Confluence: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (CJIDS) (ISSN: 2582-3256) is an online journal committed to fostering and encouraging young voices and their ideas by providing an academic platform to budding scholars to submit their scholarly work.

‘Interdisciplinarity’ is the key epistemic focus of CJIDS and it actively encourages students to think and break disciplinary boundaries and synthesize insights across streams of thought. By this virtue, the Board of Editors hope students will be encouraged to ask questions located at the intersections of various disciplines, and engage in research that seeks to synthesise perspectives from multiple disciplines and to that extent we trust that this issue of Confluence has been true to the journal’s core mandate.

This volume (Volume IX) has three categories of writing: two research articles, five commentaries and one book review. Put together, these articles cover themes across several disciplines, including Peace and Conflict Studies, Cultural Studies, and International Relations. Each article in itself is multidisciplinary and offers analyses from paradigms within a disciple, with the aid of and repercussions upon multiple others.

The cover design is ideated and designed by Sangana Ghosh and Saanaya Nair, which is built around the idea of synthesis. At the centre lies the vector equilibrium, an elemental form within the ambit of sacred geometry – where every point is held in perfect balance and represents unity of knowledge itself. Within this mandala (of vector equilibrium) a fish is a traveller of fluid realms! Being endowed with the gift of fluid intuition, this creature of water becomes symbolic of a knowledge seeker in the ambit of liberal arts – one who is curious and unconstrained by boundaries.

The agile nature of the fish is therefore, to mirror the intellectual fluidity required to move from the sciences to the humanities or from mathematical reasoning to philosophical reflection. Lastly, the background cranes widely recognized as a symbol of peace, recovery and personal growth, suggests that the pursuit of knowledge is not only agile and exploratory but also patient and grounded. Together, the fish and the crane articulate two complementary epistemic modalities: one characterised by spontaneity and exploratory movement and the other by continuity and resilience – both being indispensable. Through this convergence of form and metaphor, the cover gestures toward the ethos of our journal.

We do hope you will derive immense pleasure from reading this compilation of articles this volume has to offer.

Acknowledgements

Volume IX is due to the effort of a large student editorial team with able support and guidance from the board of Editors. We are thankful to our expert reviewers for carving out valuable time to review and provide detailed, rigorous and constructive feedback. Their detailed and insightful comments have provided a much needed nudge and encouragement to our budding authors.

Our stellar student intern team has worked tirelessly and brought their creative ideas and enthusiasm to every task required. Many thanks to the academic teams – Iliyan Sharif (Head intern), Akshat Saxena, Gauri Kulkarni, Akanksha Mokashi, Ishana Fondekar, Mahua Shah, Nandini Arora, Riddhi Rohatgi, Sangana Ghosh, Shreya Banerji, and Tavishi Panda for their attention to detail, meticulous copyediting and proofreading have enhanced the overall readability of the content. Being a web based journal – Nicole Aiman, Vedashree Shisode, Shravani Kelkar, Diya Hariani, and Shaunak Chodankar, Neha Sawrikar have excellently managed the CJIDS website and ensured a more intimate experience accessing the journal. The ideation and design of our cover page was done by Sangana Ghosh and Sanaaya Nair translating the virtue of interdisciplinarity into a captivating cover art.

Lastly, we extend our thanks to Dr Shweta Sinha Deshpande, Director, and Dr. Anita Patankar, our Founder Director and Advisor, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, for their support and encouragement throughout this journal’s journey.

Manjari Jonnalagadda

Editor–in Chief on behalf of the Board of Editors