CALL FOR PAPERS

National Seminar on
Social Epistemology and Comparative Indian Literary Culture
12th 13th November, 2014
organized jointly by
Delhi Comparatists
and
Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies
University of Delhi

Delhi Comparatists, a group of faculty and students who are pursuing comparative literary studies on the campus of the University of
Delhi and the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi are jointly organizing a national seminar
on the theme Social Epistemology and Comparative Indian Literary Culture on 12th and 13th November, 2014. The seminar is
dedicated to the memory of Ms. Barleen Kaur, who was a Ph.D. research scholar in the Department of Modern Indian Languages and
Literary Studies, University of Delhi.
Indian literature, an amalgamation of writing in several languages conveying the worldviews of multiple cultures has been essentially
perceived in the form of printed texts and has been understood within the context of a modern print public sphere. At the same time,
Indian literature is a literary culture that constitutes script-centric (writing), phono-centric (orality) and body-centric (performance,
painting, sculpture) representations that prompts us to look beyond the print public sphere. Thus, the study of Indian literary culture in its
scripto-centric, phono-centric and body-centric formats takes us to the study of literature as a pluralistic epistemology and incorporates
not only the print, musical and theatrical public spheres that are an outcome of colonial modernity but also to traditional public spheres
such as temple, village fairs, urs etc. that are pre-colonial traditional public spheres. Interestingly, a majority of these public spheres, be
they colonial or pre-colonial, are interwoven with social categories such as community, religion, caste, gender etc., and thereby
transforms pluralistic epistemology into pluralistic social epistemology. As such social epistemological categories were the custodians of
knowledge and the power during pre-colonial days, a study of Indian literary culture needs to be a study of scripto-centric, phono-centric
and body-centric on the one hand involving transmediality, and, the social epistemological categories on the other involving
interdisciplinarity. The seminar thus encourages scholars to address issues related to Indian literary culture involving comparison,
transmediality and interdisciplinarity.
Topics and areas for submission of abstracts include the following. However abstracts from other relevant topics and areas are
welcome:
1. Translation Studies
2. Film Studies
3. Folklore Studies
4. Gender Studies
5. Subaltern Studies
6. Theatre Studies
7. Performance Studies
8. Medieval Indian Representations
9. Bhakti and Sufism
Deadline
An abstract of 250-300 words should be submitted by 16th August 2014. Abstracts should be E-mailed to
bknationalseminar@gmail.com. In the same document, please include following information:
1. Author(s), 2. Institutional affiliation, 3. E-mail address, 4. Title of proposal, 5. Body of proposal, 6. Keywords.
Registration fee: Research Scholars Rs. 500 and Teaching Faculty Rs. 1500
The abstract should be in Word format, in Times New Roman font and 12 point size.
Participants will be notified about the acceptance of the abstract in September 2014.
Accommodation and local hospitality will be provided to participants.
Organizing Team
Prof. Prakash Patnaik
Dr. Amitava Chakraborty
Prof. T.S.Satyanath
Dr. C. Nisha Singh
Mr. Kuljeet Singh
Ms. Dilpreet Bhullar