized a Two-Day International Conference on “Indo-Turkish Dialogue: Historical, Social and Cultural Perspectives” 16-17 October, 2014 jointly with Mevlana University, Turkey, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi and Indialogue Foundation, Hyderabad.
Prof. Tankut Yacinoz, Vice-chancellor, Mevlana University and Prof. E. Hari Babu, Pro Vice-chancellor, University of Hyderabad. Prof. Amitabha Dasgupta, Dean, School of Humanities, Prof. J. Prabhakara Rao, Head, Centre for Study of Foreign Languages and Ms. Indrani Thalukdar, ICWA, New Delhi delivered messages in the Inaugural Session.
Rungta, President, FAPCCI, Hyderabad, Dr. Hakan Gok, Director, International Affairs, Mevlana University, Turkey, Dr. Indrani Thalukdar, ICWA, New Delhi, Mr. Oguz Canbolat, Director, TICCI, Hyderabad, Mr. Nurdin Kaparov, Director, Indialogue Foundation, New Delhi, Mr. Sashikanth Kakara, Managing Director, Headstream Advisory, Hyderabad.
The theme of Session-II was Indo-Turkish Bilateral Relations which was chaired by Dr. Pitam Singh, Joint Adviser, Planning Commission of India. Dr. Bezen Coskun & Dr. Answar Alam, Zirve University, Turkey spoke on ‘Modern’ Indian and Turkey: Learning Democratic Experience From Each Other’. They made Comparative and contrastive analysis of Turkish and Indian Experience with modernity, secularism and democracy on the basis of five indicators of democratic form of governance. They include (a) historical imagination and conceptualization of modernity and its implications for nation building process (b) the procedural dimension of democratic experience (c) the substantial dimension of democratic experience (d) civil and political liberty and (e) treatment of ethnic and religious minorities. The second paper was on ‘Indo-Turkish Relations under Ankara’s New South Asian Strategy’ presented Ms. Nadia Hussian, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. The paper has highlighted the nature and extent of Indo-Turkish relations in contemporary times. She felt that India’s progress in global economy in International Politics since 1990s has lead Turkey to develop a new south Asian strategy. This has lead to actively redefining its south Asian strategic foreign policy, enhancing relations with China, India and other raising Asian powers as a part of its multilateral approach. Mr. Nurdin Kaparov, Osmania University, Mr. Jhilam Chattaraj, University of Hyderabad and Mr. Abdu Sadik Kaunnath, Hamdard University, India presented on Turkey on My Table: Knowing Turkey Through Indialogue Foundation’. It analyzed the methods of disseminating Turkish cultural knowledge from theoretical perspectives of Cultural Studies, Diaspora, Identity Politics, Postcolonial studies, Multi-culturalism and Globalization. It has highlighted the role of Indialogue Foundation in creating new dialogues between India and Turkey.
The theme of the Session-III was Indo-Turkish Culture and Education. Chaired by Dr. Indrani Thalukdar, ICWA, New Delhi. Prof. Rekha Pandey, University of Hyderabad made presentation on ‘Royal Bonds – Turkish Women at Home in the Palaces of Hyderabad’. She has given historical narration of Indo-Turkish interaction in Deccan in the state of Hyderabad through its two royal women and analyze how this state experienced modernity through the optic of these two narratives. The paper ended by arguing for a historical reading of material artefacts of the two royal women who were no less than the royal men. A paper on ‘Indo-Young Voices: Economics Progress Through Empowerment and Exchange’ by Ms. Paridhi Singh, Jindal Global Law School, India focused on the need and importance of promoting greater cultural relations between the Youth, primarily the high school and the University students pursing Higher education in India and Turkey respectively. She was of the opinion that this model can act as a catalyst for a greater social, political and economic prosperity of two nations in future.
The Session-IV was on Translation which was Chaired by Prof. Tutun Mukherjee, University of Hyderabad. Mr. Yugeswar Sah paper on ‘Growing Needs of Translation to build and Promote Indo-Turkish Dialogue: Cultural Perspectives’ explored the prospects and significance of translation to build and promote Indo-Turkish Dialogue and strengthen economic bi-lateral relations. He discussed how translation functions and will function as a bridge between India-Turkey and how lack of translation creates misunderstanding and misconception among masses which may in turn hamper economic relation and bilateral dialogue between India and Turkey. Dr. Maria Dolores Gracia-Borron, Spain presented a paper on ‘Layla: Linking three Oceans and a Divine Sea’. She made a brief survey of tale of Layla and Majnu from old to recent versions in different media world-wide. She made a comparison of the same with other similar Udri love stories and with similar Virginal, Platonic or Amour Fou stories pertaining to world traditions, before or in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Baroque times, Romantic era, and beyond until today.
The Session-V was on ‘Translation and Culture’ which was Chaired by Dr. Maria Dolores. Prof. Tutun Mukherjee in her presentation on ‘Painting as History: Orhan Pamuk, Tom Stoppard, Ranjit Desai’ discussed Pamuk in a comparative framework, focusing on his fascinating novel My Name is Red which uses ‘painting’ as a mode of re-writing history of his country along with India Ink of Tom Stoppard and Raja Ravi Varma of Ranjit Desai which explore colonial history of India. Mr. Mohsin Ali, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi & Dr. Turgut Kocoglu, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey made presentation on ‘Indo-Turkish Cultural and Literary Interactions’ in which they focused on historical and literary aspects of interactions between Indian and Turkish cultures and literatures.
The Session-VI was devoted to Invited Lecture on ‘A Comparative Study of Turkic and Dravidian Languages: A Possibility of Genetic Grouping’ by Prof. G. Umamaheswara Rao, University of Hyderabad. It was proposed to test the hypothesis of the genetic relationship of Dravidian with one of the well established and unquestioned language group, the Turkic languages in a practical and more realistic approach. This paper provides a comprehensive evidence in the form of lexical cognates. In the future, as a sequel to this, regular phonological correspondences, shared lexical idiosyncrasies and morphological irregularities between Dravidian and Turkic can be taken up. This study is based on over a hundred common etyma with cognates across various Dravidian and Turkic languages.
The Final Special Session-VII was on ‘Indo-Turkish Academic Collaboration Among HE Institutions in India and Turkey’ Chaired by Dr. Hakan Gok, Mevlana University, Turkey. The participants of the session have discussed at length about possible academic collaboration between India and Turkey especially in Social Sciences and in Humanities. It was decided to encourage such collaboration in future.
Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao,
Coordinator of the Conference,
University of Hyderabad, India
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