Oxford University Press will host the first edition of The Open Quote, a conference aimed at stimulating informed dialogue on relevant socio-cultural matters in South-Asia.
The day-long conference on Wednesday will see academicians discuss various forms and levels of engagement between religion and society that has developed in South Asia.
Titled 'Religion and Society in Contemporary South Asia', the conference will reflect upon key issues including cultural nuances and changing definition of religion in the modern day context; economical dimensions of religion; issues of religion, law and legality; and representation of religion in popular culture among others.
The interaction aims at discussing why religion and society are important in contemporary South Asia; how concepts like religion and faith have evolved over a period of time; and how open dialogues like these will benefit students and faculties at large.
Naveen Choudhary, associate director (marketing) at Oxford University Press (India) says the topic of religion and society was chosen as it is empirical to revisit the basics and address, introspect and redefine phrases like religion, secularism, and modernity.
"Religion has acted as a major binding force in society by imbibing certain moral values, especially in South Asia where it is a predominant force in all the non-secular as well as secular nations. With time, religion has blended with politics in society and religious influence that stands interwoven with the social and political order has been difficult to unwind and remove despite best of efforts done in the past," he says.
The idea of Oxford Open Quote, according to him, is to "unbox and uncover one subject area at a time".
In the coming conferences, we will discuss other socio-culture matters that are important to the South-Asia market, he adds.
The conference aims to reach out to students, faculties, academicians and scholars and stimulate informed dialogue between the participants, thereby making fresh ideas available to the larger public, especially the young generation.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
