History for Peace Conference
“True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”- Brene Brown
The start of the initial day of “History for Peace” on October 5, 2024 spurt out with a profound atmosphere of expectancy, eagerness, and a transmittable flow of vivacity. The passages and aisles of expertise vibrated with a feisty entourage of students welcoming the guests. Transforming the school’s ambience into a lively stage, that remarkably depicted the festive mood. The students from the gate where the registration counters and teachers and students heartfully greeted the students and teachers of our neighbouring institutions.
Under the wise direction of teachers from the Social Science department, the students festooned themselves in the multi-coloured attires symbolic of varied cultural representations of Tamil Nadu. An existing medley, they personified the amusing fabric of Tamil Nadu’s cultural range. The entrance had the indigenous gigantic palm tree branches thus incorporating the local flora.
The presentations not only portrayed the pulsating facades of Tamil Nadu but also delved into the general drapery, representing moving snapshots like a tableau on textile history of Tamil Nadu, a band of contemporary music, one of the ancient martial arts – the Silambam with the beats of a homegrown musical instrument of Parai fascinated our delegates to the extent that a few even tried to play it, presentations on paintings from Tanjore Art, Nammakal paintings and art forms like Theru koothu and Kummi and so on. Students were dressed as the great Tamil poet C. Subramania Bharathi and the brave queen Velu Nachiyar. The various forms of Kolam (the style of rangoli in Tamil Nadu) was demonstrated. The presentation of classical language of Tamil and the Thirukurals were explained which entranced the minds of all visitors.
The theme “The Idea of Belonging”, was paradoxically emerged through the foyer, where the exhibition of 130 photo frames of cross-border migration across the globe by eight renowned international photographers. The walk through the candid photographs with the white scrolls hanging from the top and which carried questions that moved our souls, was so poignant that it touched each at some point to see the visuals of escapades of persecution in their own country just because they belonged to some race, religion or some socio-cultural divisions.
Belongingness is a vital and absolute part of democratic life which needs to be given priority. A conclave on the idea of Peace for Belonging was arranged in the lands of DPS Coimbatore, under the aegis of The Seagull Organisation which pursues to give a platform to the voices and give opportunity for dialogue and debate on pertinent issues that question our identity. The two-day event was adorned by personalities from intellectual world who enlightened the audience including students and teachers from various schools in and around Coimbatore and DPS students from Pune and Patna with their thoughts and ideas.
On the first day the 5th October, 24 the show started off with lighting of the lamp as the choir music engulfed the mind and soul of the guests with its beautiful rendition of shloka and the Carnatic song. The Head Girl Pranavi Jayabose gave a short welcome speech representing the students’ fraternity followed by the Head Mistress of DPS Coimbatore Mrs Maheswari Natarajan welcoming the esteemed guests.
Seagull is a network of educators and members of academia in the subcontinent, the History for Peace project serves as a platform for discussion, debate and the exchange of ideas relating to teaching and learning of history for peace and understanding. The keynote speaker for the day one Ms Bela Bhatia dealt on the topics like Impartiality for all at all levels of society, fundamental rights, laws, exploitation, human rights, exemption, exclusion etc. She stressed that In India’s Forgotten Country, she has written about some of these people who do not seem to belong in the ‘new India.’ These people are on the margins tormented by social oppression, economic exploitation, and political marginalization. Amongst them are landless agricultural labourers, poor farmers, lonely widows, slum dwellers, minorities marked because of their religion, those who have been fighting for self-determination but have been forced to become Indians, and still others who used to belong, if not to India, then to a community of their own, but that community has been crushed in one way or the other as is the story of Adivasis of Bastar, who have a special place in this talk.
The second eminent speaker was Ms Priyadarshini Vijaisri - Memory, Recognition and Reconciliation: Cultivating the Sense of Belonging spoke about about the connections between discrimination such as that of caste and race to that of the sense of “belonging”. The example given to have a clear idea on the subject was really powerful for it explored this topic in an educational environment. It appealed to us to see through the eyes of people who face such discrimination, it talked about the position of school children who are Dalits and face the unimaginable act of untouchability even in the present and the mindset of black children who are constantly excluded for who they are born. It truly made all of us question regarding the absence of action against these societal crimes by those who are witnessing others facing this.
Next, Ms. Anwesha Sengupta’s session - Deconstructing the Idea of Belonging gave a strong picture of how the sense of belonging is not static and will forever changing. Through her explanation of her books and the various workshops she has conducted for school children, we were able to understand how this sense of belonging is interpreted and recognized by different people, especially children. It gave a deep understanding of how our surroundings and especially experiences shape our identity and idea of belonging.
Every session was unsympathetically inspected by a set of questions posed by the students and facilitators. Parallel workshops were conducted at three venues: Multi-purpose Hall, JW Activity Room and JW AV Room. In MP hall workshop for children and the other two rooms workshop for mentors were conducted on various subjects.
Digital Media and our Sense of Belonging by Mr Anish Mukherjee and Ms Elia Jameel’s workshop for students focussed on our media consumption is greater than ever before and it has great impact. This workshop was packed with activities and games, making it more thought-provoking and pleasant! It talked about the difference between misinformation and disinformation and how commercials are created and placed in the pitch of entertainment. It talked about how the viewers of various entertainment and news channels are the “products”. It was a tremendously perceptive workshop, helping us understand the topic of “predisposition” and how the information we receive must be questioned, rather than taken in thoughtlessly. Through these concepts, we not only got to know about various methods through which information stimuluses us, but also how society plays a decisive role in shaping the way data is transported, understood, and construed by people.
The workshop took into images and news clippings from recent Israel Palestine conflict, the Ukraine Russia war and many such. The popular narratives of social media forwards shaping our opinions and ideas was widely discussed. The workshops with students explored the association between media and belonging. The students were shown case studies regarding the misappropriation of media and its inspiration on the people. They were asked to give their thoughts on unfair deportment of the media. Well along in the workshop, they were asked about few of the recent highlights of the news and its tales. The workshop ended with a serious study of how vastly significant media can be through many videos and discussions.
In the other two rooms workshop for teachers were conducted where experts like Ms Nisha Abdullah and Dr Sreyasi Chatterjee carried out an interactive workshop on teaching concepts of belonging in a suitable method. Situations from private and professional life were given to teacher guides, who pondered over it and presented it.
At mid-afternoon, all groups were led for tea and snacks. Afterwards, the students and mentors dispersed to meet again on October 6 – the second day of the gathering.
Day two (6th October) commenced with heterogenous mix of dissertations delivered by the revered guest speakers. The first being Ms. Swapna Liddle’s session gave us a glimpse into the shaping of identity and “belonging” through our interpretation of “heritage”. The session constantly emphasized the fact that India does not have a single heritage and that looking for India through a single perspective is pointless. What makes Indian heritage special is the blend of various cultures, traditions, language practices and so many other factors. Through various examples such as monuments, food, language, and specific examples such as “old Delhi”, weaving as a craft, and the Persian language, thus we were able to deeply connect to the topic.
The last speaker to grace the occasion was Ms. Priyanka Seshadri - Memory and the Idea of Belonging. This talk presentation explores how historical memory plays a role in shaping ideas of belonging and unbelonging. The heritage industry makes use of emotional attachments to notions of nation and community to connect with its audience, and the consequences were deliberated. Also, what could be the strategies or methods to public history which critically examines memory instead of presenting it as unmediated. Ms. Priyanka Seshadri addressed these difficult questions in the context of memorializing Partition and histories of trauma and violence.
Like the first day, the post lunch session was devoted to difference workshops for both the teachers and the students. The resource persons for different groups were exchanged to ensure all groups had experience to all types of workshops conducted. At the end certificates to one and all was distributed by Headmistress Madam.
The couple of days voyage was an incursion into social involvement with a precise importance on human rights and righteousness for all in the background of acceptance of one’s belonging. The enlightening orientations, the thoroughly investigated accurate accounts and the wide-ranging addresses left an ineradicable mark on the minds of the young learners and the mentors alike. It was an effort to identify and rejoice the sense of belongingness for the layperson.
