31. Indo-Japan Dialogue in the 20th Century and Cultural Heritage in the New World Order
- Author:
- Rekha Yadav and Anisha Deswal
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- India International Centre (IIC)
- Abstract:
- The paper presentations on the second day of the conference on ‘Rethinking Cultural Heritage’ continued the trend of research-based studies, as evident on the first day of the meeting.1 Professor Amiya P. Sen began with a note of apology, stating that after reflection, he had changed the title of his presentation to ‘Japan and India as Ontology: Negotiating Modernity, Culture and Cosmopolitanism in Colonial Bengal’. The paper was divided into two parts. The first part of the paper focused on the broad introduction of the structure and arguments which he developed about 19th century Bengal, as the site where the first crop of a Westerneducated Hindu intelligentsia, creatively and actively engaged in a two-way, quite contrary, intellectual enterprise. While it produced some of the greatest supporters of Western modernity, it also created its sharpest critics. The second part of the paper examined changing Indian perceptions of Japan over a period of time, through the writings of two prominent intellectual figures of Bengal, that is Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), and the poet, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, History, Bilateral Relations, Culture, and Dialogue
- Political Geography:
- Japan, South Asia, India, and Asia