Updated topics list and URL
The 13th Annual Central New York Conference on Language and Literature (CNYCLL),
Oct. 26 - 28, 2003. SUNY College at Cortland, Cortland, New York.
SESSION---SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH: PARTITION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Request abstracts for twenty-minute presentations on South Asian literature in
English dealing expressly with partition—that is, English language fiction, films,
poetry, or plays by South Asians (resident or non-resident) focused on the
historical moments during which the subcontinent has been partitioned. “Partition”
includes not only the defining moment of 1947, but also the 1971 conflict in Bengal
and subsequent establishment of independent Bangladesh, as well as other partition
“skirmishes,” such as the dispute over Kashmir since 1947 and related events.
Papers may concern any issue or theme relevant to a work by a South Asian
author/filmmaker that deals explicitly with partition. Topics might include, but are
not limited to, literary analysis of:
° Women and partition—examinations of the tangled web of women’s issues inherent in
partition (how is the cultivation of consciousness around women’s issues forestalled
under conditions of partition and de-colonization?; questions of women’s agency vs.
female victimization in the context of de-colonization and partition; women’s
literature as a site of resistance to the double oppression of colonialism and
patriarchy; etc.).
° “Free at last?”—partition, colonialism, and de-colonization (postcolonial
inquiries into the question of who partitioned India; the colonial legacy of “divide
and rule” and its relationships to the outcome of the independence movement—“divided
and self-ruled”; the effects of colonialism on Hindu-Muslim relations, the
“partitioning” of communities specifically considered as an effect of colonialism;
etc.).
° Literary analysis involving dalit and other caste/class concerns inherent in
partition and its after effects (eg., how are untouchables also invisible in the
context of partition? what are the general effects of partition on caste relations
and realities?; etc.).
° The psychology of partition—“Radically split” subjects of partition (individual
and social selves in crisis; schizophrenia, madness, partition; the problem of
self-fashioning and the re-fashioned nation; etc..).
° Ideologies of partition, their discourses and modalities (partition and the
sectarian state; how has partition re-cast notions of religious devotion in South
Asia?; how does partition re-define identity differently for South Asians depending
upon religious affiliation—eg., for Sikhs, Parsees, Christians, Hindus, Muslims,
Jews, etc?; what does home mean in a partitioned place, or in one like Kashmir where
the threat of [re]partition—reunification vs. independence—looms incessantly?; etc.)
° Novel-into-film analyses in the context of partition narratives are also of
interest (what happens to the partition novel when transferred to visual media,
from novel into film? do these related narratives tell the same story? how does
Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India compare with Deepa Mehta’s Earth? how does the film
adaptation of Train to Pakistan compare/contrast with Khushwant Singh’s novel? etc.)
° Other topics, as appropriate.
3 to 4 page (750 – 1000 word) abstracts by 7/15/03 to:
E-mail: Maureen Fadem, saintjoan720@yahoo.com (please feel free to make inquiries at
this address)
--or—
Snail mail your abstract to:
Attention: Maureen Fadem
Hunter College, English Dept.,
695 Park Avenue,
New York, NY 10021.
The Annual CNYCLL conference attracts scholars the world over—for info visit:
http://www.cortland.edu/english/
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~m.e. ruprecht fadem / saintjoan720@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our talk of justice is empty until the largest
battleship has foundered on the forehead of a
drowned man. ~Paul Celan
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From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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