Call for submissions, the first edition of the quarterly journal of the Institute of Perception Studies

The Institute of Perception Studies, New Delhi, invites you to submit abstracts for the first edition of the quarterly journal of the Institute of Perception Studies, New Delhi scheduled to be published in January, 2018. The theme of the inaugural edition of the journal will be focussed primarily on the interplay of perception and power in the context of India. ‘Perception’ as an entry point to research posits the advantage of foregrounding how power struggle is imagined by the human agent. Further, this entry point also yields the opportunity to answer larger epistemological questions like what constitutes ‘Perception’?  Is ‘Perception’ a collective phenomenon or can the individual control the ways in which he perceives his/her world? As Foucault has inspired and Bernard Cohn argued in the context of India, knowledge production by the colonial state may itself be looked at as a product of ‘colonial perception’ and a technology to enforce it. The abstracts are invited on the following themes:

  • ‘Perception’ in the history of India: The history of India opens up for investigation of ‘perception’ a rich field of cases with its (in)famous diversity. Researches may be located in these themes: 
    • The Caste System and ‘Perception’: The ideological strength of the system of caste hierarchies involves ‘perception’ instrumentally for its career. Researches may look at the local variants of the caste system, the difference of perception of castes and comparative analysis, the hegemony of perception or the perception of hegemony in the reproduction of the system.
    • Ideology of the Colonialism and Nationalism: One of the central methodologies in researches around ideology involves the personification of the social systems in ‘perception’. Researches which seek to investigate the ideology of the Raj and nationalism are invited along with researches on communities, movements and localities which transcend the ‘colonizer’ and ‘colonized’ binary.
  • ‘Perception’ and resistance: Apart from being an instrument of control, ‘perception’ may also be seen as a strategy in order to resist control. Researches may look at various social movements, leaders, communities which have resisted and shaped public memory by introducing alternative ‘perception(s)’ spanning from pre-colonial to colonial India.  

Since this is the inaugural edition of the quarterly  journal, papers will also be accepted which look at the position of perception in various disciplines of knowledge and schools of thought like Positivism, Post-modernism, Marxism, Phenomenology, Humanism, Nihilism, Existentialism etc. .

Submission Format: The researches are requested to send in their abstracts in times new roman, size 12 and spaced 1.5. Scholars are requested to keep their abstracts below 500 words.

Please send your abstracts of maximum 500 words at contact.ipsdelhi at gmail.com by November 15th, 2017. For further information, mail on the abovementioned email I.D. Selected abstracts will be notified by the last week of December.