Karvan-e-Fikr 2012: Dept. of Sociology Hosts Academic Fair

The subject association of department of sociology held an inter university students’ seminar and academic fair titled, “Karvan-e-Fikr” on Wednesday and Thursday, March 14–15, 2012, on the theme “The coming of consumer society” at Dyar-e-Mir-Taqi Mir and Ansari auditorium.

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The two day event saw participation from various departments of Jamia, as well as four universities, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and Ambedkar University.

The main attractions of the first day were presentations by students from different universities and a photography competition and exhibition. The venue for day one of the seminar was Tagore Hall, Mir-Taqi Mir. A warm welcome was extended by Dr. Kulwinder Kaur, student advisor of the subject association. Keynote address was delivered by Dr. Abhijit Pathak, professor of sociology at Jawaharlal University. In his interesting and humorous address, Dr. Pathak stressed that the process of learning should be celebrated along with lots of debate and discussions. The first session included presentations on the topic “Rethinking consumerism.” While the second session focused on “Media and consumer culture.” The post-lunch session presenters talked about “Symbolic economics and commercialization of art forms.”

The photographs showcased outside the Tagore hall had captured the consumer society very beautifully. And meanwhile, an on-the-spot poster making competition was being held at the Mir-Taqi Mir lawns, with a healthy participation from various departments of Jamia.

The second and last day was even more eventful with an array of interesting competitions and paper presentations. While the competitions were being held at the Ansari auditorium, the Mir Anis hall was the venue for the presentations on 15^th. The presenters talked about “Privatisation and spaces of consumption” and “commodification of body and sexuality.”

Though starting with a slight delay, the events at the Ansari Auditorium went well. The first event was a debate competition on the topic “Consumerism is an irreversible phenomenon in this age of advanced capitalism.” It was followed by a quiz competition consisting of two rounds with two stages each. The first one being an elimination round. Also, an on-the-spot essay writing competition was held in the seminar room of department of sociology. After lunch, the next competition was ‘Just-a-minute’ in which participants were given topics on the spot and a one minute of preparation time. The participants had precisely one minute to present their take on the topics ranging from current affairs, social concepts to social problems.

The next in the line of events at ‘Karvan-e-Fikr’ was a movie screening and discussion. The movie screened was on consumer society titled “The Joneses” starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny, directed by Derrik Borte. The discussants for the movie were, Dr.Sheena Jain, Dr. Sabyasaachi, Ms. Ridhima Bahl and Mr. Appu Lenin.

Before the Prize distribution ceremony, the guest of honor, Dr Khan Masood Ahmad, Dean, faculty of social sciences, in his speech acknowledged that ‘Karvan-e-Fikr’ was the best among all fests in the faculty of social sciences.

The prizes and certificates to all the winners, coordinators and organizers were handed out by the dean, Dr. Sabyasaachi, and Dr. Sheena Jain. And the vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. Qadeem Raza, the general secretary of the subject association, department of sociology.

Scenes From the Event:

*click on an image to enlarge.