What do we mean when we say we are modern?
We often refer to ourselves as modern people. In this talk about the value of studying History, I will discuss the multifaceted idea of the ‘Modern’ as it came into being in the middle of the nineteenth century in India. The history of our modernity is complex and full of contradictions, which I will explore with examples, ranging from our relationships with objects like railways and bicycles; to ideas about family and language and nation. I hope to illustrate that our modernity was not a stable and fixed notion; instead, it changed over a period of time and that the discipline of history is the site from which we can generate a dynamic understanding of our present.
Speaker: Professor Rahul Sarwate
Date: Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Time: 4:00 PM onwards
