By TCN News,
New Delhi: The Department of History & Culture of Jamia Millia Islamia has been rated as a Centre of Excellence in a Survey called “Arts and Humanities Research Mapping, India” conducted by India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore.
The survey has listed 32 “Centres of Excellence” all over the country and has named Jamia’s “Department of History & Culture” as one such centre. These “Centres of Excellence” have been chosen for the merit and strength of their research programmes, the multi-pronged activities they have initiated in order to advance their chosen areas of research among other factors.
According to the report, the Department of History & Culture at Jamia from its inception has been led by a group of distinguished historians, who have emphasized the teaching and writing of the social and cultural history of medieval India, as a way of both understanding and bringing about progressive change in South Asia.
One of the strengths of the Department, according to the survey, is its emphasis on languages other than English in which historical sources are found. In keeping with its focus on the knowledge of source languages, many of the faculty are familiar with the classical languages such as Sanskrit and Persian which forms the backbone of research into early medieval and pre-colonial Indian history. The faculty’s linguistic competence is wide ranging and encompasses Rajasthani, Malayalam, Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, and French.