Shashikala Srinivasan

Biography

I am an independent research scholar working on conception(s) of education, learning and forms of knowledge and their relation to culture. My book "Liberal Education and its Discontents: The Crisis in the Indian Universities",  is a revised version of my doctoral thesis, pursued at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, (CSCS), Bengaluru. It examines the intellectual-cultural roots of the idea of the university and liberal education and explores the limits of the category habits that govern this model when transplanted to a different cultural context like India. It also indicates the presence of alternative conceptual structures by mining Gandhi and Tagore on education.

I offer courses in liberal arts at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology as a visiting faculty and in my capacity as a senior research scholar and research consultant, I am also associated with the activities of Vagdevi Educational Trust, a non-profit organization working in the field of higher education, since 2017.

Education

M. A; M.Phil (English), Ph.D (Cultural Studies)

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Teacher and Researcher/Scholar.

I offer courses in Liberal Arts ( Humanities). I consider research to be an integral part of my teaching and offer courses that enable students to think more seriously about cultures and their relation to education and learning as a researchable and research worthy field. I enjoy teaching, guiding and mentoring students who are exploring something new in my field of interest. I am also collaborating with other scholars on a research proposal that looks at reconstructing the categories of Indian educational thought from a comparative perspective.

My work is interdisciplinary in nature and would be relevant to scholars in diverse fields which include disciplines like philosophy of culture, education, science, history of education, social epistemology, ethics, cultural studies, area studies,civilizational studies, anthropology, cognitive psychology, postcolonial literary studies and comparative science of cultures .

Personal Interests

I am fascinated by music learning traditions in India and often use them as a comparative pole to understand the nature of learning in the university and other institutions of learning. I also enjoy mentoring young research scholars and like to keep my home open for them to discuss, think, and write.

Books