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Academic Background and Expertise:
Keeping the above things in mind Hemchandrachara North Gujarat University has established the Centre for Indian Diaspora and Cultural Studies. The centre organized an international seminar on the “Indian Diasporic Experience: History, Culture and Identity” (Dec. 22-24, 2002) which was inaugurated by Shri J.C. Sharma, the Hon’ble Secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs. The seminar was held just before the ministry of external Affairs organized the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Scholars of international repute deliberated on the Indian Diaspora during the seminar. The proceedings of the diaspora will be published in the form of two books. Besides, the centre has been organizing special lectures by eminent academicians on the diaspora. A lot of research work is being conducted by students on the writers of the diaspora like Anita Desai, V.S. Naipaul, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth and Salman Rushdie, David Debydeen, Meena Alexander, Rohinton Mistry, Satendran Nandan, Uma Parmaswaran, M. G.Vassanji, Sashi Tharoor, Jhumpa Lahiri and many other Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi upcoming writers.
The centre aims at multidisciplinary research and studies. With a view to promoting research in socio-cultural and political aspects of the Indian Diaspora, the centre is collecting data on the patterns of migrations of various castes and communities from Gujarat to various parts of the globe. The departments of Computer Science, Information and Technology, Commerce and Management are actively engaged in researching the contributions of the Indian Diaspora in their relevant fields and providing important feedbacks to the centre for diaspora.
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