CALL FOR PAPERS
Young Researchers’ Seminar on
Young Researchers’ Seminar on
“(Re)-Imagining World Literature”
Organised
by
Centre
for English Studies
School
of Language, Literature and Culture Studies
Jawaharlal
Nehru University
New
Delhi – 67
20th-21st March, 2015
We find ourselves at a juncture in history where
postcolonial as a category raises more questions than answers. The neo-colonial
tendencies of globalization constantly put to question the very notion of
cultural studies, and in particular, literary studies. What is it that we are
still battling with out there? Media, Internet, movies and television have made
everyone (hypothetically) across global more conscious of their perceptions and
actions, than ever before. When the binaries of east-west, black-white,
oriental-occident have all been put to test and interrogated at length, why do
we still find ourselves trapped in the same precarious position, or are we
simply trapped in the politics of language and the culture it carries within
itself?
Despite much of this outwardly inclination towards a
global culture, a nuanced understanding of this transnational neo-colonial
enterprise belies a conniving colonial interest on the one hand and a fearful
suspicion of its homogenizing and effacing effect by natives of the receiving
cultures, on the other. The authorial centre of both literary and political
power is still inclined towards the west. However, at the same time this centralization
of power is vigorously contested continuously.A range of responses have emerged
with regard to the changes ensued in politics both at the macrocosmic, global
arena and subsequently, at the national level. As has been often argued,
famously by HomiBhabha, English that was once a language of colonization and
conversion is now being used by the native speaker to articulate their own
critique of colonial structures, his identity and also his views on the
corporate vicissitudes of global culture.
While on the one hand, there is a questioning of the
canon and inclusion of world literatures in universities all over, at the same
time there continues to be a bias in reading a few of these literatures under
an over encompassing ideological frame. For example,literature from the African
continent are all slotted conveniently into onecategory — in complete rejection
of the nuanced differences in their culture and politics— as also the
literature emerging out of South America and Southeast Asia. At the same
time literature written in America and Britain is put under sufficient scrutiny
to check for instances of not only racial prejudices and colonial
authoritarianism, but also the positive forces of universalism. However, while
these guards are in place via literary criticism, stereotyping, eroticization,
gender bias and social/cultural/racial categorization are practices that still
exist in literatures world over.
Given the changing political environment of the world
and even more insidious and invisible modes and routes of neo-colonization it
is imperative to question the status of English literature in the world today.
More importantly because English as a global language has provided a global
platform to people around the world to make their local issues global and
subsequently have the global take notice of the local. It is with the
introduction of varied responses to English literature around the world that we
seek to understand the importance of the same and try to understand to what
extent we benefit and lose from it. This conference will try to question some
of the intercultural exchanges that happen every moment in the field of “World
literatures” and question the very categories that it implies.
The Centre for English Studies, School of Language,
Literature and Culture Studies, JNU is pleased to invite research papers from
young researchers for a seminar focussing on new research in these and
associated fields. The seminar will be conducted on a panel-respondent model,
where we hope to invite experts on the various focus areas to critique the papers
presented. Papers of about 3000 words must be submitted in advance so that the
concerned respondent will be able to formulate their critique so that the
exchange of ideas in this area can be maximized. Given the format of the
seminar, we are looking to engage with participants with research experience so
that discussion may be taken to the next level, critically and creatively.
Abstracts must be submitted by 28th February to
<sap.ces@gmail.com> to be considered. Authors of abstracts selected for
the Seminar will be notified about their acceptance by 3rd March.
The deadline for full papers will be 15th March. Papers can be structured
around, though not restricted to, any of the following focus areas, or related
fields:
Theoretical
Turns
Comparative
Studies and Translations
Cultural
Studies and Globalisation
Postcolonial
Exotic
Nation
and nationalism(s)
Universalism
and Nativism
Diaspora
and Essentialism
Transcultural
Studies
