Prof. Ashis Nandy's talk at ANU last night on the future of the university system raised questions regarding the epistemological function of the university.
Does the modern university address the knowledge cultures which lie outside of its own space?
Does it scan knowledge on society's behalf or simply carry on an internal dialogue, scanning the knowledge the university itself produces?
These are elementary and yet fundamental questions in what's called critical university studies today.
The talk made me think about the distinction between knowledge and truth.
Do you think the university acknowledges (to get stuck with the word knowledge again) truths which are lived at the cost of knowledge attained?
Is the university knowledge system equipped to deal with the regime of truths which can only be approached by sabotaging academic knowledge?
Isn't that fundamental to what Tagore tried to do with Viswa-Bharati?
Another question waiting to be asked in between the lines of Prof. Nandy's talk is the status of orality and memory in knowledge cultures and the university's purchase on that.
All in all, an enriching evening of thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment