2025-05-17

The advanced research methodology workshop titled Ascent,  organised by  Kerala History Congress in association with, Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences (TIES), was conducted from 12 to 17 May 2025. Bringing together approximately twenty five early career researchers, the intellectually charged week long engagement comprised a carefully curated series of scholarly lectures, dialogic sessions, structured writing exercises, and an intensive field immersion. The principal objective of the workshop was to cultivate a robust culture of critical inquiry, epistemological awareness, and methodological rigour among doctoral scholars, particularly within the broader purview of historical and social science research. The inaugural session was solemnised by Professor Karthikeyan Nair, President of the Kerala History Congress, and presided over by Professor Dr Punnen Kurian, Director of TIES. The keynote address, delivered by the distinguished historian Professor Dr Rajan Gurukkal, established a profound intellectual framework that animated the subsequent proceedings.

 The workshop traversed a wide spectrum of methodological concerns, with a particular focus on the epistemic foundations of research, the ideological dynamics of knowledge production, and the imperative for transdisciplinary approaches in academic enquiry. A formidable panel of resource persons like  Professor Dr Rajan Gurukkal, Professor K S Madhavan, Professor Gopakumaran Nair, Professor Mohammed Ali, Professor James Kurian, Dr Biju R I, Dr Malavika Binny, Dr Satish Palanki, Dr Tintu Joseph, and Dr Sheeba K , engaged participants in incisive discussions on the theoretical architectures of social research. These sessions interrogated the hegemonies embedded within historiography, scrutinised the methodological assumptions of conventional disciplinary boundaries, and foregrounded critical theory and ethics as indispensable tools of scholarly resistance. Particular emphasis was placed on the evolving domains of oral history, memory studies, and subaltern perspectives, which challenged linear narratives and called for a more inclusive and dialogic mode of historical reconstruction.

 Of particular distinction was the immersive fieldwork component, which took participants to Kuttikkanam, a site of layered ecological and historical significance, in pursuit of embodied memories, forgotten pasts, and material remnants such as tombs and other mnemonic artefacts. This exercise provided an opportunity to engage with spatial histories, vernacular knowledge systems, and localised memory practices that have often been marginalised in dominant historiography. In a series of sessions that interrogated the intersections of ecology and history, the discussions focused on environmental justice, the historiography of landscape transformations, and the methodological challenge of representing non human agency within historical narratives. Orchestrated with exemplary care by Dr Sebastian Joseph, with student coordination led by Sreelakshmi, the workshop successfully cultivated a reflective, critically informed, and ethically sensitive research ethos. Participant reflections affirmed the programme's profound impact on their scholarly trajectories, marking it as a significant intervention in research training within the humanities and social sciences.