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Shastri News - October 2009

Should academics also be activists?

Should academics strictly study, teach and observe or are they also obligated to derive opinions, react to their findings, and influence others to do the same? Dr. Rama Singh, professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University, surely knows where he stands. Although lately he has been doing a lot less standing and a lot more running around. When you mix academics and activism what you don’t end up with is a lot of free time.

“Science is made up of both facts and value,” explains Dr. Singh. “Objectivity is required while obtaining facts, but expressing the value of those facts is not completely objective, it’s context dependent…how to make society a better place – that’s what science is all about.”

Dr. Singh started out as a Biologist and Geneticist who taught a few courses with philosophical overtones like “human diversity & human nature.” Gradually, however, he found his academic life blending more and more with his passion for humanity. In 1993, he decided to become a member of the Coordinating Council of McMaster’s Centre for Peace Studies and initiated fundraising for instituting an Annual Mahatma Gandhi Lectures on Non-violence.

On his own time, through the Centre for Peace Studies, and with funding from some Shastri Institute Grants, Dr. Singh began traveling to India to work with individuals who shared in his passion. Together they took up a movement known as the Mahila Shanti Sena; the ‘Women’s Peace Brigade.’ The group conducts training with women in the area of peace, non-violence and participatory democracy , and often receives funding from McMaster University and the Canadian International Development Agency to send interns from Canada, or to hold conferences and workshops in India.

In Canada, Dr. Singh is also working hard to build awareness and promote peace initiatives. For the last 17 years, Dr. Singh has been the chair of Hamilton’s annual Gandhi Peace Festival, which is sponsored by the Centre for Peace Studies, the India-Canada Society and the City of Hamilton. The festival centres around Gandhi’s Birthday on October 2nd. This year, nearly 350 people gathered at McMaster University’s downtown campus, to participate in music, children’s dances, multi-faith prayers and a peace walk around the downtown core. They were joined by Dr. Rajmohan Gandhi, historian, biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who spoke at the peace festival and delivered the 12th Annual Mahatma Gandhi Lecture at McMaster University.

Coordination of the festival requires an enormous amount of Dr. Singh’s time and energy, but he is thankful for the opportunity to keep it going year after year. Not every university chooses to allocate resources to promote community activism and development work. Still, Dr. Singh believes that things are changing and that Centres like McMaster’s Centre for Peace Studies are becoming more common in Canada and around the world. For him, it is a step in the right direction. He would like Gandhi Peace Festivals to become part of the Canadian cultural scene in all major metropolitans and communities.

To learn more about the Centre for Peace Studies, the Women’s Peace Brigade or the Gandhi Peace Festival, please click here: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/gandhi.

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Comments

On October 28, 2009, Vettai Ananthanarayanan said:

It is high time that Canadians at large learn about Prof. Rama Singh’s dedication to social causes and peace which people in Hamilton have known for so many years. Thanks for publishing this nice article on Dr. Singh. Hopefully, this will further increase Canadians’ awareness to commmunity service and to the principle of nonviolence.

On October 29, 2009, Ms Neeta Singh said:

I think that it is upto the individual academic concerned.Every academic has a right to be an activist because this is a chosen field wherby he/she can be of service to humanity.
Educators have an unconditional responsibility towards society therefore such an expression should neither be trivialised or denounced.It is implied however that the activism ought not to interfere with one’s academic work but to symbiotically create a positive and good impact upon society.

On October 29, 2009, Ms Neeta Singh said:

I think that it is upto the individual academic concerned.Academics have every right to be activists because this is a reflection of their individual expression.Educators have an unconditional responsibility towards society therefore if academics chose to use activism to share their views/ideologies they ought not to be questioned.Knowledge ought not to be restricted to books/classrooms there is a need to relate to humanity.
Ms Neeta Singh

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