Importance of maintaining cultural relationships between a community and their diasporas underscored
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 18 2022: Manipur University Vice Chancellor Professor N Lokendra has underscored the importance for considering the different components that are absorbed from various ethnic communities in and outside Manipur while having a proper frame of reference for Manipuri culture.

He made the above statement while delivering the presidential speech at the inaugural function of the one day National Discourse on Cultural Identity in State-Diaspora Relations which was organized by the Department of Dance & Music, Manipur University at its complex today.

The VC also stressed on the need to have a bigger canvas in understanding the culture of Manipur.

He further said that Manipur has been a melting pot of cultures which came along with different ethnic groups from different parts of the South East Asian countries as well as from different parts of the Indian sub-continent.

Manipuris must go beyond the traditional boundary of the discipline of dance and music, he added.

Importance of maintaining cultural relationships between a community and their diasporas underscored

Saying that the new National Education Policy encourages the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary method of studying, N Lokendra observed that the traditional system of working within the ambit of a particular discipline which followed for many years has failed to produce the required knowledge to meet the evolving and developing changes in the society.

He maintained that the framework set by social anthropologists, cultural anthropologists and scholars of other disciplines must apply in understanding the predicaments and nature of social and economic change of the Manipuri Diaspora.

Speaking as the chief guest, Mizoram University Vice Chancellor KRS Sambasiva Rao stressed on the importance of maintaining cultural relationships and attachment between a community and their diasporas.

He also emphasized on inculcating the spirit of protecting and promoting one's own cultural heritage to their Diasporas.

The VC appealed the faculties of the Department of Dance and Music, Manipur University to create a website and enrol the Manipur Diasporas besides uploading information about the programs and activities related to the same.

Manipur University Registrar W Chandbabu and co-convenor of the programme I Gambhir also attended the function as the guests of honor.

Later a technical session attended by the Mizoram University Professor Dr Thangjam Robert and former Manipur University Professor W Nabakumar and former Commissioner of Manipur Dr RK Nimai as the resource persons and observer respectively was also held.