Every community craves a sense of identity in this world, and continuity with the cultural past. This is more so with the communities whose language, literature and culture are on the verge of extinction on account of multiple factors. Literature and culture can offer indigenous communities a sense of belonging and promote social cohesion, respect for diversity, human creativity as well as help people connect with each other. Hence, the call to preserve endangered folk cultural heritage of communities such as the Jetor, an indigenous nomadic community of Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram settled on the edges of Kangsabati and Subarnarekha. UNESCO has declared 2022-2032 as the decade of indigenous languages. In the global context, many countries are making concerted efforts to encourage and support measures to safeguard and transmit the cultural heritage of indigenous communities. Various government institutions (for example, the ICSSR, Sahitya Akademi, and Sangeet Natok Akademi in India), groups, individuals, NGOs, researchers and scholars are engaged in strengthening, protecting, preserving and promoting the tangible and intangible folk cultural heritage. In this context of extinction and vulnerability documentation, digitization, and translation can play a pivotal role.
Documentation of manuscripts, songbooks and performances along with their preservation in community centres, archives, museums or libraries for consultation, leads to meaningful research in the field of Cultural Studies. Digitization, the creation and sharing of computer-processed materials in the forms of texts, databases, etc., is one of the vital means of preserving endangered indigenous cultural heritage. UNESCO has been stressing the conversion of the existing analogue cultural resources into digital form and preservation of indigenous cultural heritage through digitization. Digitization of ‘endangered’ indigenous folk cultural heritage in its original form and language is a crying need as the communities and their languages carrying the legacy of those cultures are fast going extinct. In the 1980s Translation witnessed a cultural turn and since then translation is being used as a significant tool not only to expose asymmetrical power relations between the cultures negotiated in translation but also in charting cultural histories of indigenous communities among others. Documentation, digitization, and translation are vital to the Indian context as many of the languages spoken by the scheduled and non-scheduled people, Adivasi people, and nomadic people are critically endangered.
The Conference purports to create an important opportunity for researchers, scholars, teachers, policymakers, and indigenous people to engage with and contribute to the discourse of documentation, digitization and translation in the context of indigenous cultural studies with a view to safeguarding, helping to grow and transmitting endangered cultural heritage. The Conference focuses on but is not limited to the following sub-themes:
• Identity and well-being of endangered communities vis-à-vis cultural heritage
• Endangered cultural heritage vis-à-vis international cooperation and assistance
• Endangered cultural heritage, sustainable development and cultural diversity
• Endangered cultural heritage and global awareness building
• Documentation, Digitization, and Translation vis-à-vis the role of performance
• Perspectives on Indigeneity and endangered languages of the world vis-à-vis documentation, digitization, and translation
• Theories and practices of documentation, digitization, and translation
Abstracts with the following specifications on the themes of the Conference are invited for presentation at the Conference (blended mode). We have a plan to publish an edited volume comprising select papers (either from the ICSSR publication division or from a publishing house of repute). However, since the Conference is part of an ICSSR Project, the matter regarding the publication of an edited volume is subject to the approval of the ICSSR authorities, and nothing can be committed in this regard until permission is obtained.
Last Date of submission of Abstract: 10.12.2023
• Word limit for Abstract: 250-300 words
• Notification of the acceptance of Abstracts: 15.12.2023
• Mail ID for Abstract Submission: vuicssr.int.conference@gmail.com
Registration
• Last Date of Registration: 18.12.2023
• Link for Registration (only participants): https://forms.gle/2ZXiqeKhMwZSY1uS6
• Registration Fees for Paper Presentation: 1500/-
• Registration Fees for ParticipationTeachers/Academician/Scholars: 500/-
• Paper Presenters from Abroad: 30 USD
• No accommodation will be provided.
Payment Options:
• NEFT/IMPS: Name of the Account Holder: NANDINI SAHA (JRF Research Scholar of the Department of English, Vidyasagar University), Account No.: 6295403340, IFSC: IDIB000M037 Bank Name: Indian Bank, Midnapore Branch. • Pay/Phone Pe / Paytm no: 9474672329 (NANDINI SAHA)
Contact:
• Aishwarya Banerjee – 7003229321
• Nandini Saha - 8250024775
