While delivering the key-note address, Dr. Mirajkar took a detailed account of the history of feminism, its spread in the world and especially in India. He explained how in the early phase, the feminist movement aimed at making women aware of the contemporary situation, about their exploitation done by the male- dominated society and told that the movement was against the patriarchal attitudes of the people. Further, he talked about different kinds of feminism such as environmental feminism, separatist feminism, Marxist feminism etc and all these feminist movements have a common thing in them i.e. to get full freedom to take their own decisions and to choose their lifestyle. Then, he gave an account of Indian Feminism. He tried to prove that feminism was there in India since long back, by giving evidences from Indian history and asserted that the idea of ‘empowering women’ was not borrowed from western feminism. He was of the opinion that Indian feminism was existed before that. It has long tradition in India. He concluded his speech with an expectation that the fourth wave of feminism will come and it has to start from Indian feminism which is not inspired from western feminism. He also stated that the target of the Indian feminism cannot and must not be ‘family’. It should have a capacity to address multi-faceted women society and make them work for one goal: equality and liberation of women.
In the presidential speech, Dr. Ashok Thorat mentioned the landmarks in the development of feminist criticism. He stated that feminism started with the women’s struggle for the right of voting. It was after the First and Second World War that the women crossed the threshold, worked for the family and started contributing to the economic sector. He told that UNO played a major role for the liberation of women. Thus, the year 1975 is considered to be the ‘official beginning of recognizing the other sex’ i.e. the official beginning of the feminist movement. He also provided some suggestions for identifying feminism in a work of literature. The first step is to identify good books which give adequate information about feminist theory. Then, one should look for feminist themes in literature which should be followed by consideration and evaluation of female subjects. The last step should be the comparison between the literature of male and female writers. Finally, he stated that one should rethink the term ‘feminism’ as the world has changed drastically and even the situations have also changed from the past. One can observe the attitudes and behaviour of the teen-aged females and would be able to understand the change in the psyche of the women.
In the first session, the first speaker Dr. Rambhau Badode, Head, Dept. of English, Mumbai University, Mumbai talked on ‘Gender Issues in Post-feminist Era’. He presented his observations about the language used by men and women. He also briefed the background of feminism and mentioned some important works related to the feminist theory and criticism. By giving examples, he told that ‘language is never a neutral phenomenon’. But, he stated that the gender differences reflected in the use of language should not be related to the biological difference. Further, he discussed different approaches to feminism and what is feminism for different critics. He also feels the necessity of rethinking of this discipline. He illustrated that rethinking about feminism means thinking about the differences between men and women differently. In this way, Dr. Badode explained how the gender difference is reflected in speech/language of a person.
The second speaker, Dr. Mrs. Kalpana Wandrekar, Pune started with a brief introduction to the journey of feminist theory, feminist writing and feminist criticism. Her topic was ‘Looking in the Mirror: Mapping The Dynamics of Gender Representation’ She discussed the term ‘feminism’ in different manner. For her, feminism is social movement not only restricted to struggle for equal rights in economic and political sectors, but it is a struggle for equality in every sector of life. It is about ‘searching for oneself’. She rightly stressed the fact that it has to be a psycho-dynamic process i.e. both men and women need to change their psyche, their mindsets. They should forget the differences and practice equality because women are also oppressing other women in the name of power. So, it is necessary to have holistic approach to the knowledge. The women writers should be encouraged to write about ‘a clear self’, ‘me’ and not mami, kaki, vahini etc. i.e. they should be encouraged to think about themselves as an individual. She concluded her speech by stating that feminism is not only about equality. It expects to treat the other person as ‘human’ nothing else. In all, she presented humanistic approach towards feminism.
The lectures of two speakers were followed by queries and questions raised by the delegates participated in the seminar and the answers given by the speakers. The session was chaired by senior professor Prof. Y.S. Kalamkar from Wai dist. Satara.
In the second session, the first speaker was Dr. Mrs. M.V. Mathkari, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Ferguson College, Pune who spoke on the topic ‘Why Anti-Feminism?’. In the beginning, she explained what feminism is about. She told that feminism is a quest for autonomy, a struggle for treating women as ‘human’ and not women. According to her, the western framework, western ideas of feminism will not be useful in the third world today and especially in the colonized countries like India. She explained this by quoting the examples from Rama Mehta’s Inside the Haveli. She explained that this novel cannot be judged from feminist point of view by following the parameters of western or first world feminism. So, it cannot be accepted as it is, but we have also to rethink about the idea of feminism. We have to rethink even about how to interpret women’s problems. In this way, one can become anti-feminist to reestablish the idea of feminism. And for this, we should have our own feminism i.e. ‘Indian Feminism’. At last, she said that there is a need of feminism for appropriate interpretations of Indian literature in English and for bringing it into practice.
The second speaker of the session was Dr. Shirish Chindhade, Pune who delivered a lecture on the topic ‘How Relevant is Feminism Today?’ He started with the point that feminism is not relevant today. In the beginning, he stated that rethinking is not repeating the ideas, but it is revisiting, reanalyzing, re-understanding the concept of feminism. At the same time, it is necessary to ‘think’ globally and act locally. He asserted that the days of feminism are over. He was of the opinion that feminism is not needed or required today. Now, women are given equal opportunities or even they are one step ahead of men in different spheres of life such as education, politics and even in the job market. He said that there is no need of feminism and feminist ideas in Indian context. In conclusion, ha stated to come out of theories and put them into practice. He also feels the necessity of understanding women’s problems, suffering and bringing out some positive change in the society.
This session was chaired by Dr. Meenakshi Sundaram, Associate Professor, Government Postgraduate College, Bundi, Kota, Rajasthan. This session was also ended with queries and questions raised by the delegates participated in the seminar and the answers given by the speakers.
The last session was devoted to ‘paper presentations’ made by the delegates. The session was chaired by Prof. J.A. Mhetre, Chairman, Board of Studies in English, Shivaji University, Kolhapur.
The seminar ended with thanks giving to the delegate participants and distribution of certificates to all delegates. There were 72 teacher participants in addition to 09 resource persons and 48 postgraduate students and research scholars registered for the seminar. The seminar was the median attempt of the department and it was really a great success of the department.
Report of National Seminar on ‘Postcolonial Literature: An Emerging Area in Literary Studies’ (9th February, 2011)
Post-graduate
Department of English, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Yashwantrao Mohite College, Pune organized UGC sponsored National Seminar ‘Postcolonial Literature: An Emerging Area in Literary Studies’ on Wednesday, 9th February, 2011. The Seminar was inaugurated at the hands of Dr. Usha Bande, Former Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla. Dr. S.F. Patil, Former President, AIU, New Delhi and Former Vice Chancellor, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune was presided over the function. Dr. Ashok Thorat, Director, Institute of Advanced Studies in English, Pune was the guest of honour for the inauguration. Dr. R.S. Zirange, the organizing secretary, introduced the theme of the seminar and also introduced the guests. Principal K.D. Jadhav briefed about Bharati Vidyapeeth, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University and Yashwantrao Mohite College. The guests were felicitated at the hands of Principal K. D. Jadhav.
After the formal inauguration of the seminar, the souvenir (collection of the papers to be presented in the seminar) was released at the hands of the dignitaries present on the dais.
While delivering the key-note address, Dr. Usha Bande in her Key-note address stated that the concept of post-colonial is not new but it exists long back. She explained prefix ‘post’ as a break into a phase and consciousness ‘after’ colonialism. But she expressed her disagreement that all the literary work after independence to group under the post-colonial category. She suggested thinking of the other aspects of post-colonialism. Further, Dr. Bande explained the term ‘Commonwealth’ and the features of postcolonial theories like Said’s Orientalism; Gayatri Spivak’s translation, deconstruction, subaltern, neo-colonialism; and Homi K. Bhabha’s socialmarginality, hybridty etc. Dr. Bande also touched the concepts of race and ethnicity and diasporic literature. Giving some literary examples and references of films, she spoke about the understanding of some ‘-isms’. Further she said that the urge to identify one’s self is the real force behind all kinds of postcolonial and feminist writings.
As a chief guest, she appropriately set the tone of the seminar by highlighting the various aspects of the postcolonial literature. She illustrated the point with the examples from Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai, Nayantara Saigal, Shahi Despande, Kamala Das, A.K. Ramanujan, Nissim Ezikiel and Chinua Achebe, who presented the postcolonial consciousness at national as well as international level through their illustrated works. She also raised issues like: When India really became a post-colonial country? Can we really call postindependent Indian literature as postcolonial literature? Is there an Indian way of thinking? - A.K. Ramanujan; Choice of language – Daruwala, Nissim Ezekiel; Innovative use of language – Arundhati Roy, Chetan Bhagat; hybridization of various aspects; Distortion of nationalism and Indian Ideology in the films like Munnabai & Lage Raho Munnabhai- It’s really a thing of serious concern!
While sharing his views, in the beginning, Dr. Ashok Thorat appreciated the presence of delegates from different countries and advised the organizing secretary to organize ‘International Seminar’ in future. Further, Dr. Thorat explained the emergence of Postcolonial Studies. Postcolonial Studies was named as Commonwealth literature in 1980s. Postcolonial criticism overlaps with the debates on postmodernism. Models of Western thought dominated world culture, marginalizing or excluding non-Western traditions and forms of cultural life and expression, hegemony etc. While concluding he stated three phases of ‘adopt – adapt – adept’ of the writers who write in English but not English by birth. He also commented on the individual and national identity crisis as well as cultural, racial crisis as the major issues of postcolonial literature.
In the presidential speech, Dr. S.F. Patil briefed about Colonial influence on Educational sector. He said that Britishers established 3 universities in 1857 and adopted the system of education which only produced clerks and Babus only to implement their decisions. That is why today too we don’t have any independent way of interpreting the things. We are only copiers. He raises questions like Is this westernized educational system helping us to create our own Indian identity / our own philosophy OR is it taking us towards materialistic progress? Why we are slavishly imitating everything foreign, including the British pronunciation?
In the first session, the first speaker Dr. Shirish Chindhade, Former Principal, M.U. College, Pune talked on ‘Understanding Postcolonialism’. He explained the term ‘Commonwealth’ and the concepts like ‘colonizer’ and ‘colonized’. He stated with regret the difference between the British Literature as English and the English writings in other countries as Literatures in English. He also stated that the New Literatures in English also reflect the ideas originally. Yet this voluminous works are treated as inferior. He referred to the translations, hybridity, conflict between elite and non-elite, marginalization, race and gender and diasporic literature as the features of postcolonial writings.
The second speaker, Dr. Mrs. Ashwini Dhongade, Former Principal, S.N.D.T. College for Women, Pune started with a brief introduction to the concept of postcolonialism. She further stated that even the women writers are writing as if they are men. It’s the effect of patriarchy. Further, she highlighted the themes attempted by the postcolonial writers in regional literatures.
The lectures of two speakers were followed by queries and questions raised by the delegates participated in the seminar and the answers given by the speakers. The session was chaired by senior professor Prof. Y.S. Kalamkar from Wai Dist. Satara.
In the second session, the first speaker was Dr. Mrs. M.V. Mathkari, Associate Professor and Head, Dept. of English, Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, Pune who spoke on postcolonialism from Indian perspective. She accounted the postcolonial period as a period of fear, anxiety and complexity. She insisted upon getting rid of imitativeness and western mania. She expected the postcolonial writers to include Gandhian philosophy as an integrated part of the postcolonial literature.
The second speaker of the session was Dr. Rajashree Barvekar, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Shivaji University, Kolhapur who elaborated Diasporaic predicaments like psychological feelings of loneliness and the feelings of cut off from the original culture, religion and ethnicity of the characters presented in V.S. Naipaul’s novels.
This session was chaired by Dr. Nishamani Kar, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, National Defense Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune. This session was also ended with queries and questions raised by the delegates participated in the seminar and the answers given by the speakers.
The next session was devoted to ‘paper presentations’ made by the delegates. The session was chaired by Prof. J.A. Mhetre, Former Chairman, Board of Studies in English, Shivaji University, Kolhapur.
The seminar ended with thanks giving to the delegate participants and distribution of certificates to all delegates. There were 125 teacher participants in addition to 10 resource persons and 89 research scholars and postgraduate students registered for the seminar. The seminar was the second attempt of the department and it was really a great success of the department.
Report of the World Conference on ‘Science Fiction Studies’ in India
(1st and 2nd Feb. 2013)
The Department of English organized First World Conference on ‘Science Fiction Studies’ in India on 1st and 2nd February 2013. The world conference was the first largest event in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Bharati Vidyapeeth. The Conference was inaugurated at the auspicious hands of renowned Scientist and Chief Mentor, Indian Space Research Organization, Bengluru Padma shri Dr. Y S Rajan and Dr. Christina De Coursey from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong was the guest of honour for the function. Dr. Vishwajit Kadam, Secretary, Bharati Vidyapeeth was in chair. The organizing President Dr. R. S. Zirange introduced the theme of the conference. Dr. V A Rankhambe introduced the chief guests. Principal K D Jadhav welcomed all the dignitaries and scholars in his welcome address. The Conference proceedings which consists 141 research abstracts had been released at the hands of Dr. Vishwajeet Kadam.
This conference was organized in association with Vigyan Parishad, New Delhi, Marathi Vidnyan Parishad, Mumbai and Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies, India. There were 257 delegates participated in the conference from 15 states of India and 5 countries of the world.
Prof. Dr. Y S Rajan enlightened the audience with his thoughtful inaugural address. He said, “Over the last six decades, we have failed to make our people friends of science. He said and called for efforts by science fiction writers to bring people closer to science through their imaginative Stories, Novels and Serials.
According to Rajan, Science and its applications used in the Nehruvian sense are too precious to be overlooked. There is a greater need to apply Science to solve economic and social problems in more practical ways. He said “In India, Sci-Fi writers have the unique advantage of the country’s culture and heritage as embedded in Indian Languages, epics, mythologies, folklore literature and living traditions”.
While giving Chair Person’s address Dr. Vishwajeet Kakam visualized the Bharati Vidyapeeth and its academic activities and continuous progress. He concluded by congratulating the Department of English for having thought on this interdisciplinary theme of the conference.
In the First Plenary Session Dr. Christina De Coursey, the prime speaker, spoke on ‘Virtuosity in Verne: Scientific and Antiquarian Models of Knowledge in Journey to the Centre of the Earth’.She deliberated on the 19th century historical context in which Verne was writing to interpret two inter-related Victorian versions of scholarship, the scientific and the antiquarian. The triumph of Darwin has tended to mean that contemporary scholars see 19th century science and humanities as competing epistemologies. Yet at the time Verne was writing, the supremacy of science, and even its separation from humanistic models of knowing, was neither fixed nor complete. In the 19th century, the term “science” covered a broad range of knowledge, including history, linguistics, politics and philosophy.
Dr. De Coursey related Verne’s literary representation of virtuoso scholars to scholarly practices and personas of that time, and through this build a more accurate picture of the human practice of knowledge Verne sought to express and celebrate.
While offering his Chairperson’s remark Dr. Palnivel, Former Professor and Head, Department of English, Bharatihar University, Coimbatore expressed happiness about the scientists and humanitarians are coming together for the welfare of the mankind. He said that teachers of English Literature need to go in for a paradigm shift in teaching SF. We must get away from the esoteric impulse to mystify SF and rather use its plots as concrete contexts to make students become responsive and sensitive to theories in Sciences so that they think about the way they are impacting life on this earth, probably elsewhere too. In recent times biological fantasies have dominated creative imagination, in fiction as well as in movies, and may offer us a meaningful start to achieve the goal.
The Second Plenary Session was chaired by Dr. A P Deshpande, Honorary Secretary, Marathi Vidnyan Parishad. The Chief Speaker, Mr. Samar Nakhate, noted Film Critic and Former Dean, FTII, Pune talked about the image making, image creation, reality, logical imagination, fantasy and fact. Being a film critic he presented some video clips to justify his stand on Science Fiction. In his lively and cheerful talk he surveyed the whole genre of Science Fiction Films.
Dr. A P Deshpande, in his Chair Person’s remark deliberated that history of science fiction writing is about 100 years old in Maharashtra, however it really picked up after 1970. Film and television can make a forceful effect on the minds of people, even on illiterate mind. Although not directly propagating a science fiction but channels like; Discovery, National Geography etc. are the examples, how science can be brought forward to people in an interesting way. In fact these channels are, providing seeds for science fiction.
The Third Session of the first day was devoted to paper presentation. Paper Presentation Sessions had been observed in six different classrooms simultaneously. Overall 60 papers were presented on the first day.
This session was followed by the Screening of the Science Fiction Film Total Recall. After the film Mr. Samar Nakhate, noted Film Critic commented upon the scientific elements of the film and its pedagogical implications.
The Second Day began with the second paper-reading session of the World Conference. The First Plenary Session was chaired by Dr. M H Shrinarhari, Secretary, Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies, India. The Prime Speaker of the session Mr. Niranjan Ghate, noted Marathi Science Fiction Writer pondered on his own shaping as a Science Fiction Writer. He said that his popular science writing has helped him handling new themes in his Sci-Fi stories. Unfortunately, there is no good criticism of SF in Marathi. SF is not taught anywhere. Marathi professors do not understand science in SF while science professors do not understand literary style. Writing SF is a balancing act, a tight rope walk maintaining balance between science and literature but it brings tomorrow, today with all its problems
While offering the Chair Person’s remarks Dr. Shrinarhari appreciated Mr. Niranjan Ghate. He talked about Computer, Internet, Space travel and its application while teaching Science Fiction in Classroom situations. He concluded by briefing about the contribution of Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies.
The Second Plenary Session of the Day was engaged by Dr. Abhay Rajput, Head, Library, Information and Publication Division, Indian Institute of Tropical Meterology, Pune. He deliberated on Science Poetry as a Genre of Science Communication. Science poetry presents science in a creative, imaginative and innovative way that can be interesting and entertaining while taking the message of science across. Science poetry communicates through metaphor, and imagery created through the intelligent and creative use of words. As humans, we learn through images rather than words. Therefore, poetic images of science can have a lasting impact on our understanding of science and of course, on our memory. Further, poetic expressions coupled with emotions and feelings can even make the experience more enjoyable and memorable
The Session was chaired by Dr. S G Deshpande, Head, Department of Marathi, SNDT University, Mumbai. He said that Sci-Poetry is not just depiction of a scientific phenomenon or a device to increase one's knowledge or wordsmithing from a science dictionary. It is very much an evolution of ultra neo poetry with new and modern perspective and matching the scientific systems with aesthetic pattern that one selects. Note that scientific system does not mean logical thinking using cause and effect
The Third Session was devoted to the paper-reading. Paper Presentation Sessions had been observed in six different classrooms simultaneously. Overall, 30 papers were presented in the session.
The Fourth Plenary Session was engaged by Mr. Arvind Gupta, Senior Scientist, IUCCA, Pune with practical representation of various Science Experiments. He guided to prepare Science Toys through simple material, instruments. In the last twenty years there has been a remarkable shift in science teaching. From the passive chalk and talk method science teaching is slowly shifting towards a more active method – learning by doing. Before children can understand a thing, they need experience: seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, smelling; choosing, arranging, putting things together, taking things apart. Children need to experiment with real things. Often such “activity” based learning is termed as elitist. Some think that this method can be used only in developed country with an abundance of resources.
In the Fifth Plenary Session, Dr. Coomi Vevaina, Head, Department of English, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, was the prime speaker and Noted Scholar Mr. Y S Kalamkar was the Chairperson. Dr. Coomi Vevaina deliberated that as a literary genre, science fiction, permits “realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method”. While offering imaginative renderings of the Horatiam dictum “to teach and to delight”, the form enables the literary writer to discuss philosophical ideas such as freedom, identity, morality and power politics, to name only a few. As against hard core science fiction which deals with extra-terrestrials, ray guns and teleporting, the science fiction of Shelley and Atwood belongs to a sub-genre known as “soft or social science fiction”.
Prof. Y S Kalamkar, while offering his Chair Persons remark summarized the Speakers view and briefly talked about the recent trends in Science Fiction Studies. He lamented on the necessity of serious critics of the Science Fiction genre. He concluded by the hope that Science Fiction studies will gain the magnitude in the field of research and other critical pursuits
The Valedictory Session of the Conference was graced by Dr. Y H Deshpande, Secrtary, West Zone, Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies, India and Joint Secretary of Bharati Vidyapeeth Prin. K. D. Jadhav was presiding over the function. Prof Dr. Palnivel from Coimbatore, Mr. Sudev Basu, from Shantiniketan, Kolkatta, and Dr. Coomi Vevaina, From Mumbai made impression speeches. In his Valedictory address Dr. Y H Deshpande summarized all the sessions in of the conference.
Report of the conference on 'Postmodernism and Indian Writing in English'
(21st and 22nd February, 2014)
The International conference on 'Postmodernism and Indian Writing in English' which was organized by the Department of English, Yashwantrao Mohite College, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University on 21st and 22nd February, 2014 was a rip-roaring success. It was attended by delegates from thirteen different states as well as nine countries. The intellectual proceedings, debates, paper presentation, interactions between delegates created an atmosphere of enriched academic integration that was beneficial to one and all present for the conference.
The conference was inaugurated in the august presence of our esteemed guests Dr. Prafulla Kar, his wife, Prof. Christina Lange, Dr. TRS Sharma and others. The Bharati Vidyapeeth Geet won the hearts of all present there which was rendered with utmost mellifluous degree by the students of Bharati Vidyapeeth. Principal K.D. Jadhav who was present there gave the opening speech highlighting the achievements of the college as well as the English Department which was organizing its second international conference in a row, an astounding achievement. It was not possible for Dr. Shivaji Rao Kadam and Dr. Viswajeet Kadam to attend the conference due to prior commitment but they sent their best wishes to the conference and the participants.
The guest of honour, Dr. Christina Lange, from Dresden University, Germany offered her precious comments and acknowledged that conferences such as these are needed as it engaged vital academic exchange of knowledge. She also focused on the problems of lack of funding that the department of humanities suffered from. Bereft of funding, the field of humanities still worked hard to ensure quality over quantity, that was her emphasis. It was in the presence of Dr. Lange and Dr. Kar, Dr. Chindhade's book on research methodology was released.
The keynote speaker of the conference was Dr. Prafulla Kar, Director, Centre for Contemporary Thought, Baroda who gave an enchanting and thought provoking speech on Postmodernism and its applicability in the real life. His thoughts and ideas bordered on several possibilities like uniting dates, incidences that gave the audience several points to think about. His contention was simple, postmodernism came after modernism. It challenged modernism but again it took lot ideas of modernism which cemented postmodernist ideas. His speech was extempore in nature and he hypnotized the audience with his forty-five minutes long speech. He assured the audience that postmodernism was not that difficult though it has several fragmented ideas fractured by over usage. He concluded that postmodernism is the reality and a logic rather the outcome of late capitalism. There might not be a chance that post-modernism will become neo-modernism or post-post-modernism. Rather it will continue providing scholars and students fresh challenges.
After Dr. Kar's exemplary speech, it was the first plenary session where the keynote speaker was Dr. TRS Sharma and it was chairpersoned by Prof. Kalamkar. Dr. TRS Sharma addressed the issue of postmodernism and its applicability to the works of R.K. Narayan. Dr. Sharma proposed the postmodernist elements present in The Guide cannot be ignored though there will be severe possible negation of this fact. He agreed that he was not going to put R.K. Narayan into the postmodernist canon but neither was he trying to exclude possible postmodernist readings to the text for it was too tempting. Dr. Sharma, he further mentioned that was postmodernist in many ways but then it was not possible to call him a postmodernist. To be associating him with postmodernism will be a blasphemy. In that sense postmodernism in India had its roots in G.V. Desani's writings. And the trend really took place in India with the arrival of Salman Rushdie and the rest. Dr. Sharma goes on to call them 'Children of Rushdie' and acknowledges that it was Rushdie who started the trend. He further quotes from MK Naik's Indian English Literature from 1980 to 2000 and says that the new group of writers fails to justify Rushdie's legacy. Some of them started very well but failed to keep up the momentum. Dr. Sharma's sentiments were echoed by Dr. Kalamkar as well. He agreed that it was an innovative way to re-read Narayan's seminal classic The Guide. Not only it would benefit all the persons present there it might lead to a re-evaluation of Narayan's works. Modernism and Postmodernism are unique in this way. Though postmodernism was a reaction against modernism, it was equally indebted towards it.
The next session started after lunch. The honourable speaker was Dr. Raj Rao, the head of the department, Pune University and the chairperson was Dr. Shirish Chindhade. Dr. Raj Rao gave a fantastic speech on postmodernist Indian English Poetry and the idea of colonialism and postcolonialism embedded in it. Dr. Rao prodded on various aspects of Indian English Poetry and discussed the works as well as lives of poets such as A.K. Ramanujan, Nissim Ezekiel, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, Keki N. Daruwalla. Dr. Rao commented on the prospect of using hyphen in both the terms post-colonialism as well post-modernism and how the hyphen has lost its significance as both the theories progressed and entwined itself in a theoretical net from which it was difficult to break free. Dr. Rao discussed several works of different poets mentioned above giving veritable examples and commenting how their poetry used both postmodernist as well as postcolonial elements. It has to be seen that postcolonialism came during the postmodernist era and so did many other theories. So postmodernism can be seen as the umbrella term. Dr. Rao also gave the example of Jejuri, the famous poem and spoke briefly about the ambivalent nature of its which places the Indian critic in an awkward position. After his exciting speech, Dr. Chindhade presented his comments. He spoke briefly and agreed with what Dr. Rao said. He also laid emphasis on more relevant approach towards poetry in the classroom. Dr. Chindhade also mentioned that AK Ramanujan is his favourite poet. This session was extremely cogitating and also turned out to be fun filled with sharing of anecdotes.
The session ended and the paper presentations started. Room were allotted for the same and lcd projectors were provided to participants who wished to present PPTs of their papers. After the paper presentation was over, a dinner was organized by the Department of English for the delegates.
The next day started with another session of paper readings after which the first plenary session of the day started where the speaker was Dr. Anjali Kulkarni Patwardhan from Mehta College, Bordi and the chairperson was Dr. Muktaja Matkari from BMCC College, Pune. Dr. Patwardhan presented her paper on Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowlands and spoke on the fragmented narrative as well as the postcolonial and feminist aspects of the novel. The character of Gauri, the female protagonist in the novel is shown to be torn between her husband and her brother-in-law. Fused with naxalism, communism and a society on the brink of collapse, Dr. Patwardhan enumerated The Lowlands as a postmodernist fiction with pieces of postcolonial tributes and feminist pourings that made it an exciting read. Dr. Patwardhan harped more on the use of Gauri as a feminist voice that gave The Lowlands an extra dimensional edge to be read as a postmodernist text. The turbulent, fractured era of 60s and 70s era Bengal is expertly captured in the book. Dr. Patwardhan's paper presented several aspects of postmodernism that once again pointed towards the relevancy of postmodernism and that it was not going to go be defunct soon. Professor Matkari added to this and said that the paper that Dr. Patwardhan presented was excellent as it brought postcolonialism, feminism as well as postmodernist tropes under one roof. She further mentioned that focusing on The Lowlands and Jhumpa Lahiri's writing in particular boosted the theme of the conference.
After a short tea-break two back to back sessions were organized so that the valedictory session could get over soon and outstation students/dignitaries would have no problem in going to the station to catch their trains. The decision was taken solely for the benefit of out of state participants.
Post-tea break the first session was that of Dr. Coomi Vevaina and the chairperson was Dr. Anand Mahajan from Anna Saheb Morge College. Dr. Coomi focused on the Parsi diaspora and the literature they wrote allegorizing their displacement and their hybrid nature as well as their situation in this world where they have no place to call their home. Dr. Coomi Vevaina spoke about several diasporic authors such as Firdaus Kanga, Boman Desai, Rohinton Mistry, who have written about Parsis and their subjugation and continuous displacement from their real home as well as apparent home. She laid special emphasis on Boman Desai's The Memories of Elephant as it spoke distinctly of the parsis history of displacement and how the protagonist witnesses everything. The work is that of magic realism in nature and hence can be called Postmodernist. Dr. Vevaina spoke elaborately on several constructive points and eruditely presented her points giving the audience a brief introduction to the history of the parsis . Her session gained the maximum number of questions and she answered everyone patiently. Dr. Mahajan, commented very briefly praising Dr. Vevaina and said that everyone present in the audience was to benefit from her excellent ideas and thoughts.
It was then followed by a session by Dr. Vilas Salunke which was chaired by Dr. Nandini Saha from Jadavpur University, West Bengal. Dr. Salunke, apart from focusing on the concept of postmodernism also concentrated on the teaching of these concepts to students and their applicability to fictional works. His talk was mainly on regional works which can be dubbed postmodernist and how lack of translation failed to gain them readers. Dr. Salunke spoke briefly about the works that he encountered during his own attempts at translation, few of which he was able to translate and few which he called untranslatable. Dr. Nandini Saha too gave her talk and agreed with the points that Dr. Salunke mentioned. She also gave a brief outline and went back to Dr. Sharma's attempt at deconstructing R K Narayan's work through the postmodernist scope. She presented several examples from Narayan's canon like The Talkative Man which can be studied under postmodernist microscope.
After lunch, the valedictory session started with Dr. TRS Sharma and Principal K.D Jadhav. The participants were given their certificates and souvenir and finally two days of extremely cogitating and intellectually stimulating seminar was concluded with the hopes and dreams of organizing another one next year.
Report of International Conference on Marginalisation and Indian English Literature
(13th& 14th February, 2015)
This was the 6th conference organized by the Department of English of the College, and the third international conference held on 13th and 14th February, 2015. The theme of the conference was 'Marginalization and Indian English Literature.' The chief guest was Dr. Narendra Jadhav, eminent writer and economist while Dr. Lori Wilkinson, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba, Canada was the guest of honour. Dr. Maya Pandit-Narkar, former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad was the keynote speaker. The Conference Proceedings was released at the hands of dignitaries which includes 173 abstracts from the delegates from 07 countries and 16 states of India.
The opening speech was given by Dr. Narendra Jadhav, who was both fiery and lucid in his style. He spoke on the problems related to marginalization, how Indian English Literature has tackled it and if there is a long-term solution to it. What Dr. Jadhav told the audience was fantastic. Though he was critical of the new writers writing in English he did mention the influence of Mulk Raj Anand and his two books- Coolie and Untouchable and its impact on the study of marginalization in India. He also gave a brief history of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, on whom he has written several books. Most importantly he spoke about the future of marginalization and how tackling it would need multi-disciplinary response from all fields. He also laced his speech with anecdotes that further boosted the central idea of his speech.
It was followed by the key-note address of Dr. Pandit and the session was chaired by Dr. Wilkinson. Dr. Maya Pandit gave a long yet superb speech that focused on the plight of women as well as their oppression in the hegemony and how they are not included in the power-structure and are oppressed. Dr. Maya Pandit literally pleased that it was time to include politics in the class and not to disrupt it because classes are no more homogenous but they were heterogeneous and without politics i.e. the discussion of it, we can never understand what is going wrong in the society.
Dr. Lori in her capacity as chairperson said that how she can co-relate between the marginalization that happens in India as well as in Canada where the aborigines are marginalized. She said that in Canada around 800 aborigines have been murdered and yet there was no investigation. These cases were very similar to those that happen in India where Dalit men and women are persecuted, killed and no investigation is done or they receive no justice.
First Plenary session Speaker:Dr. Mabel Fernandis Chairperson: Prof. Y.S. Kalamkar
Topic: Christians are marginalized
"Marginalization of Christians"- she pointed out that Christians are looked as outsiders. They are looked with negative perception. In fact, Christians believe in comprehensiveness, broadmindedness. They respect Indian constitution. They deserve to be treated with positive perception. They also expect not to be presented in a stereotyped manner. She gave illustrations of Narayan Waman Tilak, Pandita Ramabai, Ranade and Christians from Kerala who willingly converted into Christianity and did beautiful humanitarian work during their lifetime. Prof. Kalamkar expected to have holistic attitude towards the minorities.
Second Plenary Session Speaker: Dr. Shivaji Sargar Chairperson: Dr. M.L. Jadhav
Topic: Marginalised Talk: Sense of Place (lessness) in Indian Literature
The speaker pointed out that marginalization had been at the center of human society for centuries together. He spoke about the autobiographies of Laxman Gaikwad and Kumud Pawar. He also spoke about the oppressors and the oppressed. A short video clip was presented to make the audience know how Dalits, poor and illiterates are oppressed in different parts of our country. The chairperson expected comprehensive, positive attitude towards the oppressed people.
14th February, 2015
Third Plenary Session Speaker: Dr. Dilip Barad Chairperson: Dr. Ashutosh Javdekar
Topic: Marginalisation and Indian English Literature
The speaker spoke about the writings of Kailasa, Tagore, Meena Kandaswamy, Mahesh Dattani, Chetan Bhagat, the first phase of feminism, the second phase of feminism and the third phase of feminism in which the theme of marginalization had been elaborately explained. He referred to India is two countries- in one and India of Light and second India of Darkness. He insisted on Knowability. We have come to the state of knowing, repeating each other and become more and more human. The chairperson, Dr. Ashutosh Javdekar expected to respect each other and genuinely and humanitarian point of view to remove marginalization.
Fourth Plenary Session Speaker: Dr. Bajarang Korade Chairperson: Dr. Vilas Salunke
Topic: Marginalised Dalit Literature in Maharashtra
The speaker made a comprehensive survey of Dalit Marathi Literature. He gave examples of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and other scholars who brought out pitiful situations of the downtrodden Dalits. He referred to the two situations of the Dalits- during King Ashoka's regime the situation of the lower class people was better but during the Peshwa's regime their situation was the worst. He gave illustrations of auto-narrators who also presented the pitiful situation of the downtrodden.
Fifth Plenary Session Speaker: Dr. Muktaja Matkari Chairperson: Prof. Ramakant Walwadkar Topic: Women and Marginalisation
The speaker pointed out that we should perceive all kinds of marginalization existing in human society from the beginning of society. There are two types of techniques of transformation- one is of force using the administrative power and second is of persuasion. She told that women's folktales and minor writings were burnt by the male. She also made a point that the British made Indians hate their own people. Naturally, double as well triple marginalization continued during the British regime.
The participants expressed their satisfaction about the affectionate treatment extended towards them, the opportunity made available to them and the facilities proved to them. There were total 247 delegates participated in this two day International conference and 07 countries and 16 states of India were represented by the delegates.