HPB Girls' College launches lecture series in Golaghat

A CORRESPONDENT

GOLAGHAT: HPB Girls' College launched a distinguished lecture series with the intention to bring in speakers from renowned universities of India and abroad.

The first online lecture in the series was organized in association with the Department of Political Science. The theme of the first lecture was 'Ethnicity and Nationalism in South Asia'. It was a matter of privilege for the college that the first lecture of the series was delivered by Prof. David Gellner, Professor of Social Anthropology, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Oxford University, UK.

Prof. David Gellner was Head of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography from 2009-2012 and again from 2016-2018. In the lecture, Prof. Gellner spoke briefly on the origins of ethnic identity and suggested that nationalism is a modern phenomenon and even ethnicity, as it operates today, is also modern. He said that the experience of ethnicity and nationality varies from person to person. According to Prof. Gellner, there are two extreme approaches to understanding ethnicity- one which assumes free play and choice, the other which assumes ethnicity is given, fixed, and unchangeable – are both problematic. He suggested that Northeast India being a hub ethnic identity, had tremendous scope for academic research. In the end, Prof. Gellner answered several pertinent questions raised by a few participants.

Dr. Bipul Chandra Bhuyan, Principal of the college, delivered the welcome note and provided a brief introduction. The vote of thanks was given by Dr. Palash Handique, IQAC Coordinator of the college. A large number of students, research scholars and faculty members from various universities and colleges were present in the lecture. The college has planned a series of lectures which will be held on a regular basis.

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