IACLALS ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2020
CO-HOSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY
FEBRUARY 5-7, 2020
Call for Papers
Reimagi(ni)ng Identities in the Global South: Challenges, Transgressions and Articulation
“Freeing yourself was one thing. Claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
In the words of Toni Morrison, the most treasured of all human events in modernity has been the achievement of freedom by the individual and by peoples. ‘Claiming ownership’ of these free selves has been the most daunting of tasks in the postcolonial era. With the new millennium we have reached a new world order in which the ‘global south’ has emerged as a significant geopolitical imaginary to displace older concepts of the ‘Third World’ or ‘Developing Countries’ in a bid to challenge the hegemony of more affluent and economically developed countries of the ‘global north.’ The ‘global south’ pledges itself to south-south cooperation across the national borders, and does not wish to confine itself to a mere adversarial or oppositional relationship to the former colonizing nations. But it is yet to assume leadership on the basis of equitable and cooperative standards of interaction within its own countries and peoples or with the rest of the world. Moreover, the ‘global south’ is not so much a fixed category as an umbrella term subsuming transgressive identities in their dissenting plurality and identity conflicts arising in the process of self-assertion, even as it attempts to situate itself in a redefined world order.
Whether it be the rise of new power blocs, globalization, new manifestations of capitalism and imperialism, post-humanism, post-truth, or the post-secular, recent debates and discussions across disciplines revolve around questions of reimagi(ni)ng identities in the global south and the new modes of life, literature, institutions, arts, media, technology and market economy that are associated with it. With a view to addressing how identities in and of the ‘global south’ are being shaped (or deformed/reimagined or reimaged?) in a variety of new ways in representations and ‘readings’ of literary, social and cultural texts and practices, this conference invites papers that would address some of the concerns below (abstracts proposing to explore the primary theme of the conference from other perspectives than the ones mentioned below are also welcome):
Hovering around the post and reconsidering the past
This theme would explore post-human/ post-truth/ post-secular/ post transition/ post memory construction and redefinition of identities in political discourse, social media, literature and other cultural texts of the global south.
Transgression and dissolution of accepted b/order(s)
This theme would look at how any sense of homogeneous identity, such as one based on the idea of the nation state/ religious fundamentalism/fixed categories of gender and/or sexuality, is dissolving and giving way to transnational identities, regional communities, emergent religiosities, transgender identities and multiple sexualities in representations and readings from the global south.
Marginal/Dominant/Center and the periphery
This theme would engage with the complex issue of the importance of the center. While there has been a considerable rise in the voices from the margins, the political concept of one belief and one nation has also gained in currency. What is then more important? What determines the individual identity in these new times? How do the hegemonic notions tend to influence the concepts of nation and ideologies of nationhood? The importance of the social media and digitization in creating/recreating identities.
Demanding justice and claiming rights
This theme would explore reconfigurations of caste, class, gender and ethnic identityarising out of demands for justice as well as the role of social movements and popular struggles in shaping identities around events of dispossession, development and resistance through their representations and readings.
Changing rural and urban landscapes
This theme would focus on the rapidly changing topography of rural and urban sectors and their impact on reshaping identities. The concept of the use of space is in flux. Concepts of private and public space have also undergone modifications. Changing landscapes, alternate ideas of tourism and the whys and ways of claiming of spaces and by whom have altered over time. An important issue is environmental depredation/degradation.
Distorted notions of childhood/adolescence/ adulthood
This theme would explore how notions of the child/adolescent/adult have been radically unsettled in these new times in the global south where children experience war/rape/plunder, child labour, military training of adolescents, loss of adolescent life due to playing video/online games.
Myths, Visions, Identities, Memories
This theme would be concerned with how identities of race/class/caste/nation are imagined and reimagined through narratives of myth, visions of the ideal, construction of identities and the role of memory in the construction/reconstruction of all discourses.
Crimes and criminality
This theme would explore to what extent reimagining identities in literary and cultural representations of the global south has reinforced, deconstructed or broken out of colonial and postcolonial stereotypes of crime and criminality, bringing into purview, for example, such frequently discussed cases of human rights violation as cybercrimes and commodification of body parts,which are still considered to be the civilizational index of underdeveloped countries.
IACLALS also announces the next edition of the Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize for the Best Paper published in the previous block of two years (2018-19) by a member of the IACLALS. Please submit your published paper with all details to iaclalsconferences@gmail.com by October 20th, 2018. You must have been a member of IACLALS when you published the paper. Past winners of the Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize can submit entries for the prize only after the completion of three years from the year they received the award. Papers submitted for the award earlier cannot be submitted again.
About our hosts
The Department of English, Jadavpur University, in Kolkata, West Bengal, one of the oldest Departments of the University, was established in 1956. Since its inception the Department has been the hub of teaching and research activity, attracting students and research scholars from all over the country. In 2004, it became the first Department of English in India to be awarded the status of Centre of Advanced Study by the UGC. The Department has hosted several luminaries as visiting faculty from all over the world, and has collaborated on many international research networks. While the Department provides a hospitable environment for every kind of research, the work done by faculty in new areas has had a significant impact on arts and humanities research in India. It continues to innovate in research and the development of pedagogical practices and courses. Faculty members of the Department also contribute to the University’s national and international standing, as coordinators and members of School for Media Communication and Culture, Centre for Victorian Studies, Renaissance Centre and the School of Cultural Texts and Records and the Centre for Disability Studies.
The Organizing Secretary is: Dr Nandini Saha, Professor & Head (email: sahanandini7@gmail.com, nandini.saha@jadavpuruniversity.in)
Members of the host committee:
Dr Nilanjana Deb (email: nilanjanadeb@yahoo.com)
Dr Sonia Sahoo (email: soniasahoo25@gmail.com)
Dr Kaustav Bakshi (email: kaustav.bakshi@gmail.com)
Dr Ramit Samaddar (email: ramit.samaddar@jadavpuruniversity.in)
Information about registration formalities will be given with the acceptances of paper proposals.
GJV Prasad
Chairperson, IACLALS
Editor, JSL
Professor
Centre for English Studies
School of Language Literature & Culture Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi 110067 India
http://www.pencraftinternational.com/pencraft_violets.html
https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/india-in-translation-translation-in-india-9789388414197/
http://gjvprasad.wordpress.com
CO-HOSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY
FEBRUARY 5-7, 2020
Call for Papers
Reimagi(ni)ng Identities in the Global South: Challenges, Transgressions and Articulation
“Freeing yourself was one thing. Claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
In the words of Toni Morrison, the most treasured of all human events in modernity has been the achievement of freedom by the individual and by peoples. ‘Claiming ownership’ of these free selves has been the most daunting of tasks in the postcolonial era. With the new millennium we have reached a new world order in which the ‘global south’ has emerged as a significant geopolitical imaginary to displace older concepts of the ‘Third World’ or ‘Developing Countries’ in a bid to challenge the hegemony of more affluent and economically developed countries of the ‘global north.’ The ‘global south’ pledges itself to south-south cooperation across the national borders, and does not wish to confine itself to a mere adversarial or oppositional relationship to the former colonizing nations. But it is yet to assume leadership on the basis of equitable and cooperative standards of interaction within its own countries and peoples or with the rest of the world. Moreover, the ‘global south’ is not so much a fixed category as an umbrella term subsuming transgressive identities in their dissenting plurality and identity conflicts arising in the process of self-assertion, even as it attempts to situate itself in a redefined world order.
Whether it be the rise of new power blocs, globalization, new manifestations of capitalism and imperialism, post-humanism, post-truth, or the post-secular, recent debates and discussions across disciplines revolve around questions of reimagi(ni)ng identities in the global south and the new modes of life, literature, institutions, arts, media, technology and market economy that are associated with it. With a view to addressing how identities in and of the ‘global south’ are being shaped (or deformed/reimagined or reimaged?) in a variety of new ways in representations and ‘readings’ of literary, social and cultural texts and practices, this conference invites papers that would address some of the concerns below (abstracts proposing to explore the primary theme of the conference from other perspectives than the ones mentioned below are also welcome):
Hovering around the post and reconsidering the past
This theme would explore post-human/ post-truth/ post-secular/ post transition/ post memory construction and redefinition of identities in political discourse, social media, literature and other cultural texts of the global south.
Transgression and dissolution of accepted b/order(s)
This theme would look at how any sense of homogeneous identity, such as one based on the idea of the nation state/ religious fundamentalism/fixed categories of gender and/or sexuality, is dissolving and giving way to transnational identities, regional communities, emergent religiosities, transgender identities and multiple sexualities in representations and readings from the global south.
Marginal/Dominant/Center and the periphery
This theme would engage with the complex issue of the importance of the center. While there has been a considerable rise in the voices from the margins, the political concept of one belief and one nation has also gained in currency. What is then more important? What determines the individual identity in these new times? How do the hegemonic notions tend to influence the concepts of nation and ideologies of nationhood? The importance of the social media and digitization in creating/recreating identities.
Demanding justice and claiming rights
This theme would explore reconfigurations of caste, class, gender and ethnic identityarising out of demands for justice as well as the role of social movements and popular struggles in shaping identities around events of dispossession, development and resistance through their representations and readings.
Changing rural and urban landscapes
This theme would focus on the rapidly changing topography of rural and urban sectors and their impact on reshaping identities. The concept of the use of space is in flux. Concepts of private and public space have also undergone modifications. Changing landscapes, alternate ideas of tourism and the whys and ways of claiming of spaces and by whom have altered over time. An important issue is environmental depredation/degradation.
Distorted notions of childhood/adolescence/ adulthood
This theme would explore how notions of the child/adolescent/adult have been radically unsettled in these new times in the global south where children experience war/rape/plunder, child labour, military training of adolescents, loss of adolescent life due to playing video/online games.
Myths, Visions, Identities, Memories
This theme would be concerned with how identities of race/class/caste/nation are imagined and reimagined through narratives of myth, visions of the ideal, construction of identities and the role of memory in the construction/reconstruction of all discourses.
Crimes and criminality
This theme would explore to what extent reimagining identities in literary and cultural representations of the global south has reinforced, deconstructed or broken out of colonial and postcolonial stereotypes of crime and criminality, bringing into purview, for example, such frequently discussed cases of human rights violation as cybercrimes and commodification of body parts,which are still considered to be the civilizational index of underdeveloped countries.
- The conference is open only to members of IACLALS (visit www.iaclals.com to know how to become a member).
- Abstracts (250 words) with a short bio-note (max 70 words) to be sent to iaclalsconferences@gmail.com by October 30th, 2019.
- Acceptance will be intimated by November 20th, 2019.
- If you wish to be considered for the CD Narasimhaiah Prize for the Best Paper presented at the conference, please submit complete papers by December 15th, 2019. Others must submit complete papers by December 30th.
- Please note that you will have twenty minutes to read your papers.
- Registration to be completed by January 5th, 2020 (details will be sent with acceptances).
IACLALS also announces the next edition of the Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize for the Best Paper published in the previous block of two years (2018-19) by a member of the IACLALS. Please submit your published paper with all details to iaclalsconferences@gmail.com by October 20th, 2018. You must have been a member of IACLALS when you published the paper. Past winners of the Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize can submit entries for the prize only after the completion of three years from the year they received the award. Papers submitted for the award earlier cannot be submitted again.
About our hosts
The Department of English, Jadavpur University, in Kolkata, West Bengal, one of the oldest Departments of the University, was established in 1956. Since its inception the Department has been the hub of teaching and research activity, attracting students and research scholars from all over the country. In 2004, it became the first Department of English in India to be awarded the status of Centre of Advanced Study by the UGC. The Department has hosted several luminaries as visiting faculty from all over the world, and has collaborated on many international research networks. While the Department provides a hospitable environment for every kind of research, the work done by faculty in new areas has had a significant impact on arts and humanities research in India. It continues to innovate in research and the development of pedagogical practices and courses. Faculty members of the Department also contribute to the University’s national and international standing, as coordinators and members of School for Media Communication and Culture, Centre for Victorian Studies, Renaissance Centre and the School of Cultural Texts and Records and the Centre for Disability Studies.
The Organizing Secretary is: Dr Nandini Saha, Professor & Head (email: sahanandini7@gmail.com, nandini.saha@jadavpuruniversity.in)
Members of the host committee:
Dr Nilanjana Deb (email: nilanjanadeb@yahoo.com)
Dr Sonia Sahoo (email: soniasahoo25@gmail.com)
Dr Kaustav Bakshi (email: kaustav.bakshi@gmail.com)
Dr Ramit Samaddar (email: ramit.samaddar@jadavpuruniversity.in)
Information about registration formalities will be given with the acceptances of paper proposals.
GJV Prasad
Chairperson, IACLALS
Editor, JSL
Professor
Centre for English Studies
School of Language Literature & Culture Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi 110067 India
http://www.pencraftinternational.com/pencraft_violets.html
https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/india-in-translation-translation-in-india-9789388414197/
http://gjvprasad.wordpress.com
The 28th FILLM International Congress
University of Vienna, 26-29 July 2020
Call for Papers
Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Diversity in a Global Perspective
http://www.fillm.org/events/fillm/congresses/vienna/cfp.html
The Call for Papers can be downloaded here.
Please note that information on how to submit and register was updated on 31 May 2019.
Background
The Federation Internationale des Langues et Litteratures Modernes (FILLM), a UNESCO affiliate in charge of promoting languages, literatures, and cultures organizes an International Congress every three years. The last two congresses were held in Ningbo, China and New Delhi, India. The next FILLM Congress, the 28th in the series, will be held in Europe at the University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria from 26th July to 29th July, 2020 under the theme of Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Diversity in a Global Perspective.
Main theme
Diversity is a key concept in many academic disciplines and in our everyday life. We live in a more and more complex world that brings people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds together in one place. Diversity implies understanding that each of the individuals from these different backgrounds are unique and different and these differences must be recognized, tolerated, and even celebrated. Diversity comes along various dimensions including language, culture, nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic class, physical ability, religious belief, and political and ideological orientation, among many other differences.
Recognizing, understanding, tolerating, and even celebrating diversity is not just an end in itself; it can also be a means, a methodology to building, managing, and sustaining our common humanity, our common heritage in a global perspective. Diversity is essential if we are to achieve all-encompassing, global perspectives to addressing the problems that confront our common humanity. Globalization is truly global if it encompasses all these aspects of diversity mentioned above. As the time-honoured adage goes, there is Unity in Diversity. And this is especially so if we see diversity as a tool to helping us find solutions to the many global problems confronting us: socio-economic inequalities, terrorism leading to insecurities, upsurge in nationalism and populism leading to division and the erection of walls and other kinds strictures, and global warming, among a myriad of other problems.
Sub-themes
At the Vienna conference keynote and plenary addresses, panels, and individual papers will address the main theme of Linguistic, Literary and Cultural Diversity. However, papers and panels are also invited on the following five sub-themes which are ultimately related to the main theme:
1. Multilingualism and linguistic plurality in local and global perspectives
Globalization is scaling the world down into a global village. People speaking different kinds of languages are mixing more than ever before. This contact linguistic scenario is producing pidgins, creoles and other kinds mixed languages both within and across national boundaries. Multilingualism and plurality of communication are both local and global phenomena. Papers for this sub-theme would address how this plurality, how this diversity is managed locally and internationally at people-to-people and at government-to-government levels.
2. New genres of literature in the era of social media and new communication technologies
New technologies of communication are providing us spaces in which the spoken and the written word are mediated. Mobile phones, You-tube, Facebook, Instagram and many other products that rely on the internet have become media in which linguistic and literary texts may be produced, communicated, and analyzed. Social media and new technologies produce new genres and new ways of communication. We are in the era of open access publishing, e-books, cell phone novels, and video-clip messaging. Papers for this sub-theme should address aspects of these issues and beyond.
3. Cultural diversity in film
How does film, along with other kind of moving pictures, promote cultural diversity? Do the major film industries in various parts of the world such as Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood provide linguists and literary scholars with different arenas and perspectives for studying language and literature? Papers for this panel will address these and other questions towards our understanding of the role of film in promoting linguistic, literary, and cultural diversity.
4. Linguistic and literary studies in diaspora and migrant communities
In a world of globalization, people are constantly moving across national boundaries and forming new trans-national communities that may have strong links to their source and host countries. We therefore have different spaces in which languages and literatures can be analyzed. New subfields that may be called diasporic linguistics and diasporic literatures have emerged and are evolving. Papers for this sub-theme would address this emergence and this evolution of linguistic and literary studies in migrant and diasporic communities in the 21st Century.
5. German language and literature in global perspectives
As the congress takes place in a German-speaking country, we need to take the opportunity to understand the language of our host in global perspectives. Papers for this sub-theme should therefore address the past, present, and future of German language, literature, and culture in global perspectives.
Panel Proposals
Scholars are encouraged to make panel proposals. The topic of a proposed panel should fall within the broad theme of diversity and consist of four to five speakers. Apart from that, it is up to the panel organizer(s) to decide on the format (roundtable, normal individual paper presentation, etc.).
In particular, FILLM would like to encourage its Member Associations to propose panels that address their particular area of study or regional languages and literatures within the broad theme of diversity. The congress organizers encourage all Member Associations to take advantage of this possibility to ensure that their perspectives are well-represented at the congress.
How to make an Individual Proposal
In order to propose an individual paper for the Congress, please use the online submission form.
To allow speakers sufficient time to acquire the necessary funding, the congress organizers will assess the abstracts as they come in. Acceptance letters will be sent out on 31st July 2019, 30th September 2019, 30th November 2019, and 31st January 2020.
The final deadline for submitting abstracts is 31st December 2019.
At the head of your proposal, please supply the following information:
- Full name
- Professional title
- Professional affiliation and address
- Title of the proposed paper
- Name of the subtheme to which the paper is intended as a contribution
How to make a Panel Proposal
Panel proposals should also be submitted as an email attachment to fillm2020@univie.ac.at
Each panel proposal should appoint one main organizer who is responsible for compiling the proposal and communication with the congress organizers.
Your panel proposal should include the following:
- Title for the panel
- 300-word abstract describing the topic
- Brief description of the format (e.g. roundtable)
- Title and brief descriptions of each panel participants’ contribution (150 words)
- Contact and affiliation details for the main panel organizer
- Contact and affiliation details for each of the panel participants
Registration and Congress prices
To register for the congress, please use the online registration system.
Early-bird registration fee (until 31st January 2020):
- Faculty: EUR 250
- Students: EUR 150
- Faculty: EUR 300
- Students: EUR 200
The John Benjamin Prize for Linguistic and Literary Scholarship
The John Benjamins Prize for Linguistic and Literary Scholarship has been created by John Benjamins Publishing Company of Amsterdam and Philadelphia and FILLM. The aim of the prize is to draw the attention of the general public to outstanding achievements in linguistic and literary scholarship from all over the world.
The prize is awarded to the best paper submitted by an up-and-coming scholar at FILLM’s triennial congresses. The prize is €1,500.00.
For more information, please visit FILLM’s website.
Publication
Following the congress, FILLM and the organizers will look to publish several collections of the papers as special issues of journals and in book series, which may include the FILLM Studies in Languages and Literatures. More details about the publication will be given at the congress in Vienna.
About the Venue
The University is situated in a world-renowned city, Vienna, which promotes arts and cultures, including various forms of literary expressions such as music, poetry, theatre, and general performing arts. Vienna is a safe city, centrally located in Europe, and boasts excellent facilities for hosting large-scale international gatherings.
Call for Papers
Federation Internationale des Langues et Litteratures Modernes (FILLM), a UNESCO
affiliate in charge of promoting languages, literatures, and cultures, is looking for contributions to its book series FILLM Studies in Languages and Literatures. While FILLM is looking for contributions within all areas of language and literature studies, we're particularly keen to receive proposals focusing on linguistic, philological and pedagogical topics.The series is published in collaboration with John Benjamins Publishing Company and former FILLM President Roger D. Sell is the Series Editor. For more on the aims of the series and how to submit a book proposal...
Federation Internationale des Langues et Litteratures Modernes (FILLM), a UNESCO
affiliate in charge of promoting languages, literatures, and cultures, is looking for contributions to its book series FILLM Studies in Languages and Literatures. While FILLM is looking for contributions within all areas of language and literature studies, we're particularly keen to receive proposals focusing on linguistic, philological and pedagogical topics.The series is published in collaboration with John Benjamins Publishing Company and former FILLM President Roger D. Sell is the Series Editor. For more on the aims of the series and how to submit a book proposal...
Call for Papers
MZU Journal of Literature and Cultural Studies Vol. VI, Issue II,December 2019 (UGC approved journal No.64788), of the Department of English, Mizoram University, shall focus upon aspects related to literature in English and culture studies.Critically assessed contributions are invited for publication.Book reviews, works in translation and writings on the stipulated theme, in varying genres may be submitted for publication by 30th September 2019. The papers are to be screened in principle through double-blind peer review and anti-plagiarism software.
Paper contributors are requested to adhere to the research-oriented standard following the MLA(8th edition) or APA style sheet. Such papers should comprise a maximum of 3000 words, and maintain without variation Times New Roman font , size 12, with margin 1.0 inch and 1.5 inch spacing.
The paper should be accompanied by:
· a declaration that it is an original work and has not been published or sent for publication anywhere else
· an abstract in about 100-200 words
· a brief bio-note of the contributor(s) indicating name, institutional affiliation, brief career history, postal address, mobile number and e-mail, in a single attachment
Contributors are requested to avoid footnotes, if required endnotes may be used.The full paper may be mailed directly tomaggielpachuau@gmail.com by 30th September 2019
MZU Journal of Literature and Cultural Studies Vol. VI, Issue II,December 2019 (UGC approved journal No.64788), of the Department of English, Mizoram University, shall focus upon aspects related to literature in English and culture studies.Critically assessed contributions are invited for publication.Book reviews, works in translation and writings on the stipulated theme, in varying genres may be submitted for publication by 30th September 2019. The papers are to be screened in principle through double-blind peer review and anti-plagiarism software.
Paper contributors are requested to adhere to the research-oriented standard following the MLA(8th edition) or APA style sheet. Such papers should comprise a maximum of 3000 words, and maintain without variation Times New Roman font , size 12, with margin 1.0 inch and 1.5 inch spacing.
The paper should be accompanied by:
· a declaration that it is an original work and has not been published or sent for publication anywhere else
· an abstract in about 100-200 words
· a brief bio-note of the contributor(s) indicating name, institutional affiliation, brief career history, postal address, mobile number and e-mail, in a single attachment
Contributors are requested to avoid footnotes, if required endnotes may be used.The full paper may be mailed directly tomaggielpachuau@gmail.com by 30th September 2019
