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ICHR opens regional research centre
We need to look at spreading historical con- sciousness. Have schools asked themselvse why chil- dren find history boring?
MUMBAI: Building up a resource base and surveying archival material in state archives as well as trying to “spread historical consciousness“: these are some of the aims of the Indian Council of Historical Research's new regional centre in Mumbai, said chairman Basudev Chatterji at its inauguration on Monday.
The centre, the ICHR's first in the western region and the third in the country, was inaugurated at the Mumbai University's Kalina campus on Monday. The centre aims to operate as a public archive, documentation centre and hub for scholars in the western region.
“We need to have a systematic survey of what is where, and need to digitise,“ said Chatterji, in his keynote address.
“We also need to look at spreading historical consciousness. Have schools asked themselves what faculties of mind they are trying to develop and why children find history boring?“ The centre is conducting a two-day seminar over Monday and Tuesday for students and members of the department on new trends and techniques in historical research.
The University's vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar also spoke at the inauguration, emphasising the need for enlivening history teaching at the school level while also making it more multidisciplinary at the college-level.
“We need to teach history differently, interestingly,“ said Welukar. “We need to think of inter/ multi/ trans-disciplinary approaches. Can we have histories of science and technology? Can we offer a psychological angle for history?“ Speaking about the discipline of history in general, Chatterji also emphasised the importance of knowledge for its own sake.
“The enterprise of historical knowledge gives us consciousness of existence through millennia of time of countless human beings,“ said Chatterji.
“That understanding is of value.“
