How are events and movements remembered and interpreted? Who collects records and how are these made available for public discussion?

Join Profs. Janaki Nair, Kamala Sankaran and Babu Mathew to discuss the forgotten records of Indian labour movements. 

Each will speak for 15 minutes about their work with labour movements in different parts of India, and the records they have collected or created, including films, interviews, draft bills or minutes of meetings. They will assess the state of the field of labour studies, identify gaps in archival collections and suggest ways to move forward.

2 May 2023

5:15 – 6: 30 PM

Room 101, OAB

About the Speakers:

Janaki Nair retired as Professor of History from JNU. She is author of Mysore Modern: Reconceptualising the Region under Princely Rule (Orient Blackswan 2012), The Promise of the Metropolis: Bangalore’s Twentieth Century (Oxford University Press, 2005), Miners and Millhands: Work, Culture and Politics in Princely Mysore (Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998), Women and Law in Colonial India: A Social History (Delhi: Kali for Women, 1996) among others.

Kamala Sankaran is Professor of Law at NLSIU, and author of Freedom of Association in India and International Labour Standards (Lexis Nexis, 2009). She has edited Challenging the Legal Boundaries of Work Regulation  (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2012) and Affirmative Action: A View from the Global South (SunMedia, Stellenbosch, 2014).

Babu Mathew is Professor at NLSIU. He was the Country Director of ActionAid International in India. He has been closely involved in collective bargaining processes at both national and local level, as the chief negotiator on behalf of workers. He was also Vice- President of Trade Union International for two terms.