EVENTS

The talk is based on the speaker’s latest non-fiction film, “Those 4 Years” (52 mins). The Nilgiris have gained the distinction of being a geographic indication for tea, today. Somewhere behind the present glory is a remote connection with the Chinese that remains forgotten. Travelling across three countries and reams of colonial office records, “Those 4 Years” is an amazing journey into the lives of those Chinese who came to India around the middle of the 19th century. It is a history of people, plants and places - as it catalogues their contributions to plantations, locates places and sites associated with their earliest arrival and stay and, more remarkably, manages to locate some of the descendants of those Chinese who arrived in India over 150 years ago.

About the Speaker

Joe Thomas Karackattu is an Associate Professor at the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He was “Fox Fellow (2008-09)” at Yale University, “Centenary Visiting Fellow” (2013; nominated award) at SOAS, University of London and “CISLI Fellow” (2017-19), at the India China Institute at the New School, New York. “Those 4 Years” is his latest work which has been screened at Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, the New School (NYC), the India International Centre (IIC), and Ashoka University. His first film, also non-fiction, titled “Guli’s Children” (2016), has also been screened at the NUS (Singapore), Duke University, NYU, University of Copenhagen, Beijing, Shanghai, New Delhi and several universities across India. Dr. Karackattu was the recipient of the “Young Faculty Recognition Award 2020” at IIT Madras. He studied Economics at St. Stephen's College (Delhi) and Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi).

About the Chair

Ravi Bhoothalingam is currently Founder and Chairman of Manas Advisory, a Consultancy practice focusing on Top Management Coaching. He is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He holds a Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University and also has an AMP from Harvard Business School. He has travelled extensively in China and its neighbourhood, and has led expeditions across Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Mongolia and Myanmar. He is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Core Group on China and on the Editorial Boards of China Report and World Affairs. His interests cover the history of China and practice of Confucianism, Sino-Indian business and economic ties. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London. Ravi has written extensively about how the application of science and psychology can enhance understanding between India and China.

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