Seminar Outline
Feminism has generated interest and debates amongst people all over the world, and India is no exception to this critical experience. In Indian literature, feminism has been used as a modest attempt to evaluate women’s position under prevailing socio-cultural conditions. However, for analysing the social condition of women in India, it is by far fallacious to think in terms of Western concepts, because the experiences of Western women do not neatly fit into the Indian socio-cultural context. Hence, there is an urgent need for the formation of an indigenous feminist ideology embedded in our own culture and traditions in India. But, the task of exploring the territories of Indian feminism is not an easy one, since the concept of Indian womanhood does not present a clear, distinctive or homogeneous form. Analogically, in the diversity of the country itself, Indian women are deeply linked to their distinctive social, cultural, religious and regional features, and their identity is multi-layered and shifting.
Mapping the status of Indian women would become fragmentary without knowing the conditions of the women in Northeast India. Northeast India is the habitat of different ethnic groups, both tribal and non tribal and where both patriarchal and matriarchal control co-exists, the status of women for various reasons does not differ from that of the mainstream India. Women, here too, are oppressed, marginalized; and the overall condition of the womenfolk of the region is quite disillusioning. Moreover, this region has now turned into a conflict zone under insurgency or militancy, again devastating the lives of the women both physically and mentally.
Almost every language of the Northeast region has thrown up some remarkable women writers, sensitive, outspoken and critical of the state of affairs in the region. They have responded to gender issues in the regional and national context questioning the complicity of power structures with patriarchy. Women writers like Indira Goswami, Nirupama Borgohain, Temsula Ao, Mamang Dai, Arupa Patangia Kalita, Easterine Iralu, and many others have poignantly captured many unforgettable stories of women registering their protest against patriarchal hegemony. So, the Seminar would attempt to find out a distinctively female literary tradition in Northeast India, and will try to hear the authentic female voice or share women’s real experiences, which are transparently available in women’s texts. The seminar will also try to form a substantial platform to open women’s texts in regional languages to various radical readings and even relate texts to their global counterparts. Finally, the seminar seeks to bring out the women’s writings of Northeast India where the feminist upsurge is recognizably strong but awaiting a wider critical attention.
SUB-THEMES:
1. Feminism in India-Theoretical Formation.
2. Representations of Caste, Class and Gender.
3. Images of Indian Women: Tradition vs Modernity.
4. Marriage, Motherhood and the Family.
5. Body, Desire and Sexuality.
6. Women and the Subaltern.
7. Any other theme related to the main theme.
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Papers are invited from scholars, teachers, research scholars and the students of colleges and universities within the stipulated time. Interested participants are requested to follow the following instructions before submission.
Click to Download Flyer Seminar- TIHU COLLEGE, Assam
Feminism has generated interest and debates amongst people all over the world, and India is no exception to this critical experience. In Indian literature, feminism has been used as a modest attempt to evaluate women’s position under prevailing socio-cultural conditions. However, for analysing the social condition of women in India, it is by far fallacious to think in terms of Western concepts, because the experiences of Western women do not neatly fit into the Indian socio-cultural context. Hence, there is an urgent need for the formation of an indigenous feminist ideology embedded in our own culture and traditions in India. But, the task of exploring the territories of Indian feminism is not an easy one, since the concept of Indian womanhood does not present a clear, distinctive or homogeneous form. Analogically, in the diversity of the country itself, Indian women are deeply linked to their distinctive social, cultural, religious and regional features, and their identity is multi-layered and shifting.
Mapping the status of Indian women would become fragmentary without knowing the conditions of the women in Northeast India. Northeast India is the habitat of different ethnic groups, both tribal and non tribal and where both patriarchal and matriarchal control co-exists, the status of women for various reasons does not differ from that of the mainstream India. Women, here too, are oppressed, marginalized; and the overall condition of the womenfolk of the region is quite disillusioning. Moreover, this region has now turned into a conflict zone under insurgency or militancy, again devastating the lives of the women both physically and mentally.
Almost every language of the Northeast region has thrown up some remarkable women writers, sensitive, outspoken and critical of the state of affairs in the region. They have responded to gender issues in the regional and national context questioning the complicity of power structures with patriarchy. Women writers like Indira Goswami, Nirupama Borgohain, Temsula Ao, Mamang Dai, Arupa Patangia Kalita, Easterine Iralu, and many others have poignantly captured many unforgettable stories of women registering their protest against patriarchal hegemony. So, the Seminar would attempt to find out a distinctively female literary tradition in Northeast India, and will try to hear the authentic female voice or share women’s real experiences, which are transparently available in women’s texts. The seminar will also try to form a substantial platform to open women’s texts in regional languages to various radical readings and even relate texts to their global counterparts. Finally, the seminar seeks to bring out the women’s writings of Northeast India where the feminist upsurge is recognizably strong but awaiting a wider critical attention.
SUB-THEMES:
1. Feminism in India-Theoretical Formation.
2. Representations of Caste, Class and Gender.
3. Images of Indian Women: Tradition vs Modernity.
4. Marriage, Motherhood and the Family.
5. Body, Desire and Sexuality.
6. Women and the Subaltern.
7. Any other theme related to the main theme.
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Papers are invited from scholars, teachers, research scholars and the students of colleges and universities within the stipulated time. Interested participants are requested to follow the following instructions before submission.
- The abstract should not exceed 300 words.
- The full length paper must not exceed 3000 words.
- Both the abstract and the full length paper should be typed in A4 size paper and in Times New Roman font (size-12) with double-space in MS Word.
- The authors are requested to use end notes instead of foot notes as per the latest MLA style.
- Soft copy (in CD) of the full length paper has to be submitted on the day of the commencement of the Seminar.
- All papers will be screened by the competent authorities of the SOC.
- Abstracts and full length papers can also be sent through email to : jeutitalukdar_tihu@rediffmail.com
Click to Download Flyer Seminar- TIHU COLLEGE, Assam
No comments:
Post a Comment