A Two-Day Online Conference on “Sustaining Cultural Diversity in the Context of Emerging Technologies in India” was organized by the School of Humanities (SoH), University of Hyderabad (UoH) during May 21 – 22, 2024 jointly with the Chair Partner – UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism (LPM), Centre for the Study of Foreign Languages (CSFL), and the UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies (VS), Department of English, SoH.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. B.J. Rao congratulated the organizers for this extremely timely conference and set the tone for the conference by highlighting the role of technology in protecting the cultural diversity. Prof Rao called for an attention to core values of cultures and cultural practices so that these can serve the nation, and ensure interesting and challenging pedagogic practices. Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao introduced the aims of the conference, being organized in the context of the UN‟s ‘World Day for Cultural Diversity’. Junhi Han, Chief of Culture, UNESCO New Delhi, on behalf of Dr. Tim Curtis, spoke of the theme of the conference as topical and relevant given the necessity to preserve diversity.
In the „Literature‟ panel chaired by Prof. J. Bheemaiah, CCL, Prof. Venkat Rao, EFLU, spoke of his sustained work in mnemocultures geared towards recognizing, conserving and disseminating cultural diversity. Prof. Rao noted that many cultures outside the Euro-American tradition are „lithic‟ in nature, with embodied memories. Dr. Avishek Parui, IIT Madras, spoke of the genre of flash fiction as a possible employment of technology of memory. He argued that the genre may be uniquely suitable for diverse cultural backgrounds to voice their stories through shareable narratives that may be disseminated and also translated across digital platforms and technology-interfaces.
In the „Language and Folk‟ panel chaired by Prof. S. Arulmozi, CALTS, Prof. Shailendra Kumar Singh, NEHU, explored the thorny question, as to how to bring together todays‟ living diversity and yesterday’s lived diversity so as toretain and strengthen what he termed India’s deep multilingualism and multiculturalism. Dr. Parameshwari Krishnamurty, IIIT-Hyderabad, spoke of the potential of NLP techniques and its tools for language documentation, translation, and analysis, which are essential for understanding and sustaining linguistic diversity. Prof. Niladri Dash, ISI, noted that there were two crucial issues in India: (a) an understanding of the complex texture of cultural diversities of the Indian pluricultural societies that need technological support for their sustainability, and (b) identification of the emerging technologies that can be purposefully used for addressing the questions relating to sustainability. Prof Dash called for combining our traditional knowledge base of „cultural diversities‟ with the new concepts of „emerging technology‟ to serve „cultural sustainability‟.
The „Indigeneity and Folk‟ panel, chaired by Dr. Joly Puthussery, CFS, opened with Prof. Devender Kumar, of BHU, who analyzed Jakari, a folk song genre flourishing amidst Haryanvi women for centuries, as an indigenous cultural artefact, it’s becoming vulnerable in the wake of modernity and globalization towards the end of the twentieth century, and its preservation by indigenous people through digital documentation and dissemination on YouTube in recent years. Prof. Om Prakash (NEHU) and Prof. Rajesh Kumar (IIT Madras) in their joint paper observed that while the process of digitization may have started as a technology revolution but it has now acquired the status of a social phenomenon transforming the process of socialization by blurring and even eroding linguistic boundaries.
Prof. Singh cautioned that without conscious efforts to address the existing biases and inequalities, these technologies may inadvertently perpetuate or exacerbate the disparities. Therefore, it’s imperative to promote ethical practices, diversity in tech industries, and inclusive design principles in order to ensure that technology contributes positively to diversity, he added.
At the valedictory chaired by Prof. Prabhakar Rao, Dean of Humanities, Dr. Rahul Kumar, Deputy Director, Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, noted that the conference was an important first step. He outlined the key CCRT initiatives about the freedom movement, especially the folk songs, the unsung heroes, which will become a part of the curriculum. The plenary by Prof. Udaya Narayan Singh addressed four key aspects of technology and cultural diversity: the Preservation of Cultures, Global Communication, questions of Accessibility and Diverse Representation.
He explained that the stories from various parts of the country around the freedom movement, narrated in simple modes. Calling for the digital divide to be overcome, Dr Kumar said one of the key areas for CCRT was the training of teachers in „art as pedagogy‟ and „cultural preservation‟. Such initiatives, he said, that tapped into the cultural and linguistic diversity of the nation would ensure the conservation of this diversity and languages. We need to make a repository of these oral traditions, memory cultures, he added and called for collaborations and joint efforts for the above, by the CCRT, UNESCO and the University of Hyderabad’s Chair Partner–UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism, the UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies. The conference concluded with vote of thanks by Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao, Dean, School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad.