Call for Papers on #South #Asian #Crime #Fiction since the 1950s -#FilmStudies #Cinema #Regionalcinema, #Vernacular -June 2024

Crime Fiction has been one of the popular genres for the South Asian reading public since colonial times. The simultaneous emergence of murder mysteries, detective fiction, thrillers in the metropolis as well as the colonies has been richly documented by the brilliant work done in Urdu, Hindi and Bangla by Naim (2023), Brueck and Orsini (2022), Roy (2020, 2017), Oesterheld (2009), Daeschel (2003) and others. Moving beyond arguments of imitative models into debates on the postcolonial in crime fiction, world crime fiction, gender in twentieth century crime writings, espionage narratives during the Cold War and more, this edited volume proposes to launch into broader yet interconnected themes of crime fiction in the regional languages and cartographies in South Asia. We broadly define the region as that of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The proposed volume will shift the focus away from anglocentric studies of crime fiction to explore the production, reception, and scholarship of crime fiction in the indigenous languages of South Asia since the 1950s. We seek chapters that address the following themes but are not necessarily restricted to them:  

 

1. Vernacular crime fiction in the shadow of the Cold War
2. Crime fiction published in the early days of the young nations of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka  
3. Women as actors, writers, and publishers in South Asian crime fiction
4. Configurations of gender: women criminals, vamps, molls, and women detectives
5. Urban crime or the city as the centre of crime and detection. How does the character of a metropolis interact with the mechanics of crime fiction?
6. Migration and crime fiction in the late twentieth century 
7. Film and crime fiction (our primary interest is fiction)
8. Translations, adaptations, and imitations 
9. Vernacular print cultures such as magazines and newspapers and crime fiction
10. Readership and vernacular crime fiction
11. Pulp fiction/Lowbrow fiction and crime fiction in regional languages
12. Gothic and crime fiction in South Asia 

 

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Submission guidelines:

Please send your abstracts (500 words) and a short bio-note (50 words) by March 15th to southasiancriminality@gmail.com. We will get back to you with our responses promptly by 1st April. If selected, full chapters (4,000 - 6,000 words) are to be submitted no later than 30th June, 2024. In case of any query do not hesitate to contact us on the email address provided. 

 Editors:

 Shweta Sachdeva Jha (Associate Professor, Department of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi), 

Garima Yadav (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi)

 

Contact Email

southasiancriminality@gmail.com

CFP: Edited Volume on Deconstructing the #Gender-Based #Violence in #South #Asian #Literature and #Popular #Culture

Gender-based violence is a worldwide issue with an extended past that is predominantly an outcome of social norms and power disparities. In countries as different as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, studies find that violence is frequently viewed as physical chastisement—the husband’s right to ‘correct’ an erring wife (Heise 1999). Unfortunately, it is one of many societal concerns that literature has long addressed. According to the analysis of a report by CARE and International Rescue, gender-based violence has arisen amid the pandemic and quarantines (Haneef and Kalyanpur 2020). Authors from different corners of the world have examined the complexities of violence and its effects on individuals and society in everything from classic works to modern novels. Some worth mentioning examples would be Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) by Maya Angelou, Kindred (1979) by Octavia E. Butler, Milk and Honey (2014) by Rupi Kaur, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (2017) by Roxane Gay, Speak: The Graphic Novel (2018) by Laurie Halse Anderson, My Dark Vanessa (2020) by Kate Elizabeth Russell, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (2022) by Kate Beaton, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy. Reading literature offers readers an opportunity to empathise with characters’ experiences and gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the emotional and psychological aspects of gender-based violence often in the forms of ‘slow violence’ (Nixon 2011). Literature can aid readers in developing empathy for survivors through fictional narratives and in understanding the value of services and support for victims. Additionally, literature frequently offers a voice to marginalised people, highlighting their experiences and encouraging societal change. Gavey’s study Just Sex? The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape (2005) argues that cultural scaffolding continues to make rape not only possible but probable and that this support provides an alibi for minimalizing rape and creating a norm for masculine sex. (Zare 3). Hence, in a way, the intertwined relationship between violence and its impacts passes through lopsided twists and turns.

 

Apart from literature, popular culture has also played a pivotal role in necessitating the trajectories of violence and perpetrations. Through films, television shows, and online media, gender-based violence is frequently portrayed in popular culture. A recent graphic anthology Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back! (2014) depicts the various ways of violence in fourteen provocative sketch-stories. Scenes of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse might be shown, feeding false narratives and diminishing viewers' awareness of how severe these behaviours are.

 

This edited collection will examine how gender-based violence has been portrayed in literature and popular culture in the South Asian Context, emphasising the adverse impacts on society as well as its possibility to be changed. We are looking for chapters that deepen our understanding of different dimensions of Gender-based Violence.

 

Possible topics may include, but not are not limited to:

• Violence in South Asian Autobiographies

• Trauma Narratives in South Asian Narratives

• Domestic Violence in South Asian Comics

• Trafficking, Trauma, and Torment in South Asian Web-series

• Physical and Psychological Abuse in South Asian Popular Culture

• Pain, Paranoia, and Partner Violence in South Asian Movies

• Film and Fiction: Perpetrators and Victims

• Mini-narratives on Facebook and Instagram

Last Date of Submission of Full Manuscript: 31st December 2023

Decision on Submission: 1st March 2024

Scan the QR Code or Click on the Submission Portal: https://forms.gle/mcGbygpvaXTqhknN7

Full papers should be no longer than 8000 words.

Authors are requested to follow MLA 8th Edition. All submissions will be peer-reviewed.

We will publish the Edited Volume with a reputed publication house.

contact email: 

partha.bhattacharjee1990@gmail.com