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TIME Magazine

In the absence of sound history being taught in schools, some organizations are trying to provide an accurate portrayal in other ways. Eshan Sharma, founder of Karwaan, a student-led history collective, features free conversations with prominent historians, which are available online.

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About Us

​Founded in 2019 by Eshan Sharma, the idea behind Karwaan is to promote the knowledge of history among young minds and the general public and inspire them to be inquisitive and committed to this field, as well as to make people understand the importance of heritage and history. To unshackle history from its inaccessibility roots and take it straight to the masses, we began our journey as an independent students’ collective at Delhi University. Karwaan is actively working towards breaking the stereotypes of academic disciplines and keeping the public engaged with critical conversations about our past, present, and future.

German History Unbound with Professor H. Glenn Penny (UCLA)
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Karwaan : The Heritage Exploration Initiative

German History Unbound with Professor H. Glenn Penny (UCLA)

Professor Penny is a renowned historian whose work reimagines German history through a global, polycentric lens—challenging conventional narratives and integrating themes of migration, transcultural belonging, and ethnology. His scholarship spans the globe and centuries, offering powerful insights into how German identity has been constructed, contested, and transformed across time and space. Glenn Penny studies histories of belonging, knowledge, and migration, focusing on German speakers and communities worldwide. His work with ethnological museums and deep exploration of German interactions with non-European cultures have earned him numerous accolades, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and fellowships in Berlin and Munich. German History Unbound by H. Glenn Penny presents a bold reimagining of modern German history, covering the period from the 1750s to the present. Rejecting the traditional nation-state-centered approach, Penny draws on insights from historians like James J. Sheehan to propose a polycentric vision of German history—one that embraces the experiences of Germans far beyond Central Europe. The book contends that German history must account for global connections, mobilities, and the lives of German communities in diverse locales such as Austria, Chile, and Russia. It argues that "Germanness" has often been hybrid and fluid, shaped by migration, plural identities, and transcultural interactions. By decentering the nation-state, German History Unbound challenges dominant historical narratives and insists on the intellectual and political necessity of recognizing Germany’s complex past. Rather than seeking a new master narrative, it advocates for multiple, overlapping stories as analytical tools to better understand human motivations and historical realities. In doing so, the book undermines exclusionary forms of nationalism and highlights the rich diversity that has always existed within German identities.
Can History Absolve? Can History Judge? | Professor Martin Jay
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Karwaan : The Heritage Exploration Initiative

Can History Absolve? Can History Judge? | Professor Martin Jay

Appealing to history, rather than God, to provide an ultimate judgment about human actions can have a justificatory or consolatory function. The former grants proleptic absolution for acts that may be morally dubious because of their benign consequences, while the latter allows victims in the present to gain a measure of relief by imagining they will be honored by posterity. In both cases, problematic assumptions about “history” and “judgment” call into question their faith that future generations will vindicate their struggles today. The first of these assumptions is that “history” conveys worth by what might be called “victors’ justice,” in which success proves that the winner was morally superior. The second is that “history” is an impersonal process, which can be recounted in a single meta-narrative, rather than an ongoing series of different narratives, which are themselves variable depending on who is doing the narrating. When “history” means the community of historians who recount and analyze the past, there is rarely, if ever a grand consensus agreed upon by all. Finally, whereas the judgment of God is assumed to be qualitative and individual, perfect for each case, human judgment depends either on deontological rules, which may not be universal, or by analogies that are only roughly equivalent. In either case, the judgment can never transcend the fallibilities of those doing the judging and approach the perfection of a divine Last Judgment. Perhaps the most plausible version of “history will judge” is the realization that we are judged in the present by the still admirable aspirations of the past, which have yet to be realized. About the Speaker: Professor Martin Evan Jay is one of the most eminent intellectual historians of our time. A celebrated scholar of the Frankfurt School, critical theory, and historiography, he is Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Member of the American Philosophical Society. With seminal works such as The Dialectical Imagination, Downcast Eyes, Refractions of Violence, and most recently, Immanent Critiques: The Frankfurt School Under Pressure (2023), Professor Jay has shaped generations of thought across disciplines. His ongoing research delves into the intersections of nominalism and photography, while his writing continues to appear in renowned journals like Salmagundi.
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“I would like to congratulate Karwaan Heritage for making our rich multi-layered history more accessible to the public. I hope you continue to work towards bringing people together through our shared heritage. I wish you the very best for your future endeavours.”

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha

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©2020 by Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative

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