𝗜𝗔𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 (𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲) 2022
INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES (IACLALS)
in collaboration with
JANKI DEVI MEMORIAL COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2022 (Online)
on
CIRCULATIONS, MEDIATIONS, NEGOTIATIONS: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSLATION FROM SOUTH ASIA
MARCH 2-5, 2022
Keynote Address: MARCH 2, 2022
Conference Schedule: iaclals___jdmc-2022-_online_conference_schedule.pdf
Abstracts Booklet: iaclals_2022_book_of_abstracts.pdf
ALL SESSIONS STREAMED LIVE ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.
in collaboration with
JANKI DEVI MEMORIAL COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2022 (Online)
on
CIRCULATIONS, MEDIATIONS, NEGOTIATIONS: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSLATION FROM SOUTH ASIA
MARCH 2-5, 2022
Keynote Address: MARCH 2, 2022
Conference Schedule: iaclals___jdmc-2022-_online_conference_schedule.pdf
Abstracts Booklet: iaclals_2022_book_of_abstracts.pdf
ALL SESSIONS STREAMED LIVE ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.
CALL FOR PAPERS:
"𝑪𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝑵𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔: 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒂"
MARCH 3-5, 2022
Translation (Latin: carrying or bringing across) is no longer considered a simple literary or linguistic activity of translating a text from one language to another. Rather, it now encompasses and evokes a range of speech acts of translating thoughts and emotions into words, sign and body language into verbal expression, translations to and from languages of the same family, translations into other language families, translating words into performance or multimedia texts, and/or vice-versa. Carrying or bringing across a sense of equivalent time, history, place, nationality, culture, gender, religion, sexuality, caste, class into another asymmetric linguistic or social terrain is no easy feat despite digital technologies making translations more accessible, prevalent and frantic every day. Translations involve transcreation, transmutation, adaptation as well as interpretation. In contemporary times, when mis-communication and mis-translation seem to prevail all around us in the world, the task of more or better translations remains urgent for facilitating mutual understanding and communication.
Translation in South Asia is as unique as a region itself. South Asia as a region is both old as well as new, existing in an unbroken web of interconnections continuing since ancient times framed by the ecological terrain of the Indian Plate and the Indian Ocean, as well as arriving anew from the more recent area studies departments of the West to encompass a joint gaze at countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Home to over 650 languages belonging to six notable language schools, namely, the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Tai-Kadai, and Great Andamanese (Source: World Literature). The region is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse and rich in the world while sharing many customs and cultural practices with each other. The experience of colonialism was common among many peoples of the region. In fact, colonial modernity was negotiated in the region through translation when works of new/western knowledge were translated massively into the languages of the region. Conversely, classical texts from this region were translated into European languages by leading Indologists, leading to increased awareness in the West about the East, what Raymond Schwab termed as ‘Oriental Renaissance’.
So, is translation in South Asia an act of inter-cultural translation or intra-cultural translation? Inter-cultural translation is an act of retrieval wherein marginalized writers and their works can be discovered by means of translation, particularly women writers belonging to marginalized communities who experience multiple marginalizations at various levels right from the actual creative exercise to the publication of their texts. In a decolonized world, translation, transcreation and adaptation contribute majorly towards discovering and/or consolidating literary canons. In intra-cultural translations, linguistic chauvinism can play a role in marginalizing not only a language but also a culture. Intra cultural translations of texts between sister languages can help reach out to larger readerships. Inter and intra cultural self-translation exercises are often undertaken by bilingual writers and authors looking for larger outreach. In postcolonial times, the objectives of translation, whether inter-cultural or intra-cultural, should be to subvert the hegemony of the dominant/prestige languages and literatures and redress the asymmetry between dominant literatures and minor languages/literatures.
As mentioned in the beginning of this CFP, Translation Studies in recent time has expanded its canon to embrace diverse domains of learning such as Colonialism, Film Studies, Anthropology, Geography, Refugee/Migration Studies, Memory Studies etc. This was signalled more than a decade ago by Maria Tymoczko in her book Enlarging Translation: Empowering Translators. The Conference will explore convergences and intersectionalities of Translation Studies with other modes, mediums and domains of scholarship. For example, when Satyajit Ray ‘translates’ Tagore’s Noshto Neer into his film Charulata, or the famous painter A R Chughtai ‘translates’ Ghalib’s verses into masterpieces of painting, or Marie Chouinard ‘translates’ Jérôme Bosch’s cluster of paintings known as Les Jardin Des Délices (Garden of Delights) into a masterpiece of choreography, we get to see how intermedial translation collapses boundaries imposed by different mediums and results in new interpretations and illumination of the ‘original text’. Moreover, South Asian literary cultures, particularly during the precolonial, premodern, preprint periods, exhibited ample instances of 'translation' from oral/aural to written, oral/written to mnemonical, verbal to visual, and vice versa. Translation, in these contexts, becomes a complex process that circulates, mediates, and negotiates between ideas scattered over a larger public sphere, which in turn also regulates their movements and accessibility within cultural realms. The conference visualises translation as a dynamic factor in the construction of a multimedial literary cultures in South Asia.
Papers are invited on the following sub-themes:
◆ Translation and Modernity in South Asia
◆ Translation as Cultural Negotiation
◆ Translation and Literary Historiography
◆ Intermedial Translations
◆ Translation and Multilinguality
◆ Translating Literary Forms/Genre
◆ South Asian Adaptations of Shakespeare and modern/avant garde playwrights
◆ Translation and Archival Research in South Asia
𝙂𝙐𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎
The conference is open 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝑨𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑳𝑺.
(Please visit https://www.iaclals.com/membership.html to know how to become a member)
DEADLINE EXTENDED
𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 (𝟐𝟓𝟎 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬) 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐨-𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 (𝐦𝐚𝐱 𝟕𝟎 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬) 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 3𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏, to 𝐢𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬@𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦.
IMPORTANT DATES:
DEADLINE EXTENDED
Submission of Abstracts by: 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 30, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭
Acceptance of Abstracts by: 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟬, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭
Registration: 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮
Registration Fees: Rs 500/ for research scholars and Rs. 800/ for employees.
If you wish to be considered for 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝑫 𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, please submit complete papers latest by 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭. Kindly indicate ‘Submission for CDN Prize’ in the subject line of the email, to 𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢.
For more details, visit: https://www.iaclals.com/cdn-prize.html
All other participants should also submit their papers by 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 31, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭 in no more than 3500-4000 words, to 𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢.
Please note that presenters shall have fifteen minutes to read their papers.
Registration to be completed by 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 (details will be sent along with acceptances).
IACLALS also announces the next edition of the 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗶 𝗠𝘂𝗸𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗷𝗲𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 in the previous block of two years (2020-21) by a member of the IACLALS.
For MMM Prize submission guidelines, do visit:
https://www.iaclals.com/mmm-prize.html
In accordance with the detailed MMM Prize submission guidelines available on the website page listed above, you can submit your published paper to 𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢, latest by 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭. Please be sure to indicate ‘Submission for MMM Prize’ in the subject line of the email.
-----*-----
"𝑪𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝑵𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔: 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒂"
MARCH 3-5, 2022
Translation (Latin: carrying or bringing across) is no longer considered a simple literary or linguistic activity of translating a text from one language to another. Rather, it now encompasses and evokes a range of speech acts of translating thoughts and emotions into words, sign and body language into verbal expression, translations to and from languages of the same family, translations into other language families, translating words into performance or multimedia texts, and/or vice-versa. Carrying or bringing across a sense of equivalent time, history, place, nationality, culture, gender, religion, sexuality, caste, class into another asymmetric linguistic or social terrain is no easy feat despite digital technologies making translations more accessible, prevalent and frantic every day. Translations involve transcreation, transmutation, adaptation as well as interpretation. In contemporary times, when mis-communication and mis-translation seem to prevail all around us in the world, the task of more or better translations remains urgent for facilitating mutual understanding and communication.
Translation in South Asia is as unique as a region itself. South Asia as a region is both old as well as new, existing in an unbroken web of interconnections continuing since ancient times framed by the ecological terrain of the Indian Plate and the Indian Ocean, as well as arriving anew from the more recent area studies departments of the West to encompass a joint gaze at countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Home to over 650 languages belonging to six notable language schools, namely, the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Tai-Kadai, and Great Andamanese (Source: World Literature). The region is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse and rich in the world while sharing many customs and cultural practices with each other. The experience of colonialism was common among many peoples of the region. In fact, colonial modernity was negotiated in the region through translation when works of new/western knowledge were translated massively into the languages of the region. Conversely, classical texts from this region were translated into European languages by leading Indologists, leading to increased awareness in the West about the East, what Raymond Schwab termed as ‘Oriental Renaissance’.
So, is translation in South Asia an act of inter-cultural translation or intra-cultural translation? Inter-cultural translation is an act of retrieval wherein marginalized writers and their works can be discovered by means of translation, particularly women writers belonging to marginalized communities who experience multiple marginalizations at various levels right from the actual creative exercise to the publication of their texts. In a decolonized world, translation, transcreation and adaptation contribute majorly towards discovering and/or consolidating literary canons. In intra-cultural translations, linguistic chauvinism can play a role in marginalizing not only a language but also a culture. Intra cultural translations of texts between sister languages can help reach out to larger readerships. Inter and intra cultural self-translation exercises are often undertaken by bilingual writers and authors looking for larger outreach. In postcolonial times, the objectives of translation, whether inter-cultural or intra-cultural, should be to subvert the hegemony of the dominant/prestige languages and literatures and redress the asymmetry between dominant literatures and minor languages/literatures.
As mentioned in the beginning of this CFP, Translation Studies in recent time has expanded its canon to embrace diverse domains of learning such as Colonialism, Film Studies, Anthropology, Geography, Refugee/Migration Studies, Memory Studies etc. This was signalled more than a decade ago by Maria Tymoczko in her book Enlarging Translation: Empowering Translators. The Conference will explore convergences and intersectionalities of Translation Studies with other modes, mediums and domains of scholarship. For example, when Satyajit Ray ‘translates’ Tagore’s Noshto Neer into his film Charulata, or the famous painter A R Chughtai ‘translates’ Ghalib’s verses into masterpieces of painting, or Marie Chouinard ‘translates’ Jérôme Bosch’s cluster of paintings known as Les Jardin Des Délices (Garden of Delights) into a masterpiece of choreography, we get to see how intermedial translation collapses boundaries imposed by different mediums and results in new interpretations and illumination of the ‘original text’. Moreover, South Asian literary cultures, particularly during the precolonial, premodern, preprint periods, exhibited ample instances of 'translation' from oral/aural to written, oral/written to mnemonical, verbal to visual, and vice versa. Translation, in these contexts, becomes a complex process that circulates, mediates, and negotiates between ideas scattered over a larger public sphere, which in turn also regulates their movements and accessibility within cultural realms. The conference visualises translation as a dynamic factor in the construction of a multimedial literary cultures in South Asia.
Papers are invited on the following sub-themes:
◆ Translation and Modernity in South Asia
◆ Translation as Cultural Negotiation
◆ Translation and Literary Historiography
◆ Intermedial Translations
◆ Translation and Multilinguality
◆ Translating Literary Forms/Genre
◆ South Asian Adaptations of Shakespeare and modern/avant garde playwrights
◆ Translation and Archival Research in South Asia
𝙂𝙐𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎
The conference is open 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝑨𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑳𝑺.
(Please visit https://www.iaclals.com/membership.html to know how to become a member)
DEADLINE EXTENDED
𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 (𝟐𝟓𝟎 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬) 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐨-𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 (𝐦𝐚𝐱 𝟕𝟎 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬) 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 3𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏, to 𝐢𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬@𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦.
IMPORTANT DATES:
DEADLINE EXTENDED
Submission of Abstracts by: 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 30, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭
Acceptance of Abstracts by: 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟬, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭
Registration: 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮
Registration Fees: Rs 500/ for research scholars and Rs. 800/ for employees.
If you wish to be considered for 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝑫 𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, please submit complete papers latest by 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭. Kindly indicate ‘Submission for CDN Prize’ in the subject line of the email, to 𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢.
For more details, visit: https://www.iaclals.com/cdn-prize.html
All other participants should also submit their papers by 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 31, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭 in no more than 3500-4000 words, to 𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢.
Please note that presenters shall have fifteen minutes to read their papers.
Registration to be completed by 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 (details will be sent along with acceptances).
IACLALS also announces the next edition of the 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗶 𝗠𝘂𝗸𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗷𝗲𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 in the previous block of two years (2020-21) by a member of the IACLALS.
For MMM Prize submission guidelines, do visit:
https://www.iaclals.com/mmm-prize.html
In accordance with the detailed MMM Prize submission guidelines available on the website page listed above, you can submit your published paper to 𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢, latest by 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭. Please be sure to indicate ‘Submission for MMM Prize’ in the subject line of the email.
-----*-----
Report: IACLALS ANNUAL CONFERENCE (Online) 2021
IACLALS ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021 (ONLINE)
Co-Hosted By Janaki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University
March 17-20, 2021
CONFERENCE REPORT “Utopias and Dystopias in Our Times”
With the Covid-19 pandemic slowly creeping over the world in 2020, the Annual IACLALS Conference of 2021 was held from 18 to 20 March in the digital mode on “Utopias and Dystopias in Our Times.” The conference was co-hosted by Janaki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi. Four days of discussions were held on utopian and dystopian imaginations from across the world in order to ponder over whether we, as humanity, could emerge the better or the worse on the other side of the pandemic.
An inspiring keynote address was delivered on the eve of the Conference by Professor Suman Gupta, The Open University, UK, wherein he proposed a prognosis about considering utopias and dystopias as inherently fragmented by nature, with the world not offering the easy comfort of either-or options.
Sessions during the three day conference were organized around the following sub-themes: post- and trans humanism, ecocides or ecotopias, anti-utopias or anti-anti-utopias utopias of Indian modernities, techno-dystopias, dystopias of children and young adults, rethinking generic links with science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction, utopias in elsewhere places but also in intermediate other places like Foucault’s heterotopias, dystopian writings by women, feminist & queer utopias and ustopias, postcolonial dystopias, and pandemic fictions.
In all, fifty-six papers presenters of this online conference navigated very tight and demanding schedules of the webinar mode along with the vagaries of technology to offer a lot of food for thought with brevity. Like in all IACLALS conferences, a wide array of print, graphic and video texts from India and abroad, in English, in translation and in many Indian languages as well as issues of theory were under discussion by a mix of early, mid to late career scholars.
Holding a virtual/online conference was a rare occasion to rekindle connections with many long associated members, some of whom graciously agreed to chair sessions and add value to the conference and forge new connections. The following scholars added to the conference discussion by agreeing to be session chairs, namely, Professor Harish Trivedi and Professor GJV Prasad, both former IACLALS Chairs, Prof. Supriya Choudhuri, Professors Sachin C. Ketkar, M. Asim Siddiqui, Vibha S. Chauhan, Angelie Multani, Somdatta Mandal, Meenakshi Bharat, Priyanka Tripathi, Ranu Uniyal, Sukrita Paul Kumar, T Vijaykumar, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Meenakshi Pawha and Subhendu Mund.
A special panel discussion moderated by Prof. M. Asaduddin was held on ‘Leila: An Indian Dystopia? The novel and The Web Series’ with author Prayaag Akbar and screenwriter Suhani Kanwar engaging in a very vibrant and lively discussion with Prof. Nishat Haider, Jamia Millia Islamia and Dr. Avishek Parui, IIT Madras.
Enthusiastic entries were received for the Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize and the C D Narasimhaiah Prize for best paper published in the block of the past two years by an IACLALS member and the best paper presented at the conference. Judges and jury who invested their invaluable time and careful attention to the papers and presentation included Professors Asim Siddiqui and Snehal Sanghvi, Professors Malashri Lal, Suman Gupta, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Nishat Zaidi, Margaret L. Pachuau and Sumanyu Satpathy.
Sagar Taranga Mandal was the winner of the prestigious MMM Prize and Moinak Banerjee was the winner of the CDN Prize, both outstanding winners of the prizes. Ms. Kalyanee Rajan, Treasurer (IACLALS) engaged in a discussion with Mr. Sagar Taranga Mandal on his paper, while Mr. Moinak Banerjee emerged the winner from among the four shortlisted finalists that also included Ishita Sareen, Jaya Yadav and Swasti Sharma. Professors Swati Pal and Fatima Rizvi from the IACLALS Board coordinated the overall prizes.
A special book release session was held for IACLALS members who had authored, translated and edited books that were published since the last conference during the pandemic year. Books by the following were released during the conference, namely, Prof. Shyamala A. Narayan, Prof. GJV Prasad, Dr. Nilanjana Mukherjee, Professors M. Sridhar & Alladi Uma, Prof. Mini Chandran, Dr. Sreenath V.S., Dr. Anandita Pan, Dr. Madhumita Chakraborty, Mr. Anas Tabraiz, Dr. Sanjib Kumar Baishya, Dr. Hari Prasad, Dr. Prem Kumari Srivastava and Ms. Mona Sinha, Dr. Gitanjali Chawla and Dr. Sangeeta Mittal, and Dr. Navleen Multani. Brief glimpses were offered into their scholarship and creative work.
The befitting Valedictory Address was delivered by Professor Anna Guttman, Chair ACLALS and Professor, Lakehead University, Canada, on ‘Real Life Fiction: Genre and Truth Claims in Popular Call Centre Narratives’ connecting many sub-themes of the conference to contemporary Indian fictions navigating utopian and dystopian themes.
Along with the entire IACLALS Board comprising of Professor M. Asaduddin, Chair IACLALS, Jamia Millia Islamia, Prof. Swati Pal, Vice Chair and Principal, Janki Devi Memorial College, Prof. Albeena Shakil, Secretary, from OP Jindal Global University, Ms. Kalyanee Rajan Treasurer, from University of Delhi, regional representatives, namely, Prof. Nandini Saha, from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Dr. Fatima Rizvi, from the University of Lucknow, Dr. M. Shobha, from Bangalore University, Dr. Dhurjjati Sarma, from Gauhati University, Dr. Amitendu Bhattacharya, from BITS Pilani, Goa, Dr. Shaifta Ayoub, from Srinagar, a team of twenty-four volunteers from across the country ranging from faculty members, research scholars to graduate and undergraduate students made the successful and organization of the conference possible. While initially, the CFP of the conference was floated with some trepidation because some leading scholars of Utopias and Dystopias hold the view that there are no significant utopias or dystopias outside of the western world. Yet, the enthusiastic response to our CFP and the wide set of papers presented in the conference made us seriously ponder whether in India we are already, always negotiating so many socio-economic-political imperfections in such a deeply stratified and diverse society so as to neither get enthralled by seeking perfections in the form of collective or shared Utopias, nor as a corollary be prone to dystopian thinking either, or whether for us with decolonization delivering both independence and the painful blow of partition together, our utopian impulse has since been on a long road to the more recent surge in retro-topias that seek to reach or restore our lost or stolen futures through amnesia and contested recollections of the past.
While the conference did not deliver a final verdict on this debate, enough threads were generated to continue this conversation in productive ways in the days to come.
Albeena Shakil
Secretary, IACLALS
Professor of English, Jindal Global Law School,
O P Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana.
Co-Hosted By Janaki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University
March 17-20, 2021
CONFERENCE REPORT “Utopias and Dystopias in Our Times”
With the Covid-19 pandemic slowly creeping over the world in 2020, the Annual IACLALS Conference of 2021 was held from 18 to 20 March in the digital mode on “Utopias and Dystopias in Our Times.” The conference was co-hosted by Janaki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi. Four days of discussions were held on utopian and dystopian imaginations from across the world in order to ponder over whether we, as humanity, could emerge the better or the worse on the other side of the pandemic.
An inspiring keynote address was delivered on the eve of the Conference by Professor Suman Gupta, The Open University, UK, wherein he proposed a prognosis about considering utopias and dystopias as inherently fragmented by nature, with the world not offering the easy comfort of either-or options.
Sessions during the three day conference were organized around the following sub-themes: post- and trans humanism, ecocides or ecotopias, anti-utopias or anti-anti-utopias utopias of Indian modernities, techno-dystopias, dystopias of children and young adults, rethinking generic links with science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction, utopias in elsewhere places but also in intermediate other places like Foucault’s heterotopias, dystopian writings by women, feminist & queer utopias and ustopias, postcolonial dystopias, and pandemic fictions.
In all, fifty-six papers presenters of this online conference navigated very tight and demanding schedules of the webinar mode along with the vagaries of technology to offer a lot of food for thought with brevity. Like in all IACLALS conferences, a wide array of print, graphic and video texts from India and abroad, in English, in translation and in many Indian languages as well as issues of theory were under discussion by a mix of early, mid to late career scholars.
Holding a virtual/online conference was a rare occasion to rekindle connections with many long associated members, some of whom graciously agreed to chair sessions and add value to the conference and forge new connections. The following scholars added to the conference discussion by agreeing to be session chairs, namely, Professor Harish Trivedi and Professor GJV Prasad, both former IACLALS Chairs, Prof. Supriya Choudhuri, Professors Sachin C. Ketkar, M. Asim Siddiqui, Vibha S. Chauhan, Angelie Multani, Somdatta Mandal, Meenakshi Bharat, Priyanka Tripathi, Ranu Uniyal, Sukrita Paul Kumar, T Vijaykumar, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Meenakshi Pawha and Subhendu Mund.
A special panel discussion moderated by Prof. M. Asaduddin was held on ‘Leila: An Indian Dystopia? The novel and The Web Series’ with author Prayaag Akbar and screenwriter Suhani Kanwar engaging in a very vibrant and lively discussion with Prof. Nishat Haider, Jamia Millia Islamia and Dr. Avishek Parui, IIT Madras.
Enthusiastic entries were received for the Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize and the C D Narasimhaiah Prize for best paper published in the block of the past two years by an IACLALS member and the best paper presented at the conference. Judges and jury who invested their invaluable time and careful attention to the papers and presentation included Professors Asim Siddiqui and Snehal Sanghvi, Professors Malashri Lal, Suman Gupta, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Nishat Zaidi, Margaret L. Pachuau and Sumanyu Satpathy.
Sagar Taranga Mandal was the winner of the prestigious MMM Prize and Moinak Banerjee was the winner of the CDN Prize, both outstanding winners of the prizes. Ms. Kalyanee Rajan, Treasurer (IACLALS) engaged in a discussion with Mr. Sagar Taranga Mandal on his paper, while Mr. Moinak Banerjee emerged the winner from among the four shortlisted finalists that also included Ishita Sareen, Jaya Yadav and Swasti Sharma. Professors Swati Pal and Fatima Rizvi from the IACLALS Board coordinated the overall prizes.
A special book release session was held for IACLALS members who had authored, translated and edited books that were published since the last conference during the pandemic year. Books by the following were released during the conference, namely, Prof. Shyamala A. Narayan, Prof. GJV Prasad, Dr. Nilanjana Mukherjee, Professors M. Sridhar & Alladi Uma, Prof. Mini Chandran, Dr. Sreenath V.S., Dr. Anandita Pan, Dr. Madhumita Chakraborty, Mr. Anas Tabraiz, Dr. Sanjib Kumar Baishya, Dr. Hari Prasad, Dr. Prem Kumari Srivastava and Ms. Mona Sinha, Dr. Gitanjali Chawla and Dr. Sangeeta Mittal, and Dr. Navleen Multani. Brief glimpses were offered into their scholarship and creative work.
The befitting Valedictory Address was delivered by Professor Anna Guttman, Chair ACLALS and Professor, Lakehead University, Canada, on ‘Real Life Fiction: Genre and Truth Claims in Popular Call Centre Narratives’ connecting many sub-themes of the conference to contemporary Indian fictions navigating utopian and dystopian themes.
Along with the entire IACLALS Board comprising of Professor M. Asaduddin, Chair IACLALS, Jamia Millia Islamia, Prof. Swati Pal, Vice Chair and Principal, Janki Devi Memorial College, Prof. Albeena Shakil, Secretary, from OP Jindal Global University, Ms. Kalyanee Rajan Treasurer, from University of Delhi, regional representatives, namely, Prof. Nandini Saha, from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Dr. Fatima Rizvi, from the University of Lucknow, Dr. M. Shobha, from Bangalore University, Dr. Dhurjjati Sarma, from Gauhati University, Dr. Amitendu Bhattacharya, from BITS Pilani, Goa, Dr. Shaifta Ayoub, from Srinagar, a team of twenty-four volunteers from across the country ranging from faculty members, research scholars to graduate and undergraduate students made the successful and organization of the conference possible. While initially, the CFP of the conference was floated with some trepidation because some leading scholars of Utopias and Dystopias hold the view that there are no significant utopias or dystopias outside of the western world. Yet, the enthusiastic response to our CFP and the wide set of papers presented in the conference made us seriously ponder whether in India we are already, always negotiating so many socio-economic-political imperfections in such a deeply stratified and diverse society so as to neither get enthralled by seeking perfections in the form of collective or shared Utopias, nor as a corollary be prone to dystopian thinking either, or whether for us with decolonization delivering both independence and the painful blow of partition together, our utopian impulse has since been on a long road to the more recent surge in retro-topias that seek to reach or restore our lost or stolen futures through amnesia and contested recollections of the past.
While the conference did not deliver a final verdict on this debate, enough threads were generated to continue this conversation in productive ways in the days to come.
Albeena Shakil
Secretary, IACLALS
Professor of English, Jindal Global Law School,
O P Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana.
IACLALS ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021
INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES (IACLALS)
in collaboration with
JANKI DEVI MEMORIAL COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021 (Online)
on
UTOPIAS AND DYSTOPIAS IN OUR TIMES
MARCH 18-20, 2021
Keynote Address: MARCH 17, 2021
Conference Schedule: iaclals_2021_annual_international_conference_schedule.pdf
Abstracts Booklet: iaclals_2021_annual_conference_abstracts_booklet.pdf
All sessions are available to view on our Facebook Page.
in collaboration with
JANKI DEVI MEMORIAL COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021 (Online)
on
UTOPIAS AND DYSTOPIAS IN OUR TIMES
MARCH 18-20, 2021
Keynote Address: MARCH 17, 2021
Conference Schedule: iaclals_2021_annual_international_conference_schedule.pdf
Abstracts Booklet: iaclals_2021_annual_conference_abstracts_booklet.pdf
All sessions are available to view on our Facebook Page.
|
|
