The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, in collaboration with the Centre for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (CESAH) in Paris (CNRS-EHESS), inaugurated the Third Edition of the Social Sciences Winter School today at its City Campus. Running from November 4 to 8, this year’s Winter School explores the theme ‘Questioning Society Through Image, Film & Sound,’ focusing on innovative methodologies and creative perspectives for social research.

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The event began with an opening address by Dr S Akbar Zaidi, Executive Director of IBA Karachi and member of the Winter School Steering Committee. Dr Zaidi extended gratitude to organizers, participants, and collaborators, acknowledging the importance of partnerships in cultural exchange and collective learning. He expressed IBA’s commitment to broadening the program’s reach and inviting an even larger pool of participants in future editions.

Dr Rémy Delage, a Research Scholar with CESAH, described the Winter School as a “unique training setup” that fosters collaboration among scholars from diverse backgrounds to tackle societal challenges through social science perspectives. Dr Michel Boivin, another CESAH scholar, highlighted the collaborative framework between France and Pakistan, which supports Pakistani students’ academic journeys, particularly in pursuing PhDs in France. Dr Boivin noted that this year’s Winter School would focus more intensively on methodological uses of image, film, and sound in social science research.

International plenary sessions and workshops underscore the School’s multidisciplinary approach, drawing trainers and participants from countries including France, Belgium, Sri Lanka, and Turkey. The first plenary session featured Professor Christopher Pinney, an anthropologist from University College London (UCL), who presented a talk titled, ‘On Medium Specificity, Or, What’s Photography Got to Do with It?’. Examining photography’s unique attributes through theorists like Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes, Professor Pinney delved into concepts like ‘photographability’ and ‘citizenry of photography,’ providing fresh insights into photography’s role in contemporary society.

In a subsequent session, Ms Saima Zaidi, Communication Designer and Director of Numaish-Karachi, presented on ‘Collective Memory: Community Engagement Through Visual Interventions.’ She showcased projects blending Pakistan’s rich visual culture with heritage preservation, including “Jhuley Lal: Crafting the Contemporary”, a Sindh-based collaboration of designers and artisans, and “Sheherezade: The Walled City Anthology”, a digital art project rooted in Lahore’s historical landscape. Ms Zaidi also introduced “The Reading Project”, an initiative to transform Karachi’s Khalikdina Hall into an inclusive cultural hub for community engagement.

Dr Nicolas Puig, an anthropologist from Université Paris Cité, spoke on the ‘Anthropology of Sound,’ highlighting how sound captures human experiences, social dynamics, and environmental relationships. He presented sound as an essential tool for understanding the social world and the nuances of cultural interaction.

Aiming to foster critical engagement with social and cultural narratives, the Winter School will conduct hands-on workshops that integrate theoretical insights with practical fieldwork. Workshops include “From Studio to Screen: Methodologies of Writing Social Sciences with Light, Crafting the Moving Image: Documentary, Anthropological, Ethnographic Perspectives in Pakistan, and Sound in Urban Environments from a Social Sciences Perspective: Field Recording, Sonic Archives, and Sound Documentary.

Designed for students, early-career researchers, and young professionals, this year’s Social Sciences Winter School offers a rigorous platform for exploring social issues through the lenses of image, film, and sound, promoting a deeper understanding of cultural narratives and societal change.

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