Wednesday
16
September 2026
4:30 PM IST
Location
Room 008, Amrut Mody School of Management
Central Campus
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Learning Together at Jawaja: Understanding Progress as Wellbeing
Expert Talk
Ashoke Chatterjee
Advisor
Centre for Heritage Management
Ahmedabad University
Speaker
This talk turns a spotlight on a community in a degraded region of Rajasthan, and on their effort to understand development not just as statistics but as human wellbeing. Some fifty years ago, their initiative blended traditional wisdom with contemporary knowledge in an attempt to reveal what new disciplines of management and design might contribute to the quality of life of those outside corporate and urban reach. Jawaja emerged as a testament to how traditional wisdom and new knowledge can serve as an impetus for self-reliance, justice, and lasting change, and as a powerful example of the design process transforming skills and crafts to serve new markets. The lecture will trace this journey, the transformations it has brought about for those who participated, as well as the challenges that remain for other generations.
Speaker
Ashoke Chatterjee
Professor Chatterjee has a background in the engineering industry, international civil service, India Tourism Development Corporation, and 25 years in the service of the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) where he was Executive Director, Senior Faculty, Distinguished Fellow and Professor of communication and management. He was Hon President of the Crafts Council of India for over twenty years and continues to serve CCI. At Ahmedabad University, he is Adviser to the Centre of Heritage Management and Editor of its Journal of Heritage Management. An author and reporter, his books include “Dances of the Golden Hall” on the art of Shanta Rao, “Rising” on empowerment efforts among deprived communities in rural Gujarat and “Learning Together at Jawaja”.