Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Translating the Classics: A Paradigm of Cultural Capital in Contemporary Globalised World



 Two things can be held against me in connection with this translation: one concerns the selection of the work, the other the way in which I have translated it. One group of people will say that I should not have translated this particular author, another group that I should not have translated him in this way.
---Nicolas Perrot d’Ablancourt (A French translator of the Greek and  Latin classics)

On personal note, in last month I was searching for original translation of the “War and Peace” by Leo Tolostoy. After going through different variety of versions, editions and translations of the novel which is originally spread across six volumes, I narrowed down on the version of Constance Garnett. And after analysing my decision, I came to know that I chose it because Garnett in his life has spent considerable amount of time with the Leo Tolostoy. Another day, I was reading the interview of Orhan Pamuk, the celebrated author of Turkey, now have been translated in more than sixty languages across the world.  Pamuk was conveying how painful and rigorous the process is when he works tirelessly for months with the co-translator Maureen Freely. He was basically narrating the need to work together by being with each other. After reading that I got the impression that writer and author cannot live in different environments at all.

Renaissance and Modernisation (?): Historical location of Translation as Cultural Capital (?)
Now going back in history, the colonial period saw a spurt in translations between European languages and Indian languages, especially Sanskrit. While there were exchanges between German, French, Italian, Spanish and Indian languages, English was considered privileged by its hegemonic status as it was used by the colonial masters. The British phase of translation into English culminated in William Jones’s translation of Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam. Sakuntalam as a text has now became a marker of India’s cultural prestige and one of the primary texts in Indian consciousness. This explains how it came to be translated into more than ten Indian languages in the 19th century. The (colonial?)/British attempts in translation were determined by the Orientalist ideology and the need for the new rulers to grasp, define, categorise and control India.

They created their own version of India while the Indian translators of texts into English sought to extend, correct, revise and sometimes challenge the British understanding though the whole battle was fought around ancient texts rather than the contemporary ones. Raja Rammohan Roy’s translations of Sankara’s Vedanta and the Kena and Isavasya Upanishads were the first Indian interventions in English translations of Indian texts by Indian scholars. It was followed by R.C. Dutt’s translations of Rigveda, the Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and a few classical Sanskrit plays. These translations were meant to challenge the Romantic and Utilitarian notions of Indians as submissive and lethargic. Then came a flood of translations by others like Dinabandhu Mitra, Aurobindo and Rabindra Nath Tagore to name only a few. Translations between Indian languages also began around this time, though in a limited way. [1]

Translation activities should be regarded as having cultural significance. Consequently, 'translatorship' amounts first and foremost to being able to play a social role, i.e. to fulfil a function allotted by a community — to the activity, its practitioners, and /or their products — in a way which is deemed appropriate in its own terms of reference. The acquisition of a set of norms for determining the suitability of that kind of behaviour and for manoeuvring between all the factors which may constrain it, is therefore a prerequisite for becoming a translator within a cultural environment.

Cultural capital can be loosely defined as that which is necessary for an individual to be seen to belong to the 'right circles' in society. When Kemal Ataturk, father of modern Tukry proposed a state-inspired process of Westernisation that would bring Turkey closer to Europe, a programme of translation of major European literary works ensured that Turkish readers would have access to the cultural capital of the west. Postcolonial translation theory is yet another example of how research in the field of translation has developed in parallel with research in literary and historical studies more generally. In India, Canada and Brazil, to name but three centres of postcolonial translation activity, questions have been asked about the unequal power relationships that pertain when a text is translated from, say, Tamil or Kannada into English, the language of the colonising power. Translation, as some scholars argue, is a collusive activity that participates in the fixing of colonised cultures into a mould fashioned by the superior power and was a crucial component of European colonisation on the American continent and other colonies across the world.

There are still occasional dissenting voices who argue that translation, surely, is primarily about language, not culture, and that the proper business of translation studies is to focus on the linguistic aspects of the translation process. In response to such voices, Bassnett answers that of course translation scholars must focus on language, for translation is, after all,
about transferring a text from one language to another. But separating language from culture is like the old debate about which came first – the chicken or the egg. Language is embedded in culture, linguistic acts take place in a context and texts are created in a continuum not in a vacuum. A writer is a product of a particular time and a particular context, just as a translator is a product of another time and another context. Translation is about language, but translation is also about culture, for the two are inseparable. This argument believes translation being an implicit in processes of cultural transformation and change. [2]

Translating can be seen as a problem-solving activity in which a source element may be rendered by one or more elements in the target language. If translators have only one available option, there is no more to be said; no philosophy is needed. When, however, they have two or three options, translation is worth talking about, ideally between translators, who thus start theorising. And when, as occasionally occurs, there are numerous options available and no clear theory about how to reduce that complexity, the cause for discussion reaches levels where philosophical discourse may be turned to, for ideas about the options, although rarely for the translational solutions. This can be seen in most of the theories and approaches already dealt with by many scholars: philosophical discourses tend to be appealed to, or intervene, with respect to problems where more than three or four alternatives are available. To develop words appropriate to those alternatives might be the role of philosophy to adapt and propose them might be one of the roles of Translation Studies.

Contemporary Indian scenario and government initiatives:

The National Translation Mission was launched in India few years ago envisioning these objectives: [3]
Ø  To act as a store-house of information on translation involving Indian languages and to make information regarding all aspects of translation available – by creating, maintaining and constantly updating information on translations published, training programmes scheduled, translation tools and instruments available and new initiatives, and facilities such as a ‘National Register for Translators’.
Ø  To work as a clearing house for all translation activities, both theoretical and practical, in as many Indian languages as possible;
Ø  To provide links between users of translated material at different levels and in different activities to the public and private agencies and organisations and individuals involved in translation and translation-related activities involving Indian languages;
Ø  To prioritise the translation of pedagogic materials at all levels (including primary onwards to tertiary education) specifically in natural and social sciences;
Ø  To project Indian languages and literatures in this region and abroad through high-quality translation;
Ø  To create and maintain various tools for translation, and to especially encourage the preparation of bilingual and multilingual bi-directional general as well as special-purpose translational dictionaries, word-finders, and thesauri; and
Ø  To promote printed as well as virtual publication of works on Translation Studies jointly or independently for the benefit of all institutions and individuals interested in the field.
Ø  To provide a forum for dialogue by creating a bulletin board for people to post questions and answers.
Ø  To provide guidance in the methodology of translation and undertake activities to enrich teaching and training activities in translation studies.

For the promotion and dissemination of good quality translation material, National Knowledge Commission (NKC) recognised importance of avoiding translation as a one-way street from English to Indian languages. On the contrary it was emphasised that there is a wealth of material available in Indian languages which also requires greater dissemination both in English and in other Indian languages. Interestingly one of the objectives of the NKC recommendations is very interesting. It reads: “To project Indian languages and literatures in this region and abroad through high-quality translation.” In particular, the tradition of viewing translation as a parallel avenue of creativity should be encouraged.

NKC has kept in view the long nourished hierarchy and power relations in different languages. They throw light on need for a horizontal paradigm which does not create a vertical distinction between donor and receiving languages, and promotes the multilinguality and cultural diversity of India. There is already a proliferation of some translation in certain areas which reflects a wider social churning as well as the requirements and aspirations of newly literate groups. Renowned author Salman Rushdie decodifies this process happening in contemporary post-colonial India. He argues that:
 The prose writing - both fiction and non-fiction - created in this period by Indian writers working in English, is proving to be a stronger and more important body of work than most of what has been produced in the 16 "official languages" of India(in 1997, now 22), the so-called "vernacular languages", during the same time; and, indeed, this new, and still burgeoning, "Indo-Anglian" literature represents perhaps the most valuable contribution India has yet made to the world of books. There has long been a genuine problem of translation in India - not only into English but between the vernacular languages - and it is possible that good writers have been excluded by reason of their translators' inadequacies rather than their own. [4]

Even the most cursory reading of publishers’ catalogues confirms that the foreign-language texts we call ‘classics’ do not merely attract translation, but eventually, when their copyright expires, become subject to multiple retranslations, as publishers scramble to transform the cultural capital those texts have acquired into economic capital. Nonetheless, it can be argued that translation functions as one cultural practice through which a foreign text attains the status of a classic: the very fact of translation not only implies that the text has been judged valuable enough to bring into another culture, but also increases this value by generating such promotional devices as jacket copy, endorsements, and advertisements and by enabling such diverse modes of reception as reviews, course adoptions, and scholarly research which famously claim that ‘Classical masterpieces live only in translation.’ [5]

Author-Translator Relation

One of the early pioneers of the translations, Alexander Tytler[6] explains:
“If it is necessary that a translator should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original  work, it becomes a question, whether it is allowable in any case to add to the ideas of the  original what may appear to give greater force or illustration ; or to take from them what may  seem to weaken them from redundancy. This liberty may be used, but with the greatest caution. The superadded idea shall have the most necessary connection with the original thought, and actually increase its force. And, on the other hand, that whenever an idea is cut  off by the translator, it must be only such as is an accessory, and not a principal in the clause  or sentence. It must likewise be confessedly redundant, so that its retrenchment shall not impair or weaken the original thought. Under these limitations, a translator may exercise his judgement, and assume to himself, in so far, the character of an original writer.” [7]

John Dryden[8] believed that “We are bound to our author’s sense, though with the latitudes already mentioned; for I think it not so sacred, as that one iota must not be added or diminished, on pain of an Anathema. But slaves we are, and labor in another man’s plantation. . He, who invents, is master of his thoughts and words: he can turn and vary them as he pleases, till he renders them harmonious; but the wretched translator has no such privilege: for, being tied to the thoughts, he must make what music he can in the expression; and, for this reason, it cannot always be so sweet as that of the original. [9]

Translation and Questions about Universe of Discourse

There are more assertive questions asked in this context from few scholars.
“Why is it necessary to represent a foreign text in one’s own culture? Does the very fact of doing that not amount to an admission of the inadequacy of that culture? Secondly, who makes the text in one’s own culture “represent” the text in the foreign culture? In other words: who translates, why, and with what aim in mind? Who selects texts as candidates to “be represented?” Do translators? And are those translators alone? Are there other factors involved? Thirdly, how do members of the receptor culture know that the imported text is well represented? Can they trust the translator(s)? If not, who can they trust, and what can they do about the whole situation, short of not translating at all?

If a translation is, indeed, a text that represents another, the translation will to all intents and purposes function as that text in the receptor culture, certainly for those members of that culture who do not know the language in which the text was originally written. Let us not forget that translations are made by people who do not need them for people who cannot read the originals. Fourthly, not all languages seem to have been created equal. Some languages enjoy a more prestigious status than others, just as some texts occupy a more central position in a given culture than others—the Bible, for instance, or the qur’an. Fifthly, why produce texts that “refer to the other texts? Why not simply produce originals in the first place?”

Scholars interested in the study of translation and cross-cultural communication are beginning to realize that the study of translation is much more than mere normative rule-giving designed to ensure the production of the “best” possible translations. Translation needs to be studied in connection with power and patronage, ideology and poetics[10], with emphasis on the various attempts to shore up or undermine an existing ideology or an existing poetics. It also needs to be studied in connection with text-type and register, and in connection with attempts to integrate different Universes of Discourse. Translation Studies has begun to focus on attempts to make texts accessible and to manipulate them in the service of a certain poetics and/or ideology. Seen in this way translation can be studied as one of the strategies cultures develop to deal with what lies outside their boundaries and to maintain their own character while doing so—the kind of strategy that ultimately belongs in the realm of change and survival, not in dictionaries and grammars. [11]

Translations are not merely advantageous to all the arts and sciences but absolutely vital to them, both for a whole life and for specific moments in it, as long as they are faithful to the original. Translations tend to become unfaithful because translators do not know the language or the topic they are dealing with. Words are finite in number but things are infinite and therefore many people are taken in by the similarities between words, what is called synonymy, and they do not know what the text is about. Consequently, ignorant translators are deceived and deceive those who trust them, sometimes on the level of style and diction and sometimes on the level of content or that of the characteristic features an author uses. Ideas are common to the understanding of all men but words and manners of speechs are particular to different nations.


Translation in Modern Professional World

National Knowledge Commission also engages the problems of science and technical translation. Unlike for literary translation, there is need for greater standardisation of terms and concepts so as to ensure both better comprehension and ease of moving across languages. However, not all terms should necessarily be translated, as there is growing acceptance of some scientific terms to be used in all languages. Further, translation today is an under-rewarded activity both in terms of social recognition and monetary remuneration, and these needs to be changed. It is also important to note that translation is an individual activity but also a social enterprise, in which success which may require the involvement of a range of different people at different stages and team work.

Jaques Delille [12] said that like all human institutions, language, that marvellous charter of our higher destiny, also strives for the better, and the individual who becomes an organ of this general desire by engaging in certain endeavours, deserves well of language. There is only one indispensable condition: that he should not demolish while engaged in the act of construction. The innovation proposed should not be allowed to contradict what is already firmly established. If a language were merely something pieced together, made up of similar or dissimilar components, a formless mass, one would be allowed to change it or add to it at will, and every enrichment would be a gain, without exception. But language is an ordered whole, or at least it is meant to be gradually growing into one. All its elements attract or reject each other according to the laws of kinship and similarity. General forms pervade it, bring matter to life and bind it together with their power.[13]

All translators are united in that they face the same challenges, i.e. the general lack of consideration for their work, the complexity and technicality of the tasks involved, the impact of the ICT revolution on their working practices, the upheaval caused by the Internet, the industrialisation of the translation process and translating practices, market globalisation and job de-localisation, the increasing encroachment of language engineering applications, the rivalry between ‘linguists’ and ‘technicians’, the stringent requirements of quality certification, the fight for official recognition of a professional status (where this is not already effective), or even the fight for survival of the more traditional ‘cottage industry’ translators. Not to mention the fact that cost-effectiveness, both direct and indirect, both in the short-term and in the long-term, tends to be the be-all and end-all of professional practice, since most people who need or request translations want ever more for ever less. [14]

Translators may be called upon to translate just about anything. Any text, message,  fragment of a message or code element may need to be translated. A comprehensive list of materials that are commonly translated would include software programs, video games, software on-line help systems, insurance contracts, extradition proceedings, film sub-titles, songs, film dialogues, all kinds of soundtracks, drug dosage instructions, obituaries, mail catalogues, mobile phone instructions, marketing certificate applications, sales contracts, health certificates, user manuals (millions of them), parts lists, commercial statistics, registry office certificates, educational qualifications and certificates, confidential diplomatic memos, advertising leaflets, adverts, magazine and newspaper articles, alarm system documentation,
customer complaints, the faxed minutes of a meeting before the next session starts, poems, novels, short stories, biographies, bills of lading and customs forms, post card titles, medical files, extradition requests, technical memos, annual reports, letters to the shareholders, DNA analysis reports, machine user instructions, patents and many more.

Is translation really about language or culture or technical knowledge?

Gaudec argues that languages are essential but insufficient. What is needed beyond absolute linguistic proficiency is a perfect knowledge of the relevant cultural, technical, legal, commercial backgrounds, and a full understanding of the subject matter involved. Translation may also be viewed as a strategic, economic, ideological and cultural weapon. But it must be emphasized that such a weapon can sometimes backfire. Thus, while good translations help improve market penetration and product acceptance by adding value to the product or process concerned (whether it be a book, a film, a tractor, an extradition request, a catalogue, a computer, flowers, a sales offer, a veneering machine, etc.) inadequate, poor, or disastrous translation can do no end of damage to an export product or process.  

Transfer is therefore cultural in nature first – which means appropriate adaptations of contents, organisation, and mode of thinking may have to be made by the translator. The latter must therefore understand exactly what message has to be carried over to whom before organising the content of his own message and expressing it in the appropriate code (that code being most generally, but not exclusively, a language-based code). The visible substitution of linguistic or non-linguistic signs and codes comes second to the deeper and less visible substitution of thought processes, discourse structure, presentation techniques and rationales, modes of analysis of objects or concepts or interpretation and subliminal suggestion – which means the translator must have a perfect knowledge of the thought processes, mental habits or mores of the target group or community.

Thus, the translator is a key actor in the process of importing or exporting ideas, concepts, rationales, thought processes, discourse structures, pre-conceived ideas, machines, services, myths and so on. He is also a vital go-between in operations and actions involving international co-operation (customer information, extradition procedures, sales, purchases, exchanges, travel, etc.). He is in fact an extremely powerful and critical agent facilitating and even at times enabling economic, strategic, cultural, technical, literary, legal, scientific and ideological exchanges throughout the world. (ibid)

Being a combination of both, technical translators are constantly confronted with the need to dispel deep-rooted doubts about the ability of linguists to understand and translate technical material, or conversely, about the ability of engineers to acquire translation skills which are normally the result of long and complex learning processes. The two positions are usually expressed as (a) ‘None but a technician really understands such things and can actually translate them’ or (b) ‘Actually training someone to be a translator takes no end of time and technical knowledge without writing skills and linguistic-stylistic finesse is simply not enough.

Translating can now be understood as an intricate implication of three orders of signification. The first order consists of the foreign text, although the very decision to translate it continues a process of interpretation and evaluation that has preceded that decision in both the foreign and receiving cultures. The second or meta-linguistic order consists of the translation that inscribes meaning in the foreign text by recontextualizing it. Divergent readers bring divergent cultural tastes and abilities to their reading, leading them to process the text in divergent ways. Bourdieu[15]  has suggested that ‘elite’ taste rests on the use of specialized knowledge in the detached formal appreciation of a cultural object, drawing the boundary between art and life, whereas popular taste seeks to erase that boundary through a vicarious participation in the object, a sympathetic identification with characters as real people, for instance, which often leads to the inference of moralistic lessons for conduct. An elite reading experience, then, is more likely to interrogate the illusionism that results from fluent translating and mystifies the interpretative and evaluative inscription, while a popular reading is more likely to accept the illusionistic transparency as the truth of foreign text, taking the inscription as inherent feature.

Translation and Communication: Globalising the convergence and challenges

McBride Report launched by UNESCO three decades ago predicted the massive current of changes inherent in modern societies.[16] It said:  
“There is virtually no limit to the variety and ingenuity of the modes of communication employed by human beings. Different languages arose because of lack of contact among people of different regions, but especially because societies with distinct economic, moral and cultural traditions required specific vocabularies and linguistic structures. But at the same time, even within communities, distinction between social groups – especially between dominant elites and mass of population –came to be reflected in differences in idiom and vocabulary, in the meaning given to certain words. Millions of people today speak languages which are not understood, even though close social and economic links have been established.

Words being symbol of human experience, the perceptions underlying them have undergone change over time and in response to new situations. Moreover, all languages are in shape of incessant change—sometimes gradual, sometimes gradual and rapid. They respond to new needs arising from developments in thoughts and knowledge, in productive techniques and in social relationships, in political and economic structures. Words therefore change their meanings and acquire fresh, new applications, specialised technical terms pass into general usage; and new words are invented. There is at any given time, a difference between formal language and everyday colloquial speech, and between the speech of the older and younger generation. The process reminds us that language is not corpus of learning, but an instrument adapted to human purposes.”

A very fresh article of 9th March 2011 published in Times Literary Supplement asks a provocative question. It asks: The futures of the English language - Will English survive as a lingua franca, or will translation technology make it unnecessary? Should we call it as a justice of history which repeats itself or it is another human intervention induced by technological innovation to determine the fate of another historical project of translation to influence or to be get influenced by the literature of other cultures and languages? I am confused because of the invasion of many translations coming from across the seven oceans and equally puzzled about my own native sister languages in the Indian subcontinent where I live, they seem like alien one.

The lifestyle and way of free, rational way of modernism is understood by me through the translations of western classics rather than our own. Of course, the values and the principles of civilisation of the distant culture are equally traceable in the every corner of the world. Credible works of Upendra Bakshi, noted scholar of Jurisprudence and Law narrated in detail how concept of Human Right is not only western but equally eastern. Nobel Laureate Amrtya Sen through his work of Argumentative Indian showed that India also possessed for centuries long tradition of liberal, tolerant and civilised debate and arguments.  

Even though they communicated these ideas in English, it was a crucial effort to make us feel that inspirations for which one may discover or initiate the process of translations may well be present in your own tradition of thinking, intellectual history. We need to respect to that vast potential of intellectual history rooted in the contemporary/classic Indian regional language literature which is living memory of my parent society and ancestor`s culture. Unfortunately due to lack of appropriate institutional or rewarding translation culture we are immune from any elemental improvement in capabilities of communication of the intellectual history which is very much embodiment of our linguistic diversity of India through which entire freedom struggle of 150 years is based upon and continues to drive the project of Indian democracy in last sixty years disregarding many unfortunate hurdles and sustaining the historic achievements marked by constant-rigorous debate which is never dominated by one language but hundreds of dialects and now 22 official languages.

This timely article in Times Literary Supplement envisages the multilingual society in which there is just, orderly information society. Innovations in translation technology will in turn remove the necessity for a global lingua franca.[17] The increasing availability of linguistic corpora in electronic form will generate the language-processing resources needed for machine translation, facilitating interlingual communication, where each party uses its own language. Interlingual communication will reach beyond the languages of the global technological powers: Automatic tools are going to become capable of bridging the gap between any languages”, with the ticket for admission into the new information society being “a dictionary, grammar, parser, and a multi-million-word corpus of texts – and they’d better all be computer tractable. [18]

Finally before I conclude, I once again attract your attention towards the lack of discussion about original voice in Indian literature; rather void of genuine originality being reflected in English language literature compared to intense need of it to be published in Indian regional language. He says, However, Indian critical assaults on this new literature continue. Its practitioners are denigrated for being too upper-middle-class; for lacking diversity in their choice of themes and techniques; for being less popular in India than outside India; for possessing inflated reputations on account of the international power of the English language, and of the ability of Western critics and publishers to impose their cultural standards on the East; for living, in many cases, outside India; for being deracinated to the point that their work lacks the spiritual dimension essential for a "true" understanding of the soul of India; for being insufficiently grounded in the ancient literary traditions of India; for being the literary equivalent of MTV culture, of globalising Coca-Colonisation.(Rushdie, 1997)


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[1] National Translation Mission; A Detailed Project Report, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, Feb 2008
[2]  Bassnett, Sussan, “Cutlure and Translation”, Kuhiwczak, Piotr, and Karen Littau. A Companion to Translation Studies. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2007. Internet resource
[3] Proposal for National Translation Mission by National Knowledge Commission Proposal; 1st Sept 2006
[4] Rushdie Salman, India and world literature, Frontline, Vol. 14 :: No. 16 :: Aug. 9-22, 1997
[5] Lawrence Venuti, “Translation, Interpretation, Canon Formation”, Translation and the
Classic Identity as Change in the History of Culture Edited by ALEXANDRA LIANERI and VANDA ZAJKO, Oxford University Press 2008

[6] Alexander Tytler (1747 - 1813) was a Scottish-born British lawyer and writer. Tytler was also a historian, and for some years was Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities, in the University of Edinburgh. Tytler wrote a treatise that is important in the history of translation theory, the Essay on the Principles of Translation (London, 1790)
[7]  Tytler, Alexander F, and Jeffrey F. Huntsman. Essay on the Principles of Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1978. Print.

[8]  John Dryden (1631 –1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden
[9]  John Dryden, 1631–1700. English poet, dramatist, critic and translator. Extract from the “Dedication” to his translation of the Aeneid.

[10]  Poetics refers generally to the theory of literary discourse and specifically to the theory of poetry, although some speakers use the term so broadly as to denote the concept of "theory" itself.

[11]   Bassnett, Susan, and André Lefevere. Translation, History, and Culture. London: Pinter Publishers, 1990. Print
[12]  Jacques Delille (1738 –1813) was a French poet and translator
[13]  Jacques Delille, 1738–1813. French cleric, poet, and translator. Extract from the preface to his translation of Virgil’s Georgics, published in 1769.

[14] Goudeac Daniel, Translation as a Profession, Amsterdam: J. Benjamins, Pub Co. 2007, Print
[15] Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) pioneered investigative frameworks and terminologies such as cultural, social, and symbolic capital, and the concepts of habitus, field or location, and symbolic violence to reveal the dynamics of power relations in social life. His work emphasized the role of practice and embodiment or forms in social dynamics and worldview construction, often in opposition to universalized Western philosophical traditions. For Marx, "capital is not a simple relation, but a process, in whose various movements it is always capital". For Bourdieu, "social capital is the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition. Cultural capital (e.g., competencies, skills, qualifications) can also be a source of misrecognition and symbolic violence. A key part of this process is the transformation of people's symbolic or economic inheritance (e.g., accent or property) into cultural capital (e.g., university qualifications) - a process which the logic of the cultural fields impedes but cannot prevent.
[16]  Many Voices One World, also known as the MacBride report, was a 1980 UNESCO publication written by the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, chaired byIrish Nobel laureate Seán MacBride. Its aim was to analyze communication problems in modern societies, particularly relating to mass media and news, consider the emergence of new technologies, and to suggest a kind of communication order (New World Information and Communication Order) to diminish these problems to further peace and human development.
[17]  Please see: McCrum, Robert. Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2010. Print
[18]  Kerstin Hoge, The Times Literary Supplement, March 9, 2011; Book review of THE LAST LINGUA FRANCA English until the return of Babel by Nicholas Ostler, 313pp. Allen Lane

Friday, March 4, 2011

Freedom of Expression of the 60s and in the 21st Century!





                                     I HAVE A DREAM.....    
  

---------------------------
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now... 

John Lennon! That was the decade of 1960s. World was going through trauma of different tragic wars of Korea, Vietnam, many ones in Africa, Cuban Missile Crisis and assassination of US president John F. Kennedy. This was also the decade for the emergence of arts, aesthetics and resurgence of love and passion across the continent through Youth, Beatles, Feminism, Fashion and much more. Intellectual currents flowed all across the world alongside a powerful critique of cultural and political authority. The spirits of counterculture lead to a critique of family, the creation of alternative lifestyle and drug culture. Latin American experiences of revolutions, military terror and violence, anti-colonialism and racial oppression in Africa; the resonance of Cultural Revolution in China reverberated locally and globally. All theories of civilisation, race, history, politics, culture and identity were put to tear.

It would be not be incorrect to suggest that cultural creativity was never quite the same after the sixties. Music, fashion, design, art, architecture, cinema, theatre and performance bear the mark and traces of turbulent period of global upheaval. In all this Pandora`s Box of happening, one thing was noticeable; rise of assertive right og Freedom of Expression. Foundation of UNESCO was just a decade later as well as Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We were and are still witnessing the convergence of momentous historical events and huge chances to our audiovisual media, an inevitable and welcome consequences of which is a global reassessment of how images are compiled, constructed, valued and received. The rise of New Journalism, Investigative journalism`s triumph in Watergate scandal resulting in resignation of USA President, worldwide opinion building by UN agencies and domestic political movements about the freedom of expression made solid commitment for the framing of the benchmarks for the Freedom of Expression of everyone.

‘It is widely recognized that freedom must be reconciled with an obligation to obey the law and must not be exploited to injure the freedom of others; also that the exercise of freedom has a counterpart which is the need to exercise it with responsibility, which in the field of communication means primarily a concern for truth and the legitimate use of the power it conveys. We need to ask moreover, on what grounds a claim for freedom is being made. The freedom of a citizen or social groups to have access to communication, both as recipients and
contributors, cannot be compared to the freedom of an investor to derive profit from the media. One protects a fundamental human right; the other permits the commercialization of a social need. Yet when all these reservations are made, the principle of freedom of expression is one that admits of no exceptions and that is applicable to people all over the world by virtual of their human dignity.’

While freedom of expression should be viewed as a fundamental right, it needs to be seen in the larger context of competing values and interests. Equality and diversity of expression are a subset of a wider range of values and interests critical to understanding the key values that support freedom of expression and also those that are putting it at greater risk as we head into the second decade of the 21st Century. That is why it is necessary to look at the wider, developing ecology that is reshaping freedom of expression in the network society, but without deflecting attention from protecting this core value. Then the limitations to the freedom of expression defined by European Union are considered to be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

In the 1970s, international debates on communications issues had stringently reached points of confrontation in many areas. Third world protests against the dominant flow of news from industrialised countries were often constructed as attacks on free flow of information. Defenders of journalistic freedom were labelled intruders on national sovergenity. Varying concepts of news values and the roles, rights, responsibilities journalists were widely contended, as was the potential contribution of the mass media to the solution of major world problems. Freedom of thought and freedom of expression have always been contested ground between public and private authorities and the independent spirit. These days there are four revolutions being considered as far as information access is considered. First one was definitely the invention of printing by Gutenberg. The second one being the wireless radio and television. Third one was invention of computer and microprocessors. In the 21st century is driven by search engines, database, social networks and cloud computing. In all these revolutions technology has always taken lead while formulating the rights and responsibilities of freedom of access and delivery of information. When printing press, wireless radio, TV, computer, internet were invented very few people had the knowledge and access of those instruments and services so as to make sense of access of knowledge through them. But basic issue remains. Rights are inalienable. Rights are inherent. Rights are natural. Rights are legacy of human kind. Freedom of expression and Freedom of Information are thus these kind of rights. Technology evolves, and then it is the responsibility of Public Policy of the Governments, innovative capability of the corporations and adaptability of the mass markets driven by certain cultural norms to proliferate these technologies; products and services.

Then I must conclude by singing another song from sixties. This one is from Veera Lynn. I do not what it conveys; at one instance it conveys deep sense of hope and on another instance it connects very subtly the pessimism we want to overcome by just saying that do not worry, everything will be OKAY !

We'll meet again
We'll meet again,
Don't know where,
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day
Keep smiling through,
Just like you always do
Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away

So will you please say "Hello"
To the folks that I know
Tell them I won't be long
They'll be happy to know
That as you saw me go
I was singing this song

We'll meet again,
Don't know where,
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

[ We'll meet again,
Don't know where
Don't know when.
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do,
'Til the blue skies
Drive the dark clouds far away
So will you please say"Hello"
To the folks that I know.
Tell them I won't be long.
They'll be happy to know
That as you saw me go,
I was singin' this song.

We'll meet again,
Don't know where,
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day ]


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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Investigative Journalism back on track: 2 G Heroes speak out behind the scenes story !


Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. How perfectly Thomas Jefferson is relevant to Indian democracy. We could not agree more. Forum for Media Professionals organised a vibrant debate to celebrate, honour and establish the credentials of the people who were behind and in front of the journalistic discovery of 2G scam. J Gopikrishnan of Pioneer, Bharat Bhushan, Editor of Mail Today, Sunil Jain, Shalini Singh, Josy Joseph of The Times of India, Prabal Pratap Singh of IBN Live, Jagdeep Chhokar from IIMA and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a senior media analyst debated and presented the inside story of what really is going on in contemporary time during which all estates are crumbling but due to courageous work of few who risked life and their career have been able to bring back that confidence to alarm everyone about the lowest pit of standards of public life.

There exists and it has continued to exist the kind of love and hate relationship between media and powerful establishment whether it is the government or corporate interests. In media, largely there is a trend to support a dominant all pervading consensus rather than conveying the minority dissent or some kind of possibility of alternative point of view which can lead towards discovery of massive proportion of the wrongdoings. The degree of freedom to individual journalists is very limited. Either it is issue of economic liberalisation, Special economic zone, Kashmir or national security, insurgency the apparently all pervading enforced consensus is injected into the information flow. Journalists gain this unique privilege due to their natural benefits of socialisation.

Ownership pattern and limit to the FDI in Indian media is one of the major reasons that government is using for twisting and enforcing the loyalty spirit in the current media conglomerates. Star journalists who are famous for shifting from cocktail parties to TV studios help the people in influential positions to establish their agenda. Three phrases or terms moreover describe and sum up the current situation around these foggy clouds of media sacrificing their autonomy. “Quid-pro-qo”, “Effort of stringing along” and “There are no free lunches” aptly describe the inherent contradictions percolating the media empires.

News killers always existed there. But their ability to block the enthusiasm and devotion of the young, dedicated and rational journalists have earned them the accolades among the class who are happy to notice this compromised integrity of media houses. Absence of news loving visionary editors is crippling the dynamism of the investigative journalism in these times. We have arrived in the times when we are helpless and thus seeking the obvious but consistently lacking professional standards and benchmarks to be revived again. Some journalists argue that Journalism has arrived in BPO culture where none is talking to their colleagues and they do not share the kind of stories they are working on let alone the details of the investigation. For example, Gopikrishnan who first broke the entire 2G scam believes that now silence has to be broken anyhow. Shalini Singh believes that everyone is not at the same place to face the challenges of the task and thus to emerge as an capable person to dig the information. Diving into unimaginable legal, economic and technological complexities to understand the extent of the scam was itself a challenge very few could take on. It requires immense patience to unravel the complexities.

There are obstacles to attain the intellectual capacity to analyse all these interconnected issues, great amount of scarcity about the information resources and intellectual trap journalists feel to make difference through their reporting and editorial writing. These breed of journalists further humbly underline the fact that they do not hate anyone but only the guilty work and processes they go through. No one editor, reporter, newspaper or channel could do this job. This requires solidarity and collective will power, action and roadmap of awareness building. Beat system is actually exploiting the reporters and also it gives reporters a chance to encash out of overexploited beat and forced slavery by sources. Ultimately it is the quality of the individual reporter which makes the difference. So more and more efforts should be taken to free journalists out of their conservative schedule to research and investigate on their stories. This will give them ample time and edge over others in getting access of information by RTI, through whistleblowers and by the rigorous methodologies.

So, there is space for everyone in newspaper, newschanel. One has to pick their own battlefields. One has to identify their own work areas and then keep going.  There will be many avalanches of the events like this and there will be very few black swan opportunities to unearth these type of massive scams. But what ultimately decides the nature of success is the source lying in the character of the journalist and professional skills they use persistently. 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Is Addiction a Way towards being a Writer?


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Writing as an Addiction and Addictions for Writing.

Why, in normal course of life we turn to become addicted? Or to put it in more mild way, why we are heavily dependent on one object of passionate desire and why we allow to remain by relying on pursuit of that object for the stability and tranquility in our life henceforth? If the writing and writers are integral parts of the life then why should they be aloof from the comprehensive rules being applied to other forms of equally substantial areas in life? We may easily distinguish between the kind of physical obsession about certain eatables/drinkables and those of constant/mental intellectual needs sought to be satisfied by very intense, uncompromisable habits. But this distinction is not merely to compel us to apply different rules for writers, authors. I did not intend to do so. But going ahead I wish to mark a line of genuine departure point to assert that if writers, artists, thinkers, musicians are worthy of protection from time and again threats of censorship, attack on their freedom of expression and assault on their free way of living, then strangulation of their addictions is certainly one aspect of that suffocation writers may experience.

Then the question asked in the title will certainly come back and haunt us that are addictions way towards being a writer? May be this is not a normative question compelling us to narrow down the choices to only have certain forms of addictions and leaving no other rebuttal option. Addiction if viewed in broader sense not only leaves us with helplessness and overreliance on the cause-du-jure but it also gives writers a cultural sphere in which they can discover their own solitude, they can mingle with the single idea they are engaged in or they can consistently dwell in contemplation about the issues they are disturbed due to. What exactly amounts to addiction in this case? About writers, it does not mean obsession. It does not hint towards being crippled by the availability and non-availability of particular cravings. It is form of lifestyle in which the comfort zones are so infinitely deep and morals are massively high that they continue to live likewise whole of their life disregarding all other material rewards, luxuries and worldly benefits coming out of sheer recognition to their creativity. 

Just as we always listen to the very senior and renowned authors, scientists, artists regularly reflecting on their relation to their work like, “We do not work in our world to earn awards. We live to enjoy that work.”  So this type of courage to say the unobvious things definitely must be coming from that corner of mind where the romance with the hardships and strivings of the unrelenting work resonates with that of solace they find in their habits, customized-uncustomised lifestyle. This romance is possible because these people are able to develop peculiar ways of circumventing the nonsense of daily life by achieving a supreme individual freedom to think, write and express in whichever form they like, at whatever instances and around whatever environment they are living in.

Upto certain point, this discussion about comfort zone is meaningful. Beyond it, I am afraid how far it could withstand analysis. Because every serious effort of writing somehow connects to the diverse issues of life. So, however justified writers could not have luxury to isolate themselves from the pressures of their own livelihood, the compulsions coming due to professional occupation and due to enormity of logistical-administrative issues they handle in their fieldwork. So, I doubt how many people are able to catch this minute thread of addictive passion in their writing. Some people may admit this because they are professionally involved in that or some others may argue about this only because they see writing as one of the platforms or means to achieve larger material goals in life. But what about the people for whom writing is the only mean, only goal, only way of living, only way of dying. They cannot think of anything except writing about the ideas, ideologies, delicate relations, virtues, values, emotions and likewise.

How do writers could manage the painful task of sustaining losses in their own life and still continue to move ahead on the front of writing. In one way or another different ways of addictions actually gives us a feeling about what to compromise and what not. For example, any passionate addiction normally compels us to sell anything to continue that. But here we are thinking about the addictions which are indispensible for creating and personal or social ambience to nurture, to blossom, to emerge into the realm of momentum where there is no other need to satisfy the cravings of the body and mind. Only that unique passionate desire inhaled in the form of unending association is enough to inspire our experiments with letters.

So standing for addiction in creative world and rejecting the right to promote material obsessions of addictions in public life are not biased approaches. We can debate on that also. This may perceive a genuine bias towards elites, a strong leniency towards the people who can afford the luxury of relaxing in unique loneliness to pursue their goals compared to the communities suffering for a little bread and butter requirement. But while taking a laid back seat to think more carefully will allow us be able to appreciate this kind of freedom. This liberty is meant for giving a exclusive bias for people who are supposed to make use of that for developing traits and skills employable for if not immediately solving but at least addressing, describing and debating the issues of the larger people outside that ambience.

I am not going for sudden and urgent itinerary so as to cultivate such pursuit of novel addictions. In fact, I realize that I have many such shades of habits ingrained in my life which always remind me about uncompromisable need to write every other time I wake up for breakfast and every other evening when I go down the memory lane and for dreams. But I strongly feel the need to have this value in my life to uplift me to the level of a living where I can sustain my writing as an addiction and also I can cultivate a addiction which can shape my writing in unique fashion so that I will be more than happy to embrace to those moments as very proud because then there is no need of any other pleasure because I and my addiction will be made for each other.

It is hard to agree that I have emerged to think like this. It is not easy to leave everything behind and get along with only one single passion when you know that things you left behind may be of greater significance and relevance than the things we continue to adore and seek. But the kind of addiction we acquire over a period of time, in that work of writing, around that quest of scripting the mind and life, during that painful experiences in which we compromise many things; I do not thing I will never ever regret the shameless marriage to addiction for betterment of my writing. Because that will determine why I live and not the things which I left behind. However crude, irresponsible it may seem; the place of passionate obsession is unique in the solitary world of literature, scholarship and reporting the life. I will be pained to lose the heritage, treasure of writing only because I refused to ally with some kind of addiction. Instead, I will lap and leap for the passion it signifies if it helps me to evoke my imagination for making writing worth living and dying for. 

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The Message from Turkish Professor via Salman Taseer


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Nisar main teri galiyon ke , ai watan, ke jahan
chale hai rasm ke koi na sar uthake chale
Jo koi chahne wala tawaf ko nikhle
Nazar churake chale, jism o jan bachake chale
 Hai ahl-i dil ke liye ab ye nazm-e -bast-o-kushad
Ke sang o khisht muqaiyad hain aur sang azad.
---Faiz Ahmed Faiz


Whether it is burning any book or banning a creative work or silencing the voices demanding justice, peace and development; intolerance is scaling new heights in its shamefulness and reaching new pits in its tragedy. Unjustifiable and heinous murder of Salman Taseer, one of the strongest voices in Pakistan took his last breath in the role of Governor of Punjab province which has dominated the strategic and political history and thinking in Pakistan. The Governor was shot dead by own bodyguards and subjected to 28 bullets. The unparallel drama due to this incident sent shocking waves across the subcontinent declaring that if Mr. Taseer cannot survive even in the shadow of his own bodyguards then every dissenting voice in the public sphere in this society will be silenced once and for all.

There are more reasons due to which I was stunned the day Mr. Taseer was killed, I was able to read a biographical book about legendary shayar Faiz Ahmed Faiz. For all his life he stood for skepticism, debate and invoking the liberal ethos of the generation of the poets who saw and experienced trauma and partition. Faiz started a branch of Progressive Writers' Movement in Punjab in 1936. His generation experienced the legacy of partition continued with subsequent mutual assured destruction through riots, bigotry and persecution forming the perpetual enmity amongst the communities and nations in the subcontinent; first based on religion and further on the basis of linguist ethnicity which lead to partition of Pakistan in 1971. Faiz was a learned man of English, Arabic and Urdu. In initial years he taught in Amritsar, the other side of Punjab which remained with India. Later he went to Karachi and Lahore. Even though Faiz was uncle of Mr Tasser, his lifelong dedication and commitment both had for free and just society was not merely due to any relation. These two men, firstly Faiz generated a voyage of poetic critic of the contemporary hypocrisy and secondly Taseer who through his role of Publisher of newspaper ‘Daily Times’ and through his other public roles, appearances and gestures vindicated the same kind of belonging to any true voice appreciating the struggle for any argumentative fight for setting the tone in correct manner. It is without any doubt that these types of human being belong to all. When we debate that these types of human being belong to all. When we debate in India to which community Galib and Kabir stood for, we intuitively know that principles of religion, province or even language and nationalism do not come in the way of heralding the all inclusive aspiration and all encompassing voice as of their own.

Let us try to decipher issue on another level. When we read a novel or when we watch any drama, movie we always try to sketch and trace the central theme of that creation. There need not be any central theme but our mind believing fictional novels to be reflections of true life or conflict ridden present shadow of biographical stories of past, relentlessly engages in expressing the centrality of the conversation and contemplation in novels and movies.
Recently I listened to a 2006 interview of Turkish author Orhan Pamuk given to Stanford University Campus radio anchor George Harrison. He himself being a Professor of European literature probed Pamuk about issue of centrality having significant impact on his work. Pamuk, an ardent voice a nation situated in east and west, between glorious medieval past and struggle for modernity in present between Islamic heritage and upcoming multicultural society. Pamuk said, in the quest of 21st century modernity he still feels Turky reluctant to come out of medieval slumber.

Pamuk elaborated on this point: “It is true that Istanbul stands at the centre of Europe and Asia. It is true that Istanbul is the gateway to have a look towards showcase of European enlightenment and modernisation, Even though I belonged to elite, upper class educated Turkish family which enjoyed, I was always felt myself around margins of modernity. My introspection, my melancholic enquiry about my elite existence, my well being was always driven to understand the centre but through the lenses of periphery.” How true Orhan is! In 2010, Istanbul was European capital of Culture, 2010.

In a way the conception of centre and periphery, whether in literature, politics, colonial & post-colonial debate, trade or in scientific research-knowledge dissemination; the subjective interpretation indicates towards conflicting definitions about progressiveness and backwardness. So, centre-periphery discourse actually not only pervades the literary scene—may be in symbolic narrative it could better expose the complex realities—as Orhan Pamuk showed in ‘Snow’. So every contemporary literature is actually depicting this struggle of ideas in most possible brave and courageous manner. Then again and again controversy happens, authors are threatened and atmosphere is vitiated due to ignorance towards simmering tensions prevalent in the form of absence of dialogue in any form of life activities.

In the European summer of 2010, I was fortunate to understand this tacit conflict between centre and periphery in my mind. I was driven by questions of and about the contestation to religious and any kind of orthodoxy because I had the accidental apparently to meet one Turkish Professor in Italy. Trieste is a major harbour in eastern Italy which had great history of trade and cultural interaction with central and west Asia. One of my friends from Croatia recently visited India. She was recalling how formerly east European soviet countries and Balkan countries had special connection with Trieste. Trieste progressed and became wealthy because many branded and modern things like jeans, perfumes, music was available unlike those countries. In a way for young generation in those countries, Trieste was a dream destination. Another friend I recently met was from European Union Innovation Team. His Ph.D. was focussed on how cultural artefacts and objects were traded in black and white in communist influence. How state fears new song, new slogans, new thinking and new actions. And when it fears, it suppresses. Sometimes suppression happens by many, pressure and other material tactics. If none is convinced, then gun is the last resort.




Any-ways, in Trieste I met this Professor. He is Professor of Physics from Ankara. I could never forget those five days I spent with him. Impact of those five days has permanently altered my point of view towards all the issues of conflicts in this world. For five days, after finishing my workshop assignments we used to have dinner together. And then was the time of a symphony of thoughts and exchanges. In wine, we found companion to reflect each other`s feelings, perspectives. He did not regret that even though he was Muslim, I take wine. When you take wine, you slow down and then be able to think it over any issue at our consideration for dwelling upon it in details. To think in a calm and slow way without reacting with basic instincts of orthodox discipline, upbringing or any other kinds of privileges of education, societal status and power bias is best way to understand the issue. If we consider life as a novel, I am reminded of a saying of Orhan Pamuk who in his latest book ‘Naive and Sentimental Novelist’ says that great art of novel yields when we try to understand the story rather than we judge it. Our moral judgement of the characters must be always in the background of our reading of the literature. We should first read the story with its natural flow.” Going beyond it can be said that “Literature is flesh and incarnating truth of philosophy and is able to say more than abstractness of philosophy and says it less naively.”

Thus going further, to think in a calm way without reaching by your basic instincts is the key. To be able to think, interact and thus be able to enhance the level of debate, he said, is very important in the kind of lifestyle we live in. Irrespective of the background of native Turkey and conservative Islamic Arab world around it. Professor said that it is hard to imagine a meaningful conversation in the family. “When both husband and wife are busy in struggling for livelihood and children have no time to come out of their fantasy, dreamful world, it is very much necessary to slow down, sit across the table and have a wine or cup of coffee with each other so as to have chat about vexing issues we face in the form of enormous challenges”, he said.

The Professor’s marriage was culmination of love affair with Turkish girl. He said, “Love marriage is very common these days in Turkey.” He never followed any dictum of religion in his diet, appearance and rituals as he confessed without letting any sign of regret. Though he completed his research degree from USA, after having in depth conversation with him, he reflected very much original Turkish ethos and virtues. I had few glimpses of what Modern Turkey stands for when I visited Istanbul just for few hours before I met this Turkish Professor in Trieste. Without narrating that incident, I will say that, accidently I could stay in Istanbul starting from sunset to sunrise next day. I tried to live those moments as I could. I visited the Bosphorous Sea which connects two continents in west Istanbul. I wandered in uptown, glazy Taxim locality where whole Turkey seemed to be showcased in highly modern way alongside market thriving on exodus of tourists. Gradually evening and night crept in before I realised.


I have discovered how to be holier than any holier-than-thou person.
(Image from http://www.thadguy.com/comic/holier-than-thou/521/)

Then after having a comfortable dinner, in the warm breeze I went towards Blue mosque; Sultan Ahmed mosque by a tram from my hotel locality. It was a holy Ramadan night. Streets were full with the children, youth, senior citizens and everyone. There were women with hizab and without hizab. In women with hizab, I saw no contempt for modernity and in women without one, I felt no insult for religion. Streets were thriving with such a vibrancy of openness and floodlights. It was Disney Land experience in Ramadan night; purely religious in its core and almost celebratory in all of its manifestations outside mosque. There I really understood, the kind of concern my Kashmiri friends always express-the gift of vibrant night life-it being a symbol of many pursuits in our mortal life-pursuit of many extraordinary immortal things. Sacred by spiritual values, wet with emotions of expression, decorated by the balloons and bookmarks of the diversity, explained by modern exhibition of Islam, in that night—I saw a narration of contribution of Islam in modern progressive society—a rare one.

These glimpses from Istanbul instilled in me a great courage to understand what Turkish Professor was trying to say. Perhaps emphasis on wine is merely symbolic. What he conveyed across was more crucial­—to slow down, to think it over and to discuss all the pending issues—without any bounds, without any extreme illusions and prejudices, without any hopelessness. When I returned from Trieste two things happened. While travelling in Turkish airlines, crew offered me beef and red wine. I tasted beef for the first time in my life in Turkish plane and preserved small bottle of Yakut for my friend in JNU. After my return, I was discussing with my Kashmiri friend about menu on Turkish plane. He was taken aback and surprised to find out that how airline service of an Islamic country offers wine in its cuisine. Silently then, I was thinking about what type of blasphemy I did by tasting beef!

When I was in school, my nature of being child did not allow me to follow the strict regulation and order of teacher and parents. I did eat chalks when I was asked not to do it. Defiance is so naturally rooted in our life that still it takes us great amount of courage to understand a alternative and not completely opposite view. The lack of this kind of courage gives strength to extreme intolerant voice. I don’t know where the boundary lines of prophesying and rebelling against religion start or blur! I only know the message from Turkish Professor who told me to slow down, calm down in thinking and discussing the issue to everyone having stake. May be this is starting point to understand what are the causes and implications of killing of Mr. Salman Taseer for not only Pakistan but also for every society struggling to cope with the conflicts and trauma aroused because of pro and anti religion debate.
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Of Authors and Addiction?


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Engaging with an idea requires enormous amount of involvement. This involvement may arise due to some attraction towards the incentives coming along with probing or seeking the answer from that area of study. As happens in romance, we forget everything else around us except the admiration, appreciation and adoration of each and every element of personality, virtue or natural scene in front of us. It seems to be compulsory prerequisite for any author that he/she embeds their heart and mind in certain kind of environment where romance with the idea is possible and enjoyable.

Michelangelo said, “Excellence is infinite patience.” To survive this type of infinite perseverance, one needs a consistent channel of calm, introspective, ambience where we can strive for achieving the life-sphere suitable for reaching pace to translate our thoughts in words. Any peculiar habit of authors which gives this freedom to schedule their working style in such a way that it is helpful in complementing and rewarding this lonely quest of engaging with the ideas is then adored endlessly. I do not wish to prejudice this conversation with examples but readers are aware about famous examples about tea, coffee, whisky, wine, walking, seashore, hills, any particular table, window and likewise without emphasizing on any kind of order.

Is addiction a fair word to use in this respect? Or it is just metaphor for author`s engaged frame of mind which restlessly seeks to wear the appearance of helpless addicted, obsessed person in search of solace through which they discover the true self. This discovery often leads to the point where original thinking meets the sincere expression, precise observation meets the analytical explanation and elegant treatment meets confident voice in terms of literary craft being developed.

Our chief concern is why these types of addictions are always being perceived as indispensable even though they are not and secondly how we can avoid relying on this probably dangerous dependence on external motivations for being lost in the writing exercise. I say this reliance in addiction is always sensed from the point of view of being indispensable because it gives feel and an opportunity to a thinking person for carving out a shortest path towards creativity. By being driven away in the environment where person who is writing does not compromise his/her solitude except for rare privilege given to the habits which help them developing a seed of an idea whose time has come. Solitude, not only in terms of loneliness but also in terms of resonating with the deepest and highest demands of involving in the never ending round the clock interaction with the wheels of contemplative whirlpool. This whirlpool then compels us to express in the different form or genre like poems, articles, essays, stories, novels and likewise.

Do we care about process of writing or we are only concerned about the end effect in the form of quality product? Appealing or convincing writing can be very argumentative, stylistic and sagacious. There are great deal of painful efforts involved in attaining the mind which respects decency towards ethics of representing the controversial, complex and immensely crucial questions in front of us in a manner enabling comprehension based on reasoned imagination and lively rationale. It may be pursuit of core scientific research or plot scripting of any novel or scene in drama or film. If we know how, in which condition with sudden serendipity or cumulative affirmation about any wild guess, we invent a new framework of perspectives helping us to understand nuances of our potential; then we can really seriously guide our writing initiatives. So, knowing those moments where slightest hint given by the accidental realization about the radically novel concepts which are still rooted in classic old times helps us to focus on drastically different imagination still able to connect to the contemporary commonality between us.

I do not think these types or any types of addictions supposedly helping any adventure or passion of a bibliophile are some types of comfort zones. On the contrary these are conflict zones of mind where limitations of our logical/illogical extreme form of thinking are challenged, recognized and get destroyed over a period of time to usher into new form of logical/illogical extremes. At the same time when someone is deeply intertwined with the natural beauty or entangled with material cravings of food, drink or likewise; those moments lead to create ambience necessary to nurture our mind. Then we are not trapped in contradictory frames of comfort and uncomfortable zones but we slowly learn to live in the reflecting universe where both these different perspectives actually emerge as alternative complement to each other. So, this feeling of stress while limitations being challenged actually demands some kinds of opposite compensatory force in the form of reviving, updating and recreating the intuition along with regeneration of other mental and physical energies which are very much necessary for continuing the work we are doing.

Authorship may revolve around authority and expertise. But writing can explore different colors in life, revelation of which may not be possible without the culture of thinking catalyst. These catalysts are spread everywhere in our unusual behavior, abnormal habits, flexible schedule, indefinite discipline, infinite capacity to experiment and diversify our working style, audacious way of maintaining uniformity in the direction of efforts necessary for germination of  ideas dormant since long time. This unevenness, asymmetry and genuine alternative perspective emerging from our defiance, dissent and questioning attitude towards belief about “why some can write better and why some cannot” will strengthen our morale to have solid first step towards writing and publishing. This will certainly give fillip to very peculiar way of habits converging with kind of initiatives, risks and journeys we usher in.
There should not be any excuse for arbitrary embrace to the easily available leisure of addictions by believing that it will award us secrets of multi-dimensional professional ability. 

This potential coming due to certain beliefs, ideologies and outlook towards everyday happenings and history enhances our capacity to judge the valuable issues of sustenance- social and global connections reflecting on the vexing problems of current, future time.  So this addiction may not gift us any kind of substitute for motivation to work around, develop and master a idea on the table. But the essential meaning of addiction which compels us to develop sense of belonging, a sense of “I cannot live without you…”, will certainly enhance the prospects of mingling and culturing the companionship with pen and paper.

Addiction gives us a feeling of some kind of shameless-mad commitment to that area of enquiry or virtue we wish to cherish through accomplishment of relaxed moments in which we pursue our passion towards writing. Once we realize massive amounts of returns it is awarding then it is the matter of few days or so, we will surrender ourselves to that form of persistent, never ending love affair with desirable and healthy forms of addiction. 

No addiction is advisable for any kind of voyage of literature.  But if you have one, then go for creative and constructive marriage of that with the blossoming world of letters. In this wordy world we can derive courage out of this process to leave behind those addictions and emerge as a happy merchant who compensates loss due to any grave grief by very little investment of few passionate moments in the form of romance with ideas, books and treasure of writing.
Thus any kind of side effects coming from exiting extraordinary reliance over these addictions are much more worthy of neglecting because they will be flyovers or express bypass routes to reach the mood of sensitivity the horizons which are necessary to sustain the momentum of cascading continuum of thinking and writing. Best wishes to all of you for that.

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

"Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards." ---Aldous Huxley

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           Policies for Science and Technology must always be mixture of 
           realism  and idealism.
       ---Chris Freeman (1921-2010) [Pioneer of National Innovation Concept]
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A recent UNESCO Science Report 2010 broadly captures what Fareed Zakaria is trying to tap in the book “Post American World”. Development in global economy has been arrived due to the assertive role of developments of science and technology. The reasons are as follows. A) Cheap and easy access to new digital technologies such as broadband, internet and mobile phones have accelerated the diffusion of best practice technologies revolutionized the internal and external organization of research and development centers.  B) Countries have been catching up rapidly in terms of economic growth and investment in knowledge as expressed in investment in tertiary education and R&D.  C) The impact of global recession on post 2008 challenged the north south technology trade and growth models.  This recession is being viewed as challenging western S&T dominance. It is interesting that emerging economy which once served as repository of outsourcing of manufacturing activities, they have now moved on to autonomous process technology development, product development, design and applied research. 

Achieving knowledge intensive growth is the top priority of the countries. Value creation depends increasingly upon better use of knowledge, whatever the level of development, whatever the form and whatever its origin; new product, process or technologies developed domestically, or the re-use of and novel combination of knowledge developed elsewhere. Increase in stock of ‘worlds knowledge’, as epitomized by new digital technologies and discoveries in life sciences or nanotechnologies, is creating fantastic opportunities for emerging nations to attain higher levels of social welfare and productivity. The old notion of technological gap is being considered as blessing for the countries possessing sufficient absorptive capacity and efficiency to enable them to exploit their advantage of their relative backwardness. 

        There is growing recognition that it is the systemic congruence between the various knowledge components of the innovation system that counts when it comes to devising a successful growth strategy. There is growing emphasis on STI Policies on sustainability and green technologies. National STI policies clearly face a radically new global landscape in which territorial policy focus is coming under severe pressure. Knowledge accumulation and knowledge diffusion is possible to happen at faster pace, involving a growing number of entrants and providing a threat to established threat to institutions. 

Out of all key factors mentioned above, let us focus on one factor alone for the sake of greater understanding of the part of the progress/development/changes underway. Considering the higher education as a citadel for the symbiosis of innovation, economic growth and quest for sustainable development, let us understand some of the keen issues facing this sector. “The current landscape of advanced degrees is increasingly varied. This has resulted from the many changes and developments in recent years within the Higher Education sector where supply must adapt to more diverse demand. On one hand, research degrees continue to denote advanced study in a chosen discipline with a view to the pursuit of an academic career; in this respect expertise in research methodology and investigative skills are acquired. On the other hand, there is a growing demand for Masters and doctorates related to a specific field of professional activity such as business studies or administration. Though sometimes referred to as “taught qualifications” which may be undertaken concurrently with actual workplace activity, these involve a certain degree of research both for the professors and the students involved.”

Five main areas merit special attention:
a)   Challenges for students researching advanced degrees in developing countries (notably in scientific fields)
b)    The research component in “in demand” degrees which are awarded on the basis of taught courses
c)   The current advantages offered by open and E-learning with regard to the demand for advanced degrees
d)    The benefits of “jointly delivered” advanced degrees which aim for rapid and quality credentials
e)   The impact of branding and networking strategies for advanced degrees earned from research-reputed universities.

2006 Global Colloquium of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education Research and Knowledge debated the status of research universities worldwide. The conclusions stressed the urgency of resolving the major problems identified:
a.   The precarious nature of research in non-OECD countries
b.    The major cleavages in research between wealthy and emerging countries in terms of capacity, agendas, contexts, criteria, climate and partnerships
c.   The need to accelerate networking and cooperation amongst universities to strengthen research
d.    The urgency of building improved research capacity in countries of the South and elimination of the isolation of their researchers.
e.    The rapidly increasing political nature of national research agendas
f.     The need for countries to map and analyze their research systems, to pinpoint their major challenges and to benchmark themselves in relation to similar emerging economies.

These days the notion of “third stream” of activities or third mission developed from research activities is being discussed vigorously. The starting point is the assimilation of fundamental research to codified knowledge and thus to information. This economic assimilation is critical since it tells that this “good”, once produced, is very difficult to appropriate. It has two consequences. The first one is that no economic actor will invest into fundamental research since he will not be able to recover its investment, thus the need for governments to invest in fundamental research. The second consequence is that its take-up and circulation are “free” for interested economic actors. There is thus no need of specific mechanisms that help knowledge flow from public sector to the economic and social worlds.”

Universities do not structure themselves along the three missions, but that they articulate differently these three missions depending upon the “functions” they fulfill. I see three central functions or activities which I have labeled: “mass tertiary education” (with the bachelor degree as a central feature), “professional specialize higher education and research” (with the professional master as a central diploma, and “problem solving research” as a central activity) and “academic training and research” (with the PhD as the central diploma and articles as the central output). While the first and the third activities are clearly located respectively at the local and world levels, the second is focused on professions and follows their internationalization.

All universities are thus a specific and probably unique mix of these three functions. The choice of this positioning is often mostly the result of contingent historical factors. Making it evolve, and turning it into a “constructed” choice is key to the articulation of the university with its environment. In such an approach, the activities gathered under the third mission become the outcome of this positioning (whatever the conditions through which it has been arrived at). It also provides a different lens through which to look at connections with the external world, considering education and research on a similar footing.  The scientific elite, however, have pushed back by redefining their role: (I) destroying the earlier status-quo and re-linking themselves to state institutions, (II) managing S&T development and lobbying for the scientific community, etc.; (III) acquiring other functions; apart from their cognitive role, i. e, influencing the citadel of power and public opinion directly in favor of its own relevance to societal and scientific progress.

Second important aspect being mobility. The scientist mobility has various forms: a common, social form involves moving along the career ladder (upward and downward), moving between generations (inter-generational) and within a generation (intra-generational). The occupational aspect is a transition from one scientific discipline to another, from one scientific field to another, transition from one research institution to another, or in a pathological form it is when scientists leave science for other jobs, or in a geographical form it means territorial movements of scientists.

R&D, innovation and technology are now being increasingly recognized as important drivers for growth, exports, and competitiveness of businesses in globalizing economies such as India and China. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) have also been leveraged by several developing countries such as Korea and China to enhance their technological, management and trade capabilities when FDI policies are appropriately integrated with other domestic policies including S&T, trade and industrial policies. Corporate and medium & small firms in India are also restructuring their business strategies, attracting FDI, and investing more on R&D, technology acquisitions and technology related capacities in several sectors since the implementation of new policies from 1991 onward. The government policies and mechanisms have also been supporting the initiatives of enterprises and corporate, resulting in high growth rates of economies and exports. However, there are very limited studies and documentation available for India in the context of technology and exports.

Lastly it should be remembered that now-a-days, any policy making is done after a long interaction with government representatives, private enterprise as well as nongovernmental organizations. Complex dynamics in the contemporary world makes new forms of regulations and governance replacing established government norms. Government policy framing and implementation is largely affected by market agents with diverse economic interests, public interest groups, social movements and activists, self-help organizations and various professional associations with different motivations and goals of political, economic and idealist dimensions, e.g., industrial and labor market conditions, environment, natural resources, consumer interests, genetic engineering and gender differences.

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References:
a)   Liberalizing Research in Science and Technology: Studies in Science Policy, Edited by Nadia Asheulova, Binay Kumar Pattnaik, Eduard Kolchinsky, Gregory Sandstrom. Saint-Petersburg: Politechnika, 2010. (ISBN 978-5-904031-76-3)
b)   Toward a Third mission for Universities, P. Laredo, UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. 2007
c)   The Role of Post-Graduate Education in Research Systems, Kearney, M-L, UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. 2007
d)   UNESCO Science Report 2010

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