CFP: Conference "Belief Narratives in Folklore Studies: Narrating the Supernatural" (Guwahati, India, Feb 6th-8th, 2019)

Call for Papers

Organisers: The Anundoram Borooah Institute of Language, Art and Culture, Guwahati, Assam, India, and the ISFNR Belief Narrative Network. 

The Setting: Guwahati is famous for several ancient Hindu temples, such as Kamakhya and other temples dedicated to the Goddess, while the Navagraha temple in Guwahati is an ancient centre of astrology. Participants who would like to spend some extra days on the site might also like to visit the Assam State Museum, make a boat trip on the Brahmaputra or visit the nearby historical town Hajo which has a number of other ancient temples. The nature reserve in Pabitora, home of a number of wild rhinos, is also close to Guwahati. For those interested in travelling around the area, the famous Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary is around 4-5 hours away. The same applies to Shillong, the capital city of the neigbouring state of Meghalaya, a site which, along with its neighbourhood,has often been called Scotland of the East because of its natural beauty and colonial architecture. 

Theme: Belief Narratives in Folklore Studies: Narrating the Supernatural 

One of the earliest genres in folkloristics has been the belief narrative in which traditional folk beliefs in the supernatural are given shape (and often credence) in popular narratives that (in the past) tended to be passed on in oral form. (Over time other forms of transmission have naturally evolved, ranging from the broadsheet to the internet and social media). This material, found in numerous archives and collections of folk legends, and still evolving and coming into being around us in daily life, has been used as source material for a range of investigations. In recent years, folklore scholars have underlined the way in which such narratives commonly reflect the psyche of individuals, groups and society as a whole at a deeper level. These narratives, as Elliott Oring has shown (Oring 2012), draw on a rhetoric of truth, and are designed to provoke discussion. For those who are convinced, they commonly evoke or strengthen beliefs and have the potential to affect behaviour and even change society. 

Belief narratives can take the form of migratory narratives moving between countries and even continents. Others are naturally more localized. In the case of the legend, most contain a universal pattern of event followed by individual and/or social interpretation and an aftermath (see Lauri Honko’s famous article on the nature of the memorate (Honko 1989), and Tangherlini’s definition of the legend in Tangherlini 1990). Narratives of this kind are naturally found in early epics and medieval narratives of saints, demons, trolls and nature spirits, and still occur in our own time attached to the new “gods” that have come into being with the help of the modern forms of media. They are nonetheless not limited to the sphere of the folk legend, but can also result in new forms of behaviour such as rumour-spreading, prejudice, witch-hunts and/ or activities (even sacrifices) designed to protect people from the influences in question, even in our own time. This conference aims at giving researchers worldwide the opportunity to share, discuss and engage with a range of aspects relating to the nature and role of belief narratives past and present. 

Scholarly presentations on any of the following topics are particularly encouraged:

Beliefs and the supernatural

Beliefs, faith and fear

Beliefs and the lore of saints 

Beliefs and sacrifice

Beliefs and witch-hunting

Beliefs and vernacular practices

Contemporary belief narratives (urban legends, the play on belief narratives by politicians and so on).

Language of the Symposium: English

Length of Presentation: Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion.)

Submission of Abstracts: Those interested in attending the conference should send abstracts by e-mail to: bnnguwahati@gmail.com

Deadline for submission of the abstracts: 15th July 2018

Please include the following information:

- full name, e-mail address, and institutional affiliation 

- ISFNR membership status 

- the title of your proposed paper 

- a 300 word abstract in Word

- a brief 150-word biography

Proposals will be reviewed by the committee of the ISFNR Belief Narrative Network in cooperation with the organisers of the conference. The committee will then send notification of acceptance or rejection for the conference by August 30, 2018. An online preliminary programme schedule will then be published in October 2018.

Registration Once the abstract is accepted the participants will have to fill in a registration form. Limited number of participants will be provided with modest free accommodation for the conference days on first come first serve basis. Meals will be free for the conference days. 

Travel and accommodation: Guwahati is the largest city in Northeast India and the gateway to the whole region. It is thus well connected by air to the major cities in India. International participants might consider traveling to Guwahati via Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai. Further information on specific transportation guidance and booking of accommodation will be notified in the next circular to be published by 15th of March, 2018. 

CFP: Funded National Level ‘YOUNG RESEARCH’ Workshop 2018 On New Directions in New Humanities Research: Theories, Modalities and Praxis 21-22 July, 2018, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.

Call For Papers:

The Department of English Literature, EFLU, Hyderabad is organizing a two-day workshop  on New Directions in New Humanities Research on 21st & 22nd July, 2018. The workshop,

intended for researchers working in new and emergent areas of humanities research, aims to 

a) provide them with an opportunity to present their topic areas to a scholarly audience

b) receive feedback from experts who have worked on/ are conversant with these and allied areas, and

 c) create special interest groups that will contribute to the creation of new knowledge, and application of the theoretical insights in the analysis of new and emerging socio-cultural phenomena.

We invite abstracts from research scholars registered with an Indian university for their MPhil and PhD programmes in the area of English Studies. Preference will be given to MPhil scholars who are close to submitting their dissertations, and PhD scholars in their second and third years of research. Research papers in newer approaches to theory, praxis, themes, methods and orientations will be given priority. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts on rubrics including, but not limited to, the following:

o Fantasy, Myth and Folklore in a Post-Truth World

o Posthumanisms

o Narrative Philosophies

o Populism and Neo-Cultural Nationalism

o New Directions in Gender Studies

o New Materialisms and Embodied Subjectivities

o Oral, Visual and Performative Cultures from a Post-Theory Perspective

o Digital Discourses: Then and Now

o Postcolonial Cosmopolitanism

o Interdisciplinarity in Today’s Academy

o Minority Studies Today

o Reading Science and Ecology

o Re-visiting Culture and Identity Politics

o Studies on Vulnerability, Affect and Emotions

o Comics, Caricatures, Videogames and other Graphic Narratives

o Enacting Everydayness: Newspapers, Letters, and Blogs

Abstract details: Kindly email a 250 words abstract, with a title, your name, institutional affiliation, email ID and phone number. The deadline for submission of abstracts is June 30, 2018 and you will be intimated about the selection by 3 July, 2018. Full papers should be reach us by July 13, 2018. 

Dates will not be extended any further, so make sure to submit on time.

Email your abstracts to: slseflu@gmail.com

Please follow the format given below:

Name:

Institutional Affiliation:

Research Programme details:

Email address:

Phone number:

Title of the paper:

Abstract with keywords:

Participation details: Travel allowance and local hospitality will be provided to out-station participants (paper presenters only). This includes sleeper-class return railway fare and board and lodging at the EFL U Hostel/Guest House.

Workshop Schedule: Each day of the workshop will consist of four sessions with a lunch, and two tea breaks. Each session will have three paper presentations of 15 minutes each followed by the feedback of the subject expert, and a brief discussion.

We look forward to your participation. 

For further details, contact Workshop Co-ordinators: 

Prof. Samson Thomas and Dr Aparna Lonjewar

Department of English Literature

CFP: International Seminar on Partition Revisited - Looking Back at the Political, Historical, Socio-cultural and Economic Circumstances of the Great Divide-19- 20th Sep 2018 Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

Concept Note – Partition Revisited

The Partition of India was one of the most cataclysmic events of the 20th century, engendering a veritable civil war in a country that was itself on the verge of claiming its hard fought independence. It involved a series of catastrophic circumstances that split the subcontinent along the lines of community and culture, tearing apart centuries’ old shared social fabric and homeland, splitting families and dispossessing millions of ordinary people, with a stroke of a pen on the map of undivided India.
The upheaval caused by the Partition of the subcontinent impacted every aspect of the life of entire populations that had to cross the newly drawn borders overnight, not knowing if they would even make it to the other side alive. It was a bloodsoaked freedom that dawned upon the new nations of India and Pakistan, with massacres, rapes, abductions, riots and the agony of exile clouding the joy of independence from colonial rule. Immediately, the cold reality of dislocation from ancestral homes and livelihoods became the only concern for people who had migrated en masse seeking refuge across these borders, devastated by total loss and traumatized by the frenzy of violence and killing that had ripped through every neighbourhood, town, city and village.
Seventy one years have gone by since the Partition, yet its tremors and aftershocks continue to be felt by all South Asians even today. The circumstances of the Partition have served to define and shape an innately troubled and hostile Indo-Pakistan relationship, and hold little promise for trust and peace between the two nations and thus in South Asia. Its legacy lives on in deeply embedded attitudes, political ideologies and cultural orientations within the subcontinent. There are some who argue that the birth of Pakistan via a division of India was a historical inevitability; yet others strongly believe that social and political conditions of 20th_century colonial India precipitated an uncontrollable roller-coaster journey in the direction of this great divide. Still others are of the view that the Partition was the outcome of clashing political ambitions and vested interests at the cost of the common people, in the bargain, unleashing a tragedy of immeasurable proportions.
The purpose of this seminar is to rewind to this fatal landscape, re-exploring through history and politics, sociology and economics, memory and literature, the Great Partition of 1947. It is only by revisiting our past that we will be able to come to terms with, and confront, our present.  

   

SUB THEMES

1. Leaders as Malefactors: Examining the role of Jinnah, Nehru and Gandhi in the Partition drama.

2. Culpability and Betrayal: The colonial hand in partitioning the subcontinent.

3. Alienation and conflict: The roots of communalism in undivided India.

4. Silent screams: Women during the Partition.

5. Displacement, Relocation and Rehabilitation: The migrants’ burden.

6. Fractured economy: The impact of Partition on the economies of India and Pakistan.

Important Dates:

Last date for Submission of Abstract: July 1, 2018

(200-250 words, 12 pt. Times New Roman, Double Space)

Full Paper Submission: August 10, 2018

Seminar Dates: September 19-20, 2018.

Registration Fee 

Participants are requested to send their duly filled registration form along with the prescribed fee by Demand Draft drawn in favour of the Principal, St. Bede’s College Category

1. Research Scholars                                       Rs. 2000/-

2. Faculty from Colleges/ Universities   Rs. 3000/-

3. College/University Students:                Rs. 600/-

4. Non Paper Presenters                              Rs. 250/-

Address for Correspondence

Prof. Madhu Parmar, Department of Political Science

Mobile: +919816041370

Asst. Prof. Punam  Chauhan Verma, Department of History

Mobile: +91 82787 18917

http://stbedescollege.in/Bedes4/seminar.php

CFP:International Conference on Modern Approaches to English Language, Literature & Feminism Studies-July 20-21, 2018,Chandigarh INDIA.

Call for Papers : 

International Conference on Modern Approaches to English Language, Literature & Feminism Studies 2018 is designed to impart and institute pioneering trends in the fields of Social Sciences addressing the Innovative Teaching and Research Techniques in English Language, Literature & Feminism Studies and including their manifold applications 

Proceedings of the Conference would be treated by its Special Research Talks, Research Contributions in the form of Technical Paper Presentation Sessions and Poster Presentations devoted to English Language, Literature & Feminism Studies.

Original research papers from Post Graduate Students, Research Scholars, Faculty, Scientists etc.,in the fields of English Language, Literature & Feminism Studies are invited for presentation at the Conference. 

Track 1 : English Language 

Track 2 : English Literature 

Track 3 : Translation Studies 

Track 4 : Feminism Studies 

​ 

Submission of Papers 

Participants intending to present papers before the Conference are requested to submit soft copy of the abstract (neatly typed in MS word format with 1.5 line spacing 12 point Times New Roman font on A-4 size paper) incorporating the motivation, method of solution and important findings of their investigation to icefs2018@gmail.com

Important Dates 

* Publication is not Mandatory, Publication is only a complimentary from conference. 

** Delegates not intrested in Journal Publication may submit only abstarcts. 

​Abstracts /Full Papers Submission deadline 30 June 2018 (Extended) 

Notification of Acceptance (After review ) Will be served in 2 to 3 working days after the receipt of your Abstract/Paper. 

Reg Fee Submission deadline 10 July 2018 

​ 

** Listener Participants may kindly write for Registration Form on icefs2018@gmail.com

Keynote Speakers 

Eminent Speakers from Overseas & Premier Institutions of Inida will deliver pleanary talks and details will be shortly updated on website.

For all details on submission of papers and registration etc., contact 

Dr.Ratnakar D Bala 

Conference Chairman, ICBCGS 2018 

Email : icefs2018@gmail.com

Mobile : +91 9618777011, 9533421234

http://icefs2018.wixsite.com/conference

CALL FOR PAPERS International Conference Indian Diaspora and Trans-nationalism: Global Perspectives,-4 - 5 October 2018-University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference

Indian Diaspora and Transnationalism: Global Perspectives

Organized by

UGC-Centre for Study of Indian Diaspora (CSID), University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad

&

Organization for Diaspora Initiatives (ODI), New Delhi

Venue

University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

4 - 5 October 2018

The major themes of the international conference ‘Indian diaspora and

Transnationalism’ are as follows:

 Transnationalism, diaspora and development

 Transnationalism and religion/religious communities

 Social media and transnational networks

 Transnational social/familial obligations

 Transnational political mobilization

 Transnational return visits

 Comparative transnational studies

Submission Dates

Abstract Submission: 30 June 2018

Full Paper Submission: 20 September 2018

Send your abstracts & paper to Dr. Ajaya Sahoo: aksss@uohyd.ernet.in

CFP: National Seminar on The Evolution of Composite Culture in Medieval India - Sept 14-15,2018. BHU, VaranasI

Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U.P.)- 221005.

Call For Papers:

Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi is organizing a two-day National Seminar on “The Evolution of Composite Culture in Medieval India” on 14th and 15th of September, 2018.

The concept of cultural pluralism implies religious tolerance and respect to all religions. The historian of Sultanate period Ziauddin Barani keeping such a thing in mind made distinctions between a state based on din dari which proved impossible in India, and Jahandari (dunyadari), which is based on moderate Islam emphasising coexistence with other communities, which was actually the principle followed during the Sultanate period.

The famous historian Amir Khusrau considered India his watan and glorified in its flora, fauna, climate, science and learning. The rise of new sections of society like artisans, traders, and middle administrative elements are also reflected in the emergence of Bhakti movement which headed by Kabir, Raidas, Nanak, Tulsidas and others. These saints stood for human equality, opposed caste based hierarchical society and emphasised the findamental unity of all religions, especially Hinduism and Islam.

Themes

Sources

Sufi and Bhakti Movements

Art and Architecture

Society

Medieval Indian Economy

Medieval Indian Culture

Literature

Food and Amusement

All interested candidates may send a 500-word abstract on the themes mentioned below to tabirkalam@gmail.com on or before 30th July.

Kindly stay tuned for further updates.

In case of any query, please contact

Tabir Kalam, Associate Professor, Deptt of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Phone: +91-9415644571.

E-Mail: tabirkalam@gmail.com.

CFP: National Seminar on Mahabharata with Special Reference to North East India-25 and 26 August 2018

Call For Papers:

The Sarat Chandra Sharma Prachyatattwa Adhyayan Kendra, Guwahati, in collaboration with the Directorate of Museums, Govt of Assam, is organising a two-day National Seminar on 25 and 26 August 2018 on different academic aspects of the Mahabharata, where many reputed scholars, from both inside and outside the state of Assam, are likely to participate.

On the precious occasion, we are going to publish a souvenir in a befitting manner. We, therefore, request you to kindly contribute a scholarly article on any aspect of the Mahabharata given below. The language of the article may be Assamese, Hindi, Bengali or English. We would much appreciate if your article reaches us on or before 30 June 2018. You may send the articles to my email address: dhurjjati.sarma@gmail.com.

Themes:

A) Mahabharata (MB) as a Historical Epic of India

a) Link with Northeast India (Pragjyotisha Kamarupa) and Vanga (Bengal)

b) MB as the source of Indian History

c) Date of the MB war

d) Social Life as depicted in the MB

e) Reflection of Astrology and Astronomy in the MB

B) Geographical and Historical Aspects of MB

a) Historical Aspects

b) Identity of the Heroes and their roles in the MB

c) A study of Bhagadutta

d) Socio-cultural life of NE and Bengal as reflected in the MB

e) Ethnographic and Demographic Study of the NE and Bengal as reflected in the MB

f) Influence of the MB on Epigraphy and Coins

g) Evidence of Mahabharata in the Architecture of Assam

h) The Sanskrit Mahabharata and the Assamese/Bengali Mahabharata: A Comparative Study

i) Representation of Folk Culture in the MB.

Please note that these are only indicative areas. You may decide to write on any other area as you deem fit pertaining to the Mahabharata. I request you to kindly send us an article on any of the areas mentioned above and also circulate the message among your colleagues and friends. For any query or clarification, please feel free to call me at 9818888821 or write to me at the email address given above.

Contact Address:

Dhurjjati Sarma

In-charge, Souvenir,

Seminar Committee
Mob:9818888821

Sarat Chandra Sharma Prachyatattwa Adhyayan Kendra, Guwahati

Directorate of Museums, Govt of Assam

Call for Papers National Conference on Contemporary Indian Literature in English August 03-04, 2018 at Government College Bassa Himachal Pradesh

Call for Papers

National Conference on Contemporary Indian Literature in English

(August 03-04, 2018 at Government College Bassa (Gohar), District Mandi, Himachal Pradesh)

English Teachers’ Forum, Himachal Pradesh, in collaboration with Government College Bassa (Gohar), District Mandi, Himachal Pradesh invites original, unpublished research papers on Contemporary Indian Literature in English for National Conference being organised at Government College Bassa (Gohar) on August 03-04, 2018.

About the Conference:

General Theme: Contemporary Indian Literature in English

Sub Themes:

1. The Indianness of Indian Literature

In the rapid flux of ‘isms’ and ‘post-isms’ perpetuated by the western academy which tends to usurp the concept of literature and literariness (if such concepts still exist), are there any specific qualities and characteristics of contemporary Indian Literature in English which may be construed as Indian? As a case in point, does the contemporary literature still voice the philosophical foundations of Indian  Literature based on the four-fold Purusharthas or aims of life viz. Dharama, Artha, Kama and Moksha as a continuum.

2. The Dynamics of Form in Contemporary Indian Literature

The structuralist idea of form as the informing and organising principle of literary works along with the various disruptions of form in the post-structuralist/ post-modernist as well as the post-truth era as well as other western models of form as applicable to contemporary Indian Writing in English might form the basis of the papers under this sub-theme. However, it would be both challenging and intellectually intriguing to explore and crystallise the concept of form vis-à-vis ‘the great Indian Narrative which is rooted in the oral and folklorist tradition, the epical lineage of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata with their numerous adaptations across languages and cultures of the sub-continent as well as the diversity of literatures in different Indian languages.

3. The Construction/Expression of Gender and Marginality in Contemporary Indian Literature

The paper submitted in this category may be based on the commonly accepted norms of the Deconstruction theory, Feminism, Post-Colonialism, Diaspora and Dalit philosophy. However, it may again be interrogated whether these theoretical foundations are central to the form and content of contemporary Indian literature in English or merely mime these western constructs as academic fads.

4. Contemporary Indian Writing in English Translation

Some of the papers under this sub-theme may be devoted to explore the need and efficacy of translating the regional Indian literatures in English with a view to facilitate a comprehensive perspective on the aesthetic and technical aspects of contemporary Indian Literature.

5. East-West Inter-literariness: Comparative Perspective on Indian and Western Poetics

It might be interesting to explore the possibility of evolving a poetics of Indian English Literature which might be postulated not only on the basis of Sanskritic, Upanishadic or Puranic traditions, but also the western models thereof in the contemporary literary scenario.

It might be useful if the focus of proposed research papers is on Indian authors whose works are generally prescribed for study in the Indian Universities so that the deliberations of the conference may be distilled into classroom discussions thereof.

Acceptance of Abstracts: To be notified by e-mail on or before July 05 2018.

Online submission of Full Papers: Please submit your full paper by e-mail at the given mail id on or before July 30 2018. Please use the font and size as specified for the abstract and follow MLA format of documentation (Eighth edition).

Delegate Fee (For outstation Delegates): Rs. 2000/-.

The fee will cover expenses towards their boarding and lodging, meals and refreshments. The delegate fee may be transferred through NEFT to the Savings Bank Account of English Teachers’ Forum by the date to be specified along with acceptance letter of abstracts submitted for the conference.

Delegate Fee (For Local Delegates who do not require accommodation): Rs. 1500/-.

Important Dates:

Submission of Abstracts: An abstract of 250 words (main body only) along with prominent keywords of the proposed paper may be mailed at etfhimachal.2018@gmail.com by June 25 2018. 
The title of the paper may be mentioned in bold face Times New Roman, font size 14. Use Times New Roman, font size 12, for the main body of the abstract. Do remember to mention your Title (Prof./Dr./Mr./Ms.), Full name and institutional affiliation in your abstract.

(Please note that no proposal for paper presentation will be accepted if the abstract of the same is not submitted by due date. However, teachers/ scholars may participate in the conference in the capacity of non-paper presenters.)

Travel Assistance Provided- CFP: The Body in Colonial India: July 7, 2018,Goldsmiths (University of London, UK)

Call For Papers:

Over the last decade, scholarship on “the body” has received increasing academic attention in research on colonialism in India. Historians have examined the interplay between the body and several areas of enquiry, from gender and sexuality to material culture, foodways, and stimulants. Their findings have foregrounded the impact of colonialism on the bodies of colonisers and colonised alike, as well as the often pervasive scope of colonial biopolitics. In this way, scholars have established the centrality of the body to the colonial experience in India. What has been assessed to a lesser extent is the degree to which knowledge of the body became a discursive contact zone between Indian and European actors in the colonial period.

This colloquium aims to advance the historiographical debate by examining the role of knowledge, including medical knowledge, in shaping bodily understandings and practices in colonial India. How did Indians and Europeans construct, transmit and challenge knowledge of the body and its associated bodily practices? How did the colonial encounter affect older forms of knowing and doing? How did knowledge of the body turn into a focal point for debates around personal and collective emancipation?

Presentations will consist of seminar papers by Erica Wald (Goldsmiths), Kate Imy (UNT) and Teresa Segura-Garcia (Uni. Pompeu Fabra) and a roundtable. Lunch will be provided to all participants. Registration is free courtesy of the University of North Texas, the Royal Historical Society, the Society for the Social History of Medicine, and Goldsmiths. Travel assistance may be available to graduate students and ECRs through the SSHM: https://sshm.org/bursaries/

 Please send proposals (100-200 words) for 5-10 minute roundtable presentations to Kate Imy (kate.alison.imy@gmail.com) by June 12, 2018.

The conference will be held at Goldsmiths (University of London, UK) on July 7, 2018.

Special thanks to Julia Hauser (Uni. Kassel) for her indispensable contributions to this initiative..

For More Details: https://sshm.org/2018/05/09/the-body-in-colonial-india/