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IIT Madras hosts Exhibition on South Asia’s Long-standing Connections to MIT

 Formfees 21/01/2025

 

CHENNAI : The Archive of IIT Madras along with the Heritage Centre at Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ (IIT Madras) are organizing an exhibition on connections of South Asia to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S. It will focus on the longstanding connections between MIT and South Asia that go back more than 140 years.

Titled ‘South Asia & the Institute – Transformative Connections’, this exhibition by MIT will focus on the role of students from South Asia in this eminent American university, including alumni of IIT Madras. It is being hosted by the Archive and Heritage Centre of IIT Madras and run for the next two months. It is open for the public to view.

This exhibition was inaugurated on the campus today (21st Jan 2025) by Chief Guest Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Hon’ble Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, Government of Tamil Nadu, in the presence of Dr. Ranu Bopanna, President of MIT South Asian Alumni Association; Dr.Hamsa Balakrishnan, Associate Dean of Engineering at MIT; Prof. Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Dean (Global Engagement), IIT Madras; Dr. Mathangi Krishnamurthy, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chairperson, Archive of IIT Madras; Dr.S.Ponnarasu, Chief Archivist, Archive of IIT Madras; faculty, and students.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Hon’ble Minister for IT and Digital Services, Government of Tamil Nadu, said, “What is it that creates great institutions? Sometimes, it takes 20-25 years, sometimes a lot more. How do we ensure that institutions continuously create a high bar and set high standards? Land is land, buildings are buildings, and people are important, but transient. There are many answers but part of the answer is creating a culture. Things like even the greatest technical institutions expanding into the social sciences and creating social sciences and humanities departments are important. I am so glad to see that IIT Madras has a Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and an archive. It is important that institutions of all kinds have archives.

Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, himself an Alum of MIT, added, “I am additionally happy to be here as I was also interviewed for the project that became this MIT exhibition and film.”

The event is part of the inaugural symposium of the Archive of IIT Madras titledS‘Enchanting the Archive’ and will run on the 21st and 22nd of January 2025 at the Central Lecture Theatre on campus.

The ‘South Asia and the Institute: Transformative Connections’ exhibition is the result of a research collaboration that involved a special subject class in MIT’s Department of History with support from the board of MIT’s South Asian Alumni Association and the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) MIT-India program.

Welcoming the public to visit this exhibition through a message sent for the occasion, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “We are happy to host the South Asia – MIT event and looking forward to deeper collaboration with the Institute.”

Highlighting the significance of this exhibition, Dr. Sana Aiyar, Associate Professor of History, MIT, who is a key member of the team leading these efforts said, “South Asia and the Institute brings a historian’s gaze to this public exhibition to showcase the scope and scale of MIT’s very long and diverse engagement with South Asia. Some of the earliest Indian students at MIT came from Madras. Since the establishment of IIT Madras, these connections and exchanges have grown exponentially. After a year-long run at MIT, we are very excited to bring the exhibition to IIT Madras!”

On 22nd January 2025, the symposium will bring to the audience a roster of 12 speakers from across disciplines—renowned and much-feted social scientists, engineers, and artists—speaking about ongoing projects, research, and artistic and theoretical interventions in response to the provocation as to how one might enchant an archive.

Speaking about the genesis of this event, Dr. Mathangi Krishnamurthy, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chairperson, Archive of IIT Madras, said, “We have been fortunate to have unstinting support both in terms of resources but also strong encouragement from the Administration and Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras in the necessary project of setting up this archive. For our inaugural event, we wanted to provide varied audiences reasons to think of the Archive as a space and site that might invite them to think differently about science, art, and indeed, the practice of history; hence the title ‘Enchanting the Archive’. Our small team at the Archive led by Chief Archivist Dr. S. Ponnarasu has worked very hard to bring this event to fruition and we hope it will produce multiple engagements and interest.”

Dr. Mathangi Krishnamurthy further added, “It has also been greatly heartening to work with wonderful partners such as MIT and the Heritage Centre of IIT Madras to host the exhibition ‘South Asia at the Institute’. We hope that everyone visiting our campus over the next two months finds occasion to peep in and view it for themselves.”

 

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