Indo-British workshop & conference from Feb 3

AN INDO-BRITISH research workshop and academic conference on 'Identity and Collective Experience' is all set to get under way at Allahabad University's Centre for Advanced Study of the Department of Psychology from February 3.

Being organised in collaboration with the British universities of Dundee, St Andrews and Lancaster under the Link Programme of the British Council, the 7-day programme will focus around a number of concrete research topics relating to the attractions, dynamics and impact of collective experience associated with the Kumbh (every 12 years), Ardh Kumbh (six years after Kumbh), and the annual Magh Mela taking place in Allahabad.

"In March 2005, an Advanced Social Psychology Research Refresher Course took place in Allahabad with the funding from the University Grants Commission and the British Council. Hosted by the AU Centre for Advanced Study of the Department of Psychology, this course brought together UK and Indian social psychologists. The aim of the course was to build research capacity in Social Psychology in India. Following its success, this research workshop and academic conference is being organised to further the initiative," informed Prof Janak Pandey, Head of AU Psychology department and the programme co-ordinator of the joint project.

He informed that the basic goal of the forthcoming programme is two-fold.

"First, it will help in the research training of junior researchers in India like the PhD students besides also leading to the development of a long-term collaborative research that will bring together UK and Indian researchers with interest in social identity and group processes," he said.

Prof Pandey said that more specifically the organisers intend to develop a research proposal for a major study in 2007, the year of the Ardh Kumbh Mela.
"During this programme junior Indian researchers will work alongside senior Indian and UK researchers conducting pilot work during the 2006 Mela.

This pilot work and training will be conducted in the form of a 5-day workshop.

Each day will involve a period of briefing on conceptual and methodological issues followed by research activity.

It is envisaged that the participants in this workshop will be junior scholars like PhD students," he said.

Following the workshop, a two-day conference will be organised and will be attended by senior Indian academics. The theme of the conference will concern issues of social identity and group processes in India. " The conference will allow those involved in the conduct of the workshop to present their preliminary observations on theoretical and methodological issues arising from the pilot work in the Mela. In turn it will allow others to comment on this work, present their own suggestions for future work, and report on their own research work," Prof Pandey said.

Besides Prof Janak Pandey, the team behind the workshop and conference includes Dr P Singh (IIT Delhi), Dr Clare Cassidy (University of St Andrews), Prof Steve Reicher (University of St Andrews), Dr Nicholas Hopkins (University of Dundee) and Dr Mark Levine (University of Lancaster).

Resource persons for programme include faculty members of the AU Department of Psychology as well as other eminent social psychologists like Prof RC Tripathi, Prof ESK Ghosh, Prof Leela Krishnan, Prof RC Mishra and Prof Neharika Vohra and Dr Ragini Sen.

Prof Pandey said that the opportunities presented by the Mela in Allahabad for research are many as the Mela constitutes a collective gathering of almost unrivalled size, duration and intensity. "As such it provides an ideal environment in which to address a series of issues concerning the attraction, dynamics and impact of collective experience. It is a great opportunity to look for answers to question like: What is the impact of collective participation upon in-group identification and in-group loyalty as well as inter-group behaviour? What aspects of collective experience strengthen commitment to participation and to collective identity more generally?

What is the nature of the micro-interactions within the event-- mutual support, spatial organisation, rituals--and how do they relate to collective identification?