Two lectures held under the Sir Syed lecture series at AMU
ALIGARH : “Sir Syed tried to nurture pluralism and inclusiveness in society in the aftermath of the revolt of 1857 through his scholarship which was an epitome of his farsightedness, wisdom and reason, especially when he wrote in the times stricken with political turmoil. His role as a historian and archaeologist also cannot be overlooked as his book Asar-us-Sanadid remains one of the most authoritative works on the monuments of Delhi,” said Prof. Ravindra Kumar Shrivastav, former Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, while delivering a lecture on the “Art and Architectural Heritage Theories: Epistemology and Perspective” as part of the lecture series organized by the Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University to mark the death anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of the university, on March 27.
Prof Srivastav talked at length about Sir Syed’s quest for maintaining a peaceful co-existence between the communities in India and discussed his role as a historian and archaeologist in the light of his book Asar-us-Sanadid.
In his other lecture on “Teaching and Researching History in the Digital Age,” Prof Srivastav held that “Digital learning has democratized knowledge and has provided access to every strata of society. The teacher-student relationship gets reduced to informer and receiver in the traditional mode of learning. However, teaching should be beyond the transmission of information and should promote critical enquiry among the students.”
In his presidential remarks, Prof Hassan Imam, Chairman of the department, highlighted the importance of learning more about Sir Syed through primary sources and gave several references that he found about Sir Syed during his research on Anarkali Archives at Lahore.
He stressed the importance of digital learning which promotes the Government of India’s New Education Policy. Earlier, welcoming the guests, the Convener of the lecture series, Prof Parwez Nazir formally introduced the guest speaker and discussed the significance of the lectures in understanding Sir Syed’s scholarship through his pioneering book Asar-us-Sanadid, which was translated into various other languages, including a French translation by the great historian Garcin de Tassy.
Dr. Nazrul Bari gave introductory remarks preceding the second lecture by Prof Srivastav and elucidated the importance of the theme in the 21st century marked by the changing dynamics of the student-teacher relationship in the digital age.
The first lecture was conducted by Dr Aneesa Iqbal Sabir, while Dr. Sana Aziz conducted the second lecture. Prof Waseem Raja and Dr Lubna Irfan extended a vote of thanks on their respective days.