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UGC
seminar at Goalpara College on Feb. 3rd and 4th
Feb. 2012
The
Depatment of English of Goalpara College is going to
organize a UGC sponsored National Seminar on INDIAN
WRITING IN ENGLISH AND MARGINALIZATION in
collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra, Goalpara Assam on
3-4 February 2012.
INDIAN WRITINGS IN ENGLISH AND
MARGINALIZATION
Objectives
Marginality is
a condition in which a person, a group or a community is
marginalized by a dominant force/ forces. Hence
marginalization is a process of domination and
subordination. This premise partly answers the question
who marginalizes whom? Besides this understanding, there
are complex issues involved when we theorize domination
and subordination. It is Hegel in his theorization of
self/other binary and critiquing Kant underlines the
unequal relation between the two in that he privileges
the self. This inequality has been theorized from
socio-political, ideological, gender and
liberal-humanist perspectives. Among them, the two most
dominant perspectives are Gramsci’s theory of hegemony
in which the dominant class marginalizes the subordinate
groups and the subaltern thesis developed following
Gramsci that attempts to historicize voicelessness. In
India, marginality is very complex as it goes beyond the
binary of domination and subordination. We have in
India, marginalization of communities, minorities and
others in the name of religion, location, occupation and
so on besides marginalization in the name of class,
caste, gender and tribe.
Literature as a mode
of discursive articulation always endeavours to give
voice to the marginal. It sensitizes us to the condition
of the oppressed, the alienated, the discriminated and
the one who exists on the margin. At the level of
literary marginality, we face the problem at two levels,
first, in the representation of the minorities, the
dalits and the tribes in mainstream writing in general
and, secondly, even if they are represented, they mostly
are represented as minor characters and are stereotyped.
The critical analysis of a text never happens from the
point of view of a minor and minority character.
Further, in critical reading of minor and marginalized
characters they do not draw our attention to their
socio-cultural status, location, identity and voice. The
voice of the marginalized is mostly muted.
It is in this
context, IWE as a literary domain representing a
pan-Indian consciousness needs to be examined in looking
at its responses to marginality. As a site it hosts
diverse sensibilities and it has also expressed from the
very beginning of its evolution, in the novels of
Mulkraj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan, in the poetry
of A.K. Ramanujan, Kamla Das and Jayant Mohapatra and in
the plays of Badal Sircar, Vijaya Tendulkar and Girish
Karnad and a host of others, a deep concern for the
forces that marginalize and constitute different forms
of marginality. The present seminar would look at the
process of retracing the marginal voices in exploring
IWE as a genre on the premise that literature as a
social product has been more responsible in this mission
than other disciplines as it always centralizes the
disjuncture between centre and periphery, subordination
and domination and self and other responding to a host
of theoretical-philosophical discourses. Although IWE
remains the core of the seminar, it would be
inter-disciplinary in its focus.
The
following are the areas of thrust:
(a)
Post colonialism and Marginality
(b) Theories of Marginality and Literature
(c) Representing the Marginal and Indian Fiction in
English
(d) Marginality and Indian Drama and Poetry in English
(e) Theories of representation, IWE and the dynamics of
caste and Tribe (Dalit and
Tribal Writing)
(f) Women’s Writing in English and Gender
(g) Indian fiction in English translation and
Representing the Tribe
(h) Marginality and Tribal Literature in India
(i) Emerging Literature from NE in English and
Articulating the Marginal Voices
(j) Voices from the periphery: Writings from NE
Call for Papers
The research article/paper, not exceeding six pages,
should be related to anyone of the areas mentioned
above. The abstract in hard and soft copies shall be
sent along with the filled-in Registration Form to the
Convener cum Organizing Secretary of the Seminar on or
before 25th December, 2011. The research paper and its
soft copy, prepared in MS Word format, shall be sent by
registered post or courier or email on or before
5th January, 2011.Selected papers will be considered for
publication in proceedings containing ISBN number.
Please contact the Organizing Secretary for any
information related to the seminar.
Convenor cum
Organizing secretary of National seminar
Mozbul Haque
Choudhury
Assistant
Professor, Department of English
Goalpara
College , Goalpara. P.O- Goalpara ,Assam.
PIN- 783101.
Email-mhchoudhury@rediffmail.com. Mobile number;
9435023813
Ø Seminar
participants
will be
offered hospitality
including breakfast, lunch and Dinner. Accommodation
will be arranged by the organizing committee for which
prior information has to be provided well in time and
the person concern should have to pay the amount for the
same in advance of Rs.500/- by demand draft drawn in
favour of Principal, Goalpara College, Goalpara-783101,
payable at SBI, Goalpara Branch.
Ø
Presentation using LCD will be
appreciated.
Ø Kindly make your own travel arrangement.
Ø
Participants shall pay an amount of Rs. 500/- for
registration.
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