Announcements

DTSA Academic Seminar on Social Business Innovators & the Empowerment of Dalits and Tribes

Archived

Date: March 5, 2017

Organised by: Centre for Social Justice and Governance, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

DTSA Seminar is an annual academic activity of the Centre for Social Justice and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Conceptual Framework

Genuine attempts to alleviate people from abject historically imposed poverty in India remains an enormous and ardous task. India accounts for one in three of the 'poor' worldwide and accounts for the largest number of people living below the international poverty line (2013), with 30 per cent of its population surviving under the $1.90 per day. Among the historically poor in India, Dalits and Tribes constitute 43.5% and 47.1% respectively (Ministry Tribal Affairs, 09-10) against other communities standing at 21.1%.

Post sixty-seventh years of intensive planned development by State as well as Non-State actors, the conditions of Dalits and Tribes still remains dismal in all fronts. While innovations to tackle the said condition are being made, the organic struggles of Dalits and Tribes to unshackle themselves from the historically imposed state of poverty remains invisible to a great extent.

In the light of these socio-historical and politico-economic considerations, it becomes imperative that a rigorous academic platform that engages threadbare with both theory and practice be conceived. This innovative spatio-temporal praxis envisages opening up unique opportunities for both practitioners of social business ventures across varied socially relevant sectors & for critical social theorist attempting to study this niche area concerning social business to creatively delve into the said area through specific subthemes as noted below:

1. The Ontological Status of Social Business in India today
2. The Epistemology of social entrepreneurship among Dalits & Tribes
3. Capitalism, Enterprise, Agency & Dalit/Tribal Empowerment
4. Innovative Social Business Models in Small Towns and Semi Cities & the Skilling of India
5. Fair Trade, Market Praxis and Axiology of Social Business
6. From Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Corporate Social Accountability (CSA): Innovations in Affirmative Action and Empowerment of oppressed groups

While the seminar seeks to explore alternative and innovative ways to engage directly with Dalits and Adivasis Empowerment through the concept of social business ventures, we invite papers across the identity spectrum that attempts through creative means to make a theoretico-practical dent on the varied aspects of the said sub themes.

Please send your abstracts (300 words) by email along with your contact details (email, Phone number and address) and current institutional affiliation to the following email: biswaranjan.tripura@tiss.edu

Timeline

• Last date for receiving abstracts: 18th February 2017
• Intimation regarding acceptance of abstracts: 21st February 2017
• Last date for submission of full papers: 1st March 2017

Information

Participants will have to bear their own expenses which include travelling, food and lodging. Campus Accommodation if needed must be booked ten days before the seminar and payments for the same be made at the Guest House while checking out. Tea and snacks will be served free to all participants.

Recognition

Certificates of recognition will be given to all participants plus the opportunity to compete for the fellowship of the 'DTSA Social Business Incubadora'. Full papers submitted will go into a book on the said subject area.

Organiser

Coordinated by a Faculty member, the Annual seminar is a student led initiative drawing support from the DTSA alumni network spread internationally.

Centre for Social Justice and Governance (CSJG) is Centre within the School of Social Work, TISS. It envelops within its fold twin domains of Caste and Tribes. It focuses on historiographies of the socially excluded Dalits and Tribes on the one hand and innovative policy practice on the other. It offers a programme in M.A in Social Work in Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action. The programme is the first of its kind in the world, providing students with wide theoretical and field exposures situated within the lived and shared experiences of Dalits in South Asia and Adivasis from India and other regions of the world. The strength of the programme lies in its pragmatic curricular logic built on the convergence between theory and practice. The students are innovative and committed to the empowerment of Dalits and Tribes as envisioned within the vision and mission of the TISS.