Marcelo Caruso 

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Title: Resistance and subalternity: “Superstitions” and “rumours” against schooling in colonial India

Abstract

Resistance against the modern institutions of education has become one of the most interesting historiographical fields of research in the tradition of a history ‘from below’. Largely inspired by the historiography of popular cultures, particularly in early-modern Europe, (compulsory) school attendance could rightly be characterized as an expropriation of the life time of subaltern groups. Is this concept of resistance a romanticized, one-sided version of the idea of resistance? Are all subaltern equal? Put in the concepts advanced by Michel de Certeau: Are schools a ‘strategy of power’ leading to legitimate and virtuous ‘tactics’ of resistance by subaltern actors?

I will discuss these questions by looking at forms of resistance displayed in an eminently transcultural context: Colonial India in the time of high-colonialism until the partial transfer of educational governance to ‘native’ governments in 1922. First, I will focus on the idea of “superstitions” of the native populations affecting the spread and improvement of education.

Second, I will delve into a powerful means of resistance, well established in the field of cultural and political history, but not in educational historiography: rumours. Recorded instances of resistance against schools propelled by circulating rumours may give insights into practices of resistance of local communities. Certainly, both phenomena are elements of the colonial record that has to be read carefully and, sometimes, sceptically. Reading ‘superstitions’ and ‘rumours’ as acts and forms of resistance against schooling under colonial conditions may help to recast the idea of resistance beyond the binaries of the powerful and the powerless.

Stephanie Olsen

Tampere University

Title: Schoolchildren’s dreams: Complicating questions of power and resistance in school settings and in archives

Abstract

All educational systems, formal and informal, are expressions of power. What is often less apparent, at least as revealed in the archive, is resistance to that power. This is especially true when thinking about children and young people, whose own accounts are often hard to find in the historical record. This address will think through some of the ways to conceptualize these silences and rare accounts in a complex nexus of relational power and resistance among adults and young people. It will also problematize what this resistance could mean contextually, moving away from finding “agency” and young “voices,” toward more complex questions about young people’s emotions and experiences.

These theoretical and methodological questions will be explored through the unlikely source base of schoolchildren’s accounts of their dreams, collected in a wide variety of London schools during the First World War. What can these dream accounts tell us about young people’s resistance in school and elsewhere, and about children’s power?

Preliminary Program 

Day 1 

09:00- Registration
10:30-12:00 Panel sessions 
12:00 Lunch  
13:00-14:00 Keynote 1: Marcelo Caruso 
Coffee
14:30-16:00 Panel sessions
16:15-17:45 Panel sessions 
18:00-20:00 Welcome reception, Aula Magna  

Day 2

9-10:30 Paper sessions 
Coffee 
11-12:30 Paper sessions
12:30 Lunch 
13:30-14:30 Keynote 2: Stephanie Olsen
Coffee
15:00-16:30 Paper sessions  
16:45-18:15 Paper sessions
19:00 Conference dinner (Proviant, Albano)

Day 3 

10:00-11:30 Panel sessions
Coffee
12:00-13:30 Panel sessions  
13.30-14:30 Lunch
Ca 14:30 Post-conference social event: guided tour (more info to follow) 
 

The conference welcomes presentations in two formats: panels and individual papers. For scheduling reasons, a maximum of two presentations per person will be allowed. We accept submission in all Scandinavian languages as well as English.

Panels

Accepted panels are allotted 90-minutes-sessions and typically feature 3-5 panelists with time left for discussion. A panel proposal requires an abstract of no more than 500 words (including bibliography) describing the topic and scope of the panel and abstracts of no more than 300 words for each individual paper, names and affiliation of the authors, name of discussant (optional). Note that only one author should submit each panel proposal. Our Organizing Board will be reviewing the abstract and decide to reject or accept your proposal. 

Individual papers

Paper sessions are 90 minutes long and typically feature 3 or 4 presentations. Presentations should be maximum 15-20 minutes, depending on how many papers are presented in the session.

An individual paper submission must contain an abstract of no more than 500 words (including bibliography). Our Organizing Board will be reviewing the abstract and decide to reject or accept your proposal. 

Submission of abstracts

Last date for submission of abstracts: November 1, 2024
Link for submission (EasyChair)
 

December 15, 2024: Registration opens (Early bird)
February 1, 2025: Full price registration starts.

Registration link

Conference registration fee (excluding VAT):

Early bird (before February 1, 2025): 3000 SEK
Early bird PhD Students (before February 1, 2025): 2500 SEK
Regular (from February 1, 2025): 3500 SEK
Regular PhD (from February 1, 2025): 3000 SEK

Conference dinner at Proviant Albano: 950 SEK (including VAT)
 

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