‘Unleashing Minds to Create a Sustainable Future’: ICHSS 2016

The International Conference on the Humanities and Social Sciences (ICHSS) organised by the Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya will be held on 27 and 28 July at the Arts Faculty premises. The Faculty Board of Arts decided based on the importance and the success of the first International Conference on the Humanities and Social Sciences held in 2011 to continue it as an annual event. This second ICHSS will provide a platform for a large number of local and international scholars on humanities and social sciences to come together.

‘Unleashing Minds to Create a Sustainable Future’ is the main theme of the conference. This theme was selected by taking into consideration the expected roles and responsibilities of the contemporary intellectuals. There are mixed reactions on the quality and quantity of the contributions of the intellectual society towards the realisations of the development goals in Sri Lanka. It is the responsibility of the contemporary intellectuals to provide effective solutions to modern day social problems transcending beyond the archaic views and traditional frameworks of analysis. It is our sincere expectation that the papers of this conference will bring to light not just academic critiques of the contemporary social issues but practical views, analysis and solutions that can be applied in social development. 

University of Peradeniya

There are a number of specific objectives behind this conference. They include among others contributing to contemporary intellectual culture through creation and dissemination of knowledge, provision of a intellectual platform for the academic staff and the post-graduate students to bring out their research findings, enhancing the institutional profile of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Peradeniya which is the pre-eminent centre of intellectual excellence and furthering the academic and research links of the University of Peradeniya with other national and international universities and research institutions.

The papers of the conference cover 17 themes which were selected on the basis of the broad intellectual scope of the Faculty of Arts and contemporary significance. These include among others Development and Development Policy, Trade Finance and Economic Integration, Comparative Literacy Criticism, Anthropology and Social Change, Religion Philosophy and Psychology, Humanism Human Rights and Cultural Relativism, Law and Society, Reconciliation Peace Building and Development in Post-Conflict Societies, Communication and Media Studies, Feminism Sexualism Gender, Geophysical and Environmental Studies, Linguistic and Language Studies, Aesthetic and Cultural Studies, History and Archaeological Studies, Education Pedagogy and Professional Development, and Library and IT Studies.

The conference also offers many other opportunities than simply presenting their research findings. Getting to know scholars from other universities and research institutions and thus to develop academic links and interactions with them need to be emphasised. Although this is an international conference the majority of the research papers will invariably be from the Sri Lankan scholars. Therefore the conference provides a unique opportunity for international scholars to closely observed Sri Lanka and to identify and assess the current Sri Lankan knowledge on various branches of knowledge in humanities and social sciences. 

Dr. Abdul Kalam, a unique intellectual said this:

• Learning gives Creativity
• Creativity leads to Thinking 
• Thinking provides Knowledge
• Knowledge makes you Great

It is our expectation that the second ICHSS that will be held at the University of Peradeniya in July this year will be an opportunity to bring to light research knowledge of high intellectual quality illuminated by creativity and high thinking.