Srinagar: An online workshop on research methodology concluded at the University of Kashmir on Saturday.
The five-day workshop was organised by the varsity’s Shaikh-ul Aalam Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies (SACMS) in collaboration with Ibn Arabi Society Kashmir to help young scholars of Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines to enhance their research skills and broaden their perspectives on research.
Chairman SACMS Prof G N Khaki inaugurated the workshop and welcomed the speakers, guests and participants, even as he highlighted the aims and objectives of the workshop.
Eminent speakers who delivered online lectures during the workshop included Professor Farida Khan, Formerly Professor and Dean, Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia; Professor Satish Deshpande, Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics; Professor Uma Chakravarti, Formerly Professor of History, Delhi University and Professor Ayesha Kidwai, Professor School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU.
Professor Khan offered a historical genealogy of how modern knowledge systems have emerged and became professionalised in the 20th Century, while focusing on the academic disciplines of Psychology and Education.
Professor Deshpande focused on the question of methodology especially in the context of Social Sciences.
Social Science research methodology, he said, is a form of persuasion, a particular style or a manner of persuasion. “And what sets it apart from other styles of persuasion is its ability to be critical and self-reflexive,” he said.
Professor Chakravarti advised students to be invested in their research, or otherwise it can turn out “a mechanical exercise”. Quoting from her own professional experience, she spoke of enhancing the idea of the Archive to be able to write informed histories.
Professor Kidwai, an Infosys Prize winner in Humanities, spoke of how language is embedded in society and its complex relationship to society. Invoking her own example, she illustrated the life of an academic and the idea of research.
Dr Mufti Mudasir, Associate faculty at Department of English, University of Kashmir delivered the final lecture, addressing, much like Professor Farida Khan the history of disciplines and the function of the modern University.
Prof Khaki delivered the concluding remarks, emphasising the essence of research while asking students and scholars to seek inspiration from the holy Qur’an, hadith and such luminaries of Islamic history like Ibn Khaldun. He strongly enjoined students to take their research activity seriously and produce a scholarship that is worthwhile. Towards the end, participants shared their feedback with the organisers.