Friday, June 8, 2012

IRDIS signs MoU with US varsity


Abdul Gani

Guwahati: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed recently between the Institute of Research and Documentation of Indigenous Studies (IRDIS), Assam and Stanford University, USA at the office premises of IRDIS in a bid to widen its field of study. IRDIS is a centre of multi and interdisciplinary research and documentation on the diverse ethnic communities of Assam in relevant fields.

The efforts taken up by the centre is also collaborative and comparative in nature since indigenous studies are multidisciplinary. The Centre for Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), Native American Studies (NAS), and the Woods Institute for the Environment (WIE) at Stanford University, USA are the signatories to this MoU with IRDIS. Based on this MoU, collaborative and comparative initiatives devoted to interdisciplinary studies of issues directly impacting ethnic people in places across the world and Assam in particular, would be taken up.

Deepa Dutt, executive director of the institute stated that such endeavours would greatly benefit ethnic people by empowering the communities with knowledge and help a deeper understanding of the shared interests and the common challenges confronting ethnic people around the world.

“We are looking ahead. It’s a globalization of the ethnic or the first nation people through research. Their people will come over here to research on the ethnic communities and the vice versa. It will definitely work for betterment for the people involved,” Dutt told Seven Sisters Post.

She further said that research and documentation initiatives on a wide range of areas such as indigenous culture, socio-economic studies, health, education, indigenous and traditional knowledge, and population numbers would be taken up through this collaboration.

The MoU will also aim at encouraging students and researchers to obtain cross-cultural research training with a view to advancing knowledge about ethnic people all over the world and to participate in discussions and symposia on topics relevant to the indigenous communities, while also encouraging scholarly exchange programmes. The IRDIS was inaugurated by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on March 21 in the presence of Matthew Snipp of Stanford University. (Seven Sisters Post)

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