Latest news with #DarioFo
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Embracing coding and culture: The humanities find a home in IITs
These shifts raise more fundamental questions. What do we mean by 'valuable' knowledge? Who has the privilege to decide what counts as literature, or art, or insight? For instance, take the Nobel Prize in Literature. When Dario Fo, the Italian playwright, won in 1997, and Bob Dylan in 2016, many critics baulked. They were not 'real' writers, some argued. While others saw it differently. After all, Fo and Dylan were both storytellers in a more encompassing way. Their stories were never supposed to just be read; they were meant to be heard, felt, and performed, like the epics of Homer and Kalidasa, the plays of Shakespeare. Maybe this was a return to the roots of literature. This very rethinking is happening in the humanities classrooms of IITs. Scholars are not only analysing printed texts; they are exploring how Instagram captions and hashtags shape public discourse; how digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook become the repository of language, art, and practice, indigenous or otherwise; or how algorithms control what we read, and how digital archives are reshaping our cultural memory. Discussing interdisciplinarity is much easier than doing it. Conventionally, research funding happened horizontally, but now momentum is building towards the diagonal, raising the question: what role should academics (and academic institutions) play in an evolving world characterised by technological acceleration and cultural upheaval? For decades, STEM disciplines were measured by quantifiable outputs: patents, products, and market impact. But that feels increasingly small in the wake of climate change, AI ethics, and social disconnection. Hence, the questions we face today are not only scientific; they are also social, cultural, and moral. What is emerging within these IITs is a conscious reframing for seeing code and computation in the larger context of history, ethics, language, and social practice. As India endeavours to establish itself as a globally relevant knowledge hub, this interdisciplinary current that is developing within the IITs is likely to be one of its greatest assets beyond metadata and computation. These institutions are not only edifying engineers and scientists but also training the next wave of thinkers who will grapple with the ethical, social, and political implications of their work. The growth of interdisciplinary research in the IITs will not simply depend on institutional changes, but is contingent upon the gradual shift in academic outlook and engagement. Moving in this direction will require institutional and intellectual courage to move beyond the comforts and legacy of established models, and seek a more inclusive, responsive way of 'knowing.' However, should the preliminary signs be considered, the journey has already begun. References Frodeman, Robert, Julie Thompson Klein, and Roberto C. S. Pacheco, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Kaur, Ravinder. 'Locating the Humanities and the Social Sciences in Institutes of Technology.' Sociological Bulletin 54, no. 3 (2005): 412–27. (The author is an Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna)
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedy and political satire set for the stage
A riotous blend of comedy and political satire is coming to a Dorset stage. Weymouth Drama Club is staging Accidental Death of an Anarchist from February 26 to March 1 at The Harbour Theatre, 7 Hope Street, Weymouth. Dario Fo and Franca Rame's classic farce, newly adapted by Tom Basden, is a fast-paced, razor-sharp take on corruption and deception in the police force. Packed with absurdity, quick-fire dialogue, and slapstick chaos, this play offers audiences a night of big laughs with bite. Director Tony King says: "The evening may leave you questioning authority, but it'll definitely have you in stitches." Don't miss this opportunity to experience a masterful blend of comedy and social critique. Tickets are £14 and available now via the website
