The Department of History is enriched by a competent and committed faculty. The members engage students in diverse waysby teaching and mentoring. There is a constant interface between students and teachers within and beyond the classroom which helps them understand issues in a more nuanced manner and comprehend, analyse and interpret their subject and their passage of lifewith dexterity and humanness. They are able to connect the manifold undercurrents of historical processes taking place since the evolution of humankind through change, continuity and assimilation. The Department of History organises out of the box learning through annual seminars,international or nationalin nature, museum tours, heritage walks, historical tours, competitive programmes including debate, quiz, painting, slogan writing, film reviews,poetry recitation and character play.
The seminars attract the crème de la crème from amongst the historians and thedepartment has had the privilege of hosting historians and scholars like Prof. Catherine Asher, Prof. Ebba Koch, Prof. Dilip Chakrabarty, Prof. Anand Kumar, Prof. Narayani Gupta, Prof. Bhagwan Josh, Prof. B. P. Sahu, Prof. Amar Farooqui, Prof. Sunil Kumar, Prof. Aparna Basu, Prof. Najaf Haider, Prof. Farhat Hasan, Prof. Najaf Haider, Prof. Salil Mishra, Prof. Alok Rai, Prof. Anirudh Deshpande, Prof. Aditya Nigam, Dr. K.K. Muhammad and Dr. Meenakshi Jain, amongst others. These scholars have deliberated on themes of Acculturation, Syncretism, Nationalism, Historiography, Language, Environment and the city of Delhi. The seminars have attracted grants from various government institutions and private organisations. Grants from governmental bodies have been extended by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR),the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Central Bank of India.
The Department organises National Museum tours to understand the material culture of the Indus Valley sites and Lothal etc., miniature paintings and numismatic displays of the medieval Indian period. Heritage walks are held regularly to various parts of Delhi where students can be made to understand the unfolding of historical developments through the intervention of structures such as the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Kotla Firuz Shah, Tughlaqabad, Humayun’s Tomb and Nizamuddin, Red Fort, Salimgarh Fort etc. Historical Tours have been a consistent feature and students have been to the sites of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Gwalior, Bharatpur, Sanchi Stupa, Bhopal, Bhimbetka, Bhojeshwar Temple, Udaygiri Caves etc. Intra- department competitive programmes are organised for students to showcase their talent in their chosen events and win cash prizes for the same.
A gamut of these activities help the students not only to hone their talents but also to develop team spirit and leadership attributes and absorbthe human qualities that a didactic subject like History familiarises them with.
The students and faculty of the Department of History are enthusiastic participants in the pedagogic and mentoring process and constant interaction unleashes their potential not only to be productively engaged in their lives but also to be an asset to society. consistently encourage young minds Young minds are encouraged to have The pedagogical methodology is further enhanced now with ICT tools in the classrooms.
