What is the Use-Value of English Literature Today? 💜

The Academia – Society Connect!

How English Departments Can Stay Relevant!

#newspaperinlearning

This is in continuation of our past blogpost on “Preserving the Ecological Wisdom of Dying Languages”.

And the purpose of this blogpost is three-fold!

Firstly, for the backdrop! On how English Literature found its way into academia.

When English literature was first proposed as a formal academic discipline for the very first time in the 19th century, the proposal had to face a lot of resistance from elite Universities like Oxford and Cambridge.

Well, that’s because, the academic establishment was of the firm opinion that, reading books was a purely leisure-oriented activity, and hence it lacked the intellectual rigour and “use-value” of traditional subjects.

On the same vein, you may want to listen to a lecture by this blogger on “The Use-Value of Literature”, six years ago, in May 2020, at The Cochin College, Kochi, on their YouTube Channel HERE.

So yes! For centuries, the curriculum at Oxford and at Cambridge was dominated by Mathematics and the Classics (ancient Greek and Latin). These subjects were believed to possess immense “use-value”, because of the fact that, complex Latin syntax, Greek grammar, and ancient philosophy were seen as the ultimate training grounds for the minds of future clergymen, civil servants, and imperial administrators.

That’s hence, when compared to these ‘great’ subjects, reading poetry and fiction in English seemed comparatively easier, and hence they carried the ‘soft’ subject stigma, incapable of training the intellect.

Added, there was this notion amongst a large section of academia, that reading Shakespeare or Milton was simply something a gentleman did in his armchair for pleasure and entertainment purposes.

Also, literary appreciation – back then - was seen as a matter of personal taste, emotion, and sensibility, rather than hard, examinable facts.

However, as the 19th century progressed, the cultural landscape saw a radical shift of sorts. The societal authority of religion was slowly on the wane, and great Victorian thinkers like Matthew Arnold argued that literature could step in as the new moral glue to hold society together, providing the much-needed “use-value” that was denied to the subject hitherto.

That’s how, Oxford and Cambridge finally relented, and “accommodated” the study of English Literature in its curricula.

At the end of it all, then, English literature did not enter these elite universities for its artistic beauty! On the contrary, it was introduced because, in an era of social unrest, cultural crisis, and global empire, literature finally acquired the political and moral “use-value” that the academic establishment had originally asked for!

This takes us to the second core point of this blogpost!

Like unto the “use-value” crisis of the 19th century, English literature stares at an existential crisis today.

In an age of automation and distraction, there is an urgent need than ever before, to reposition English literature to the demands of society.

And this crisis today is quite similar in scope to the “use-value” crisis of the 19th century!

Earlier, spurred by the Industrial Revolution and yes - Jeremy Bentham’s concept of utilitarianism, academics had demanded that literature justify its existence in a world obsessed with quantifiable productivity. If a poem could not build a bridge, cure a disease, or generate wealth, what good was it?

Today, in the same vein, academics and industry demand that literature justify its existence in a world obsessed with quantifiable productivity and economic utility!

Earlier, in the 19th century, the machine threatened the physical labourer; today, artificial intelligence threatens the intellectual labourer.

Just visualise this situation where -

If an AI can give us an instant summary of Jane Eyre in less than three seconds, or generate an insightful and highly perceptive essay on Shakespeare’s use of the iambic pentameter, or write an inspiring sonnet, why-o-why should we spend hours struggling to read and analyse texts – especially when a machine can do that for us, instantly?

This takes us to the third and final point for this blogpost –

How to effectively capitalise on the “use-value” of English literature and make it relevant and functional to the needs and demands of society?

Firstly, a socially engaged academia is our most powerful vajrayudha to reposition English literature and attune itself to the needs and the requirements of society.

Secondly, reframe the value proposition. It’s high time the goals of the literature classroom change or in other words, evolve for the better!

And how-o-how do we do that?

Let’s stop summarising “themes” in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in the literature classroom! Let’s leave it to AI which has already won the battle on this front! 

It’s time we stopped using those monotonous and bugging PowerPoints that supplement the work of the teacher in the literature classroom!

It’s time we stopped using the literature classroom as a one-way monologue, where the student is a mere passive receiver of content!

And yes! It’s time literature students stopped marketing themselves as people who simply read books by the dozen and pride themselves about it! I personally feel that, there’s no palpable use in merely reading books by the dozens and not acting upon them in the service of the greater common good!

It’s time literature classrooms stop giving those cliched assignments and dulling presentations in the classroom – mere paper tigers that don’t have any use-value for the literature student.

It’s high time literature students and professors start marketing ourselves as specialists in human behaviour!

Finally, it’s high time literature students step outside the bounds of the classroom and step into the community – the living laboratory!

This paradigm shift in the literature classroom – from the classroom to the community – the vital need of the hour, would – I’m sure make literature regain its use-value, and also make it relevant to the needs, demands and requirements of society, wherein our literature classrooms cease to be mere academic exercises, and instead evolve into living laboratories of cultural celebration and preservation!

I would like to end this post with an inspiring observation made by Spivak, at her insightful Plenary in Sibsagar College, Assam, on 12th October 2012, that I had the blessed privilege of being part of!

Here goes Spivak –

In the year 2000, when the University of Toronto was about to shut down its Comparative Literature program, I went to talk to the President and it got a lot of publicity on the internet also. I told him that it was “health care for a culture”.

You can never think of doing moral metrics by indulging in knowledge management techniques! The true aim of the Humanities is to train the soul! And yes! you've got to do it slow! Not fast!

And therein lies the phenomenal ‘use-value’ of English literature.

PS: You may want to read the full speech, transcribed by this blogger, on our past blogpost HERE.

Coming up next in our blogpost – Does “use-value” alone define the study of English literature?

Preserving the Ecological Wisdom of Dying Languages 💚

How to Halt a Phonocide!

Protecting the Linguistic Jewels of the Western Ghats

#newspaperinlearning

I was thrilled to read a feature article in today’s The Times of India, titled, “How to Solve a Phonocide”.

The article features a noble initiative by my good friend, Dr. Armstrong, Head, Dept of English, University of Madras, and his vibrant team for having launched the Indigenous and Endangered Languages Laboratory (IELLAB). Their mission is to document the songs, stories, and daily speech of these communities before they vanish forever. Yes, my kindred spirit Dr. Ganesh also features in the news article. 😊

When a language dies, it doesn’t just take its words with it - it takes away generations of ecological wisdom, cultural memory, and unique ways of understanding the world. Linguists call this “phonocide.”

This quiet crisis is currently threatening the indigenous hill tribes of Tamil Nadu. As younger generations migrate for school and work, they are adopting dominant regional languages, leaving their ancestral tongues to fade with their elders.

The project focuses on a “microcontinent” of linguistic diversity within the Western Ghats and Nilgiris, taking up five of the following languages for preservation - 

Toda, known as the linguistic jewel of the Nilgiris, is a critically endangered language that has a complex sound system with rare vowels and trills. Its vocabulary is deeply tied to the community’s traditional buffalo and dairy culture.

Kota, spoken by traditional artisans and blacksmiths, contains highly specialized vocabulary for metallurgy, pottery, and music. Instead of being written, its knowledge has historically been passed down entirely through songs and community rituals.

Irula, spoken by expert honey collectors and herbalists, is a living encyclopedia of the forest. It holds thousands of precise terms for medicinal plants, animal behavior, and ecosystems that aren't even documented in modern science yet.

Soliga, spoken by one of India’s oldest forest-dwelling communities, actually encodes the physical landscape into its grammar. It uses special linguistic markers to describe location and distance relative to the mountain slopes.

Badaga, has the largest speaker base (around 130,000 people), but it is highly vulnerable to language shift. The Badaga language is also famous for its vast oral epic tradition, capturing centuries of social and agricultural history on the Nilgiri plateau through proverbs and ballads.

Preserving these languages is a very important academic exercise. Indigenous languages carry vital, sustainable living practices and environmental knowledge that cannot be fully translated into English or Tamil. When we lose a language, we lose a distinct way of naming and understanding the natural world.

In this regard, the feature article serves as a reminder of the noble roles and responsibilities of academics – especially in the domain of English literature – to prevent this phonocide.

Just to add to the article’s insights, I would like to suggest David Crystal’s lovely book titled, Language Death. I would also like to quote from our previous blogpost on 25th September 2017, on how a ‘Banished Manipuri script stages a comeback,’ which was by all means, a ray of hope to linguaphiles all over, that can act as an additional cue and clue to preserve these dying languages.

You may want to read that highly relevant article that complements this article to a tee, on our past blogpost HERE.

Meet the 'Famous Five' Fabulous Flycatchers from Our Recent Nature Walks 💚💚💚

Meet the Famous Five Flycatchers of the Wild!

#intothewildwithrufus #birding

Today let’s have a look at five lovely species of flycatchers that we’d spotted in the recent past during our bird-walks into the wild!

Firstly, the Asian Brown Flycatcher

It’s a cute little brown bird that sits pretty on my mobile phone’s screensaver for months now, for its cute little look that charms and captivates you beyond measure! 😊

This Asian Brownie is also called the “Sallying” Master - and for a reason at that!

The term “sallying” describes a specific, rapid hunting technique where birds launch from a stationary perch to catch flying insects in mid-air, then return to the same spot to consume their catch.

As such, this Asian Brownie is an expert aerial hunter, that darts out to catch an insect mid-air, and loops back to the exact same perch.

It has large, dark eyes ringed by a distinct, pale white eye-ring. Because its plumage is so plain, the crisp eye-ring is often the key to easy identification of this Asian Brownie!

It is a special winter visitor travelling vast distances from Japan, Siberia, and the Himalayas to winter in the southern peninsula.

Secondly, the Brown-breasted flycatcher also known as Layard’s flycatcher - a migratory bird that breeds in northern India, China, and Southeast Asia, and winters in southern India and Sri Lanka.

Well, birders of all hues almost always have this confusion between these two birds – The Asian Brown flycatcher and the Brown-breasted flycatcher. Notoriously tricky at that! That’s because they almost look the same. However, there are slight variations that help in easy identification. Especially, it sports a conspicuous white eye-ring. Yet another diagnostic features is its pale, flesh-coloured legs and lower mandible.

from Richard Grimmett et al... Birds of the Indian Subcontinent

Thirdly, the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher

This Tickell’s Bluey features a beautiful, blue upper body that sharply contrasts with a bright rufous-orange breast, which then fades into a crisp white belly. The female is similar but with a grayish-blue tone.

Unlike many other canopy-dwelling birds of its ilk, the Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers have a strong preference for shaded, lower-canopy environments, especially dry scrub and bamboo forests near streams.

Their vocalisations are so sweet to the ears! It’s a beautiful, high-pitched, tinkling song. This Tickell’s Bluey is known to hunt and feed on insects even after dusk.

Fourthly, let us discuss one of the most dramatic and highly sought-after birds for wildlife photographers, admired for its sheer elegance and charm – The Indian Paradise Flycatcher – a native bird to the Indian subcontinent.

As you can see here in this picture, the adult male of the Paradise flycatcher sports extraordinarily long, central tail feathers (streamers) that can trail up to 10–12 inches behind it.

Before we proceed, let us look at the Birdman of India - Salim Ali’s take on the Paradise flycatcher –

This delightful creature - variously known as Rocket Bird, Widow Bird or Ribbon Bird - is a frequenter of shady groves and gardens, often in the neighbourhood of human habitations, and of light deciduous jungle with bamboo-clad nullahs. Pairs are usually met with, either by themselves or in the mixed hunting parties of small birds in forest. The lithe, fairy-like movements of the male as, with streamers trailing behind, he makes short aerial sallies and contortions after winged insects or flits in graceful undulating flight from one tree to another, present a fascinating spectacle,

says Salim Ali.

Indeed, watching one flutter gracefully through the forest canopy looks like a ribbon dancing in the air.

These birds are known to undertake extensive migration journeys at night, and are guided by their innate ability to navigate through Earth’s magnetic fields. 

Female paradise flycatchers do not possess the long, bewitching tail of the males. They also lack the blue ring around the eyes.

Fifthly and finally, let’s discuss the cute Verditer Flycatcher – a bird that we in India are lucky to have a darshan of, since they aren’t endemic to India. Ornithologists observe that, they breed up in the Himalayas and parts of Southeast Asia, and then winter across Peninsular India - making them a delightful winter visitor to the forests around the Western Ghats and down here in the south.

Unlike the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher - which has a blue back but an orange and white underside - the Verditer is almost entirely a brilliant copper-sulphate blue. In fact, its name “Verditer” refers specifically to a synthetic blue pigment. In this regard, Richard Grimmett in their book titled, Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, describe the bird as a “Pale blue flycatcher”.

Moreover, while many flycatchers prefer the shaded, lower canopy and dense undergrowth, the Verditer Flycatcher loves to do high-canopy sallying! It performs those sallying acrobatic loops by darting out to catch mid-air insects before returning to its perch.

Upside-Down and Charmingly Unique | Meet the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch 💚

The Headfirst Acrobat | Meet the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

#intothewildwithrufus #birding

The Nuthatch is one bird that’s fascinated me skyhigh for long! 😊

Even a couple of months ago, while in Dandeli, I was awestruck observing the bird do its gravity-defying acrobatics!

In short, I’ve never seen them do things the way ‘normal’ birds do!

The very word “Nuthatch” derives from “nut-hacker,” as they use their strong bills to repeatedly bash nuts wedged into cracks in the bark to “hatch” or expose the soft kernel inside.

And like the Malabar Giant Squirrels, the way the nuthatches climb trees is quite funny to watch. They move with such elegance and ease upwards, downwards, sideways and upside-down over trunks or branches – a rare marvel in the bird kingdom!

They’re called the Velvet-fronted Nuthatches as they sport a distinct, dense black patch of feathers in the area between the eyes and the bill that look remarkably like dark velvet.

So what makes this bird strikingly unique?

Well, unlike many other birds that rely heavily on their tails, the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch relies entirely on its powerfully strong feet, long toes, and curved claws, allowing it to easily climb straight down tree trunks headfirst – and it frequently hangs completely upside down on the undersides of horizontal branches to glean insects and spiders from crevices that other climbing birds miss!

Richard Grimmett et al, observe that the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch is found in the Himalayas, Indian hills, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

[Richard Grimmett et al... Birds of the Indian Subcontinent]

Salim Ali’s huge anthology however, doesn’t give a dash for the hyphen! 😊

[Salim Ali & Ripley, Volume 9, Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan]

Salim Ali cites this bird as the Velvetfronted Nuthatch (without the hyphen), mentioning it as a resident bird, widely distributed in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lankan Hills.

Skills Over Degree! Importance of Building a Portfolio! ❤️

Skills Over Degree!

Importance of Building a Portfolio!

#newspaperinlearning

Felt so happy to read this insightful feature article in today’s The Times of India, by our Principal & Secretary (Madras Christian College, Chennai) Dr. Paul Wilson.

Giving out statistics to back his views, Dr. Wilson points out that, the higher education sector has shrunk by 2%, and data from the National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES) shows that nearly 100 institutions closed between 2022-23 and 2023-24 in the USA.

He follows it up by asking two pertinent questions –

Will other degree programmes, which apparently do not appeal to the job market or employability, cease to exist soon?

Do these programmes not have scope for employability in the present dispensation?

Dr. Wilson then highlights the reasons for the decline in enrolment in traditional arts and science colleges & universities. He attributes this decline to the fact that, students and employers increasingly prioritise practical skills, professional degrees, and tech certifications over conventional academic programmes, driven by several key factors as follows -

Firstly, driven by the need for immediate employability, parents and students are defaulting to professional courses like AI, Data Science, BCA, and BCom rather than traditional arts and sciences.

Secondly, declining birth rates globally have shrunk the student pool. And hence, in order to survive, Western universities are aggressively recruiting Indian students. Simultaneously, policies like India’s NEP 2020 allow foreign universities to open local campuses, creating intense competition for domestic institutions.

Thirdly, Gen Z and Millennials are heavily focused on practical skill development and career growth. High costs are leading many to skip traditional higher education altogether in favour of direct workforce entry, on-the-job training, or tech certifications.

Fourthly, the corporate world is shifting its hiring focus from holding a degree to actually possessing relevant skills, thus preferring skills over degree!

In this context, even while higher education is undergoing a massive shift, Dr. Wilson ends the article on a reassuring note for the students. Since employers are increasingly hunting for skills rather than specific degrees, students who miss out on their preferred university programmes can still succeed by strategically building a strong portfolio of skills alongside whatever degree they pursue.

And that has the ability to make the difference!

At one of the world’s eight “hottest hotspots” of biological diversity 💚💚💚

 #intothewildwithrufus #birding

Grey Junglefowl (Male)

Orange Minivet (Male and Female)

Orange Minivet (Male and Female)

Gaur or Indian Bison

Gaur or Indian Bison

Grey Junglefowl 

Grey Junglefowl

White-throated Kingfisher

White-throated Kingfisher

White-bellied Treepie

Black-throated Munia

Black-throated Munia

Common Iora (Male)

Common Iora (Male)

Common Iora (Female)

Common Iora (Female)

Black-rumped flameback, also known as the lesser golden-backed woodpecker or lesser goldenback

Malabar Woodshrike

Malabar Woodshrike

Bonnet Macaques

Grey Junglefowl (Female)