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SUMMARY:The science of childhood: postcolonial development in India\, 1950
 s - Arathi Sriprakash and Peter Sutoris (Faculty of Education)
DTSTART:20191031T130000Z
DTEND:20191031T140000Z
UID:TALK132028@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:In this paper we examine how\, in the decade following India's
  independence\, the psychology of childhood became a locus of experimentat
 ion\, and an avenue through which approaches to postcolonial development w
 ere expressed. Tracing the ideas of educational reformers\, psychological 
 researchers and child welfare advocates\, we show how a 'science of childh
 ood' in this period emphasised both the inherent potential and the emotion
 al complexity of India's young citizens. However\, while identifying this 
 potential\, these actors at times circumscribed it by deploying culturalis
 t assumptions about Indian childhood that were linked to a teleology of th
 e new nation state. These were ideas that shaped a 'pedagogic' approach to
  postcolonial modernisation. Nation‐building was not just a technocratic
  undertaking\, but an educative project that was scientific\, spiritual an
 d therapeutic in orientation. We reflect on the need for a greater attenti
 on to the pedagogy of the state in analyses of past and present state‐ci
 tizen relations.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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