Report on ‘A Lecture on Migration and Sexual Violence’ by Chris Dolan

Sexual violence is an inevitable part of conflicts and forced migration but it is characterized by a persistent silence around it. Consequently, it becomes difficult and even more necessary for researchers and teachers to engage with the topic sensitively in an academic setting. This lecture was organized by Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, as a part of its Second Two-Day Teacher’s Workshop on Syllabus Making and Research Methods in Migration and Forced Migration Studies. Prof. Chris Dolan of the Refugee Law Project focused on how to look at sexual violence in the context of forced migration, Sukanya Bhattacharya reports on the lecture organized on 23^rd February (from 4:30-6PM IST).

“Frontier Dreams: Afghanistan in the Bengali Literary Imagination” with Mou Banerjee

The Center for the Humanities of University of Wisconsin- Madison organized a virtual Friday lunch event titled, “Frontier Dreams: Afghanistan in the Bengali Literary Imagination” with Mou Banerjee. Banerjee, an Asst. Prof. in History at the UW-Madison, talked extensively on the history of Afghanistan during the British colonial rule of the Indian subcontinent, particularly from 1920s to 1940s. She pointed out the ways in which Afghanistan endured in Bengali imagination of that time, as opposed to in the British Colonial imagination. The discussion primarily revolved around the juxtaposition of the accounts of the landscape and history of Afghanistan through Syed Mujtaba Ali’s genre defyng work Deshe Bideshe (1948) or At Home and in Foreign Lands, against the occidental view of Afghanistan as a dangerous and ungovernable frontier. Tamoha Majumdar reports on the virtual event that was held on Friday, 4^th March, 2022.

“Covid-19 and the Migrant Child”: A report

Swagata Mondal reports on a webinar titled ‘Covid-19 and the Migrant Child’ by Sreetapa Chakrabarty. organized by the Bengal Institute of Political Studies (BIPS) as a part of its Emerging Scholars Online Lecture Series on 13th June, 2020.

Covid-19: Redrawn Borders, Redefined Lives – A Report

 On 8th July 2020, the Calcutta Research Group (CRG), in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung   and Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, organised a webinar which sought to address the sudden visibility of India’s migrant workers and questions regarding borders, inequality, public health and care. Keeping in mind that the coronavirus pandemic has emerged not simply as a public health and economic crisis but also as one that has thrown migrant workers into deep turmoil, the webinar sought to interrogate issues of movement, sovereignty, governance, and borders between people, societies and states. Annesha Saha reports.

‘Oral Histories, Conflict and the Human Dimension’: A report

A short report by Nirajana Chakraborty on a webinar- “Mezzaterra: Conversations Sans Borders” with  Anam Zakaria, Oral Historian and Author, as the speaker,  organized by the Department of English, History and cultural Studies, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bannerghata Road Campus on 10^th June 2020. 

Report on ‘CoVid-19 : Public Health and the Sudden Visibility of Migrant Workers’

Migrant laborers are not an anomaly in Indian society and almost everybody is aware of their existence and the work they do. However, it is the current socioeconomic and health crisis brought on by the pandemic Covid-19 which has amplified our focus on these otherwise ignored migrant laborers and the difficulties they have to face. Social media, news as well as public opinion has varied greatly on the issue but there seems to be a consensus on the fact that India probably saw a great many deaths of these laborers before an equal number of people died due to Covid-19. Due to the sudden lockdown of all transport systems, lack of information and a great amount of mismanagement on the part of the states as well as central authority – many of these laborers have had to undertake inter-state journeys on foot with all their belongings on their shoulders. This has been extensively captured and documented by the media which has then shaped public opinion. In such a context where these migrant laborers are suddenly under the spotlight, Ranabir Samaddar and Samita Sen spoke in a webinar titled ‘CoVid-19 : Public Health and the Sudden Visibility of Migrant Workers’, organized by CRG (as part of its webinar series #bordersofanepidemic). Sukanya Bhattacharya reports on the webinar organized on 12^th June, 2020.

Report on a webinar with Balakrishnan Madhavan Kutty, on Kerala’s CoVid 19 response

A short report by Rajat Kanti Sur on  a Webinar on Public Policy Lessons from Kerala’s COVID-19 Response by Balakrishnan Madhavan Kutty, Rural Development Expert, World Bank and special envoy to Kerala, organised by USIEF on 8th May, 2020.