LECTURE

Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm, at SM Joshi Hall, Near Patrakar Bhavan, Ganjve Chowk, Navi Peth,  Pune – 411004

Buddhism, bhakti and beyond: India's great equalitarian tradition: Talk by Gail Omvedt

Open Space continues its lecture series on Religion, Cultures and People with a talk by Gail Omvedt on Buddhism, bhakti and beyond.
 
The "great tradition" of India is usually considered to be the one based on the Vedas, Sanskrit and the brahmanic tradition.  This fosters caste arrogance, and a narrow belief in the superiority of India as "Bharat".  But the real great traditions of the whole subcontinent are in the "shramana" tradition going back to ancient times, perhaps to the Indus civilisation, symbolised above all by Buddhism but also including Jainism and the Lokayata materialistic tradition; in the role played by the best representatives of Islam and Christianity from ancient times, and in the radical bhakti movement represented by poet-saints like Kabir, Ravidas and Tukaram.  This tradition was universalistic, rationalistic and equalitarian.  Gail Omvedt’s talk will focus on the contest between these two traditions right up to present times.
 
GAIL OMVEDT
     
Born in Minneapolis, U.S.A. and with an MA. and PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, Gail Omvedt has been living in India since 1978, settled in the village of Kasegaon in southern Maharashtra. She has been an Indian citizen since 1983 and works as a sociologist and writer.
 
She has worked actively with social movements in India, including the Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental movements, farmers' movements and especially with rural women.  She is also Research Director of the Krantivir Babuji Patankar Lokshastriya Samshodhan va Prabodhan Sanstha, or "Krantivir Trust" and is a member of the board of trustees of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (New Delhi) and National Institute of Dalit Studies (Ahmedabad).
 
Besides many research projects and journalism, she has been a consultant for FAO, UNDP and NOVIB, and has served as a Dr. Ambedkar Chair Professor at NISWASS in Orissa, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Pune, as Asian Guest Professor at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen and for five years as a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.  She is currently Visiting Professor and Coordinator, School of Social Justice, University of Pune.
 
Among her numerous books focusing on social and economic issues are Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India (Penguin, 2005), Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste (Sage India, 2003), Dalit Visions (Orient Longman, 1995), Dalits and the Democratic Revolution (Sage India, 1994), Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India (M.E. Sharpe, 1993) and Violence Against Women: New Theories and New Movements in India (Kali for Women, 1991).   Recently she has been involved in translations from Marathi into English in collaboration with Bharat Patankar. Her Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anti-caste Intellectuals, is forthcoming from Navayana Press.
 
Day – Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Time: 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm.
Venue: SM Joshi Hall, Near Patrakar Bhavan, Ganjve Chowk, Navi Peth,  Pune – 411004
 
Entry free on a first come first served basis!

Friday, June 26, 2009, 5.00pm to 8.30pm at Open Space

In continuation of the series of lectures on 'cinema as documentation', Open Space invites you to an illustrated lecture which will look at the links between literature and film.

Literature is the unraveling of a thought process, film is the unraveling of images. In a hundred years of cinema, one medium has profoundly affected the other. The narrative structure of the novel has been hijacked, a ransom has been demanded and sometimes paid. The sanctity of time and space in the theatre has been violated, Shakespeare has been transported to nations beyond this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England and his words, which were designed to give to airy nothing a local habitation and a name, are now in Japanese, set in the Samurai tradition and given a visual interpretation by directors like Akira Kurosawa. 

Save the metaphysical poetry of John Donne and Andrew Marvel, no part of English, or any other literary tradition, is safe from the pirates of cinema. Supported by film clips, the lecture will delve into the cinematic language, the visual audacity and the occasional poetry of this gallery of filmmakers of the 20th century, as they adapt, alter and edit literature to suit their purposes. 

The lecture is facilitated by Ajit Duara, film critic, film script-writer and teacher of film studies who divides his time between Pune and Mumbai. He has been writing since 1984 and teaching since 1990. He completed his graduation in English (Hons) from St. Stephens College, Delhi, and took an M.F.A. in Film scholarship/Criticism from Columbia University, New York City.  

ENTRY FREE ON A FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVED-BASIS ONLY!

Day & Date: Friday, June 26, 2009
Time: 5.00pm to 8.30pm
Venue: Open Space – CCDS, B-301, 2nd Floor, Kanchanjunga Bldg, Kanchan Lane, Off Law College Road, Near Krishna Dining Hall, Pune 411 004. Tel No: 020 25457371

Thursday, June 18, to Sunday, June 21, 2009, at Open Space

ENTHUSIASM-POWER
Can we power the technology-needs of the country’s non-profits by matching enthusiasm? An experiment bringing together youth with skills, curiosity and vision.

A JUMP-START CAMP ON WEB TECHNOLOGY FOR NON-PROFITS: JUNE 18-21 2009, 2.00pm to 6.00pm
A four-day workshop on the essentials of using open-source software for non-profit uses. Workshop content will not be demanding in terms of existing skills and will require only curiosity, enthusiasm and openness for successful participation. This workshop will act as a catalyst for concerned individuals, resources and urgent needs in the field of web technology for non-profit use. The potential for non-profits to use the potential of web-publishing, social networking, online communities and SMS will be explored through case-studies and examples as well as rapid hands-on exercises.

In the the four days participants will learn quick and effective ways of using free and open source software to address the needs of a network based organization. Tools for networking, discussion, mass-action and advocacy will be explored.

Invitation:
We have ten spots and are looking at a mix of people with a technical and non-technical background. Some expectations from both kinds of applicants are listed below:

A) Technical applicants:

• Knowledge of PHP, HTML and CSS
• Some experience with working with templating languages like Smarty
• Some awareness of Content Management Systems like Drupal and their applications in the non-profit world

B) Non-technical applicants:

• Curiosity about technology and the Internet
• Familiarity with the Internet, social-networking websites, mobiles. Ideally the applicant will have active profiles in most of the major web 2.0 platforms (youtube, facebook, orkut, twitter).
• Enthusiasm about picking up new skills and practicing them. There will be a LOT of help available.

So, if your profile either matches A or B, do apply! This workshop will attempt a good mix of geeky and non-geeky fun.

Outline:

DAY 1: Starting

• Presentation of case-studies, examples and some ideas
• Introduction to terms, terminology and technologies
• Basic skills and staring at code

DAY 2: What to do?

• Taking up the OpenSpace website
• Looking at other web-sites in a similar space
• Making a feature and development roadmap
• Talking about interfaces
• Dividing tasks and roles

DAY 3: Doing

• Working on our exercise project

 
DAY 4: Reaching a mile-stone and planning ahead

• Taking the work on the OpenSpace website to a milestone defined in the roadmap.

Resource Person:

The workshop will be facilitated by Prayas Abhinav. Prayas lives in Bangalore, India. He has an interest in re-vitalizing and re-imagining urban spaces. Through his work he explores how public spaces can be utilised for cultural and civic uses. Employing social networks and low-fi technologies to connect communities and resources is often one of his approaches. He has been part of efforts to seed open content movements in India and in 2007 helped launching the Creative Commons India licenses.

He has presented his projects and proposals at 48c: Public Art Ecology (08), Urban Climate Camp, ISEA (08), Urban Typhoon, Koliwada (08), Sensory Urbanism, Glasgow (08), First Monday, Chicago (06), The Paris Accord, Paris (06), Public Service Broadcasting Trust (06), Sarai (05).

Apply:

To apply email events@openspaceindia.org with the following information:

• Profile (A or B, if A all the relevant details)
• Brief introduction and your CV
• Interests and how the workshop can help you explore them
• Essentials (phone-number, address...)

Certificates of participation will be given to participants on successful completion of the workshop.

Candidates will be shortlisted to the workshop on a first-come-first-served-basis-only!