Friday, 9 February 2018

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National Seminar
Organized by
Research Department of English
St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu

19, 20 February 2018

The Research Dept. of English is organizing a National Seminar on “The Textuality of History and the Historicity of Texts” on 19th & 20th February 2018 in order to help Research Guides and Research Scholars provide a theoretical framework to their research projects. The Resource Persons will deliver lectures on critical theory; the Participants will present papers on literature written in any part of the world, providing a theoretical framework to their arguments.

THE PREAMBLE

Louis Montrose defines “historicity of texts” as cultural specificity and social embedment of all modes of writing and “textuality of history” as fictionality and constructedness of history. This approach of New Historicism is similar to Foucault’s notion of social structures as determined by dominant discursive practices. Recent research has highlighted the fact that there is no such thing as objective history, because history is basically a narrative, which, like language, is produced in a context and is influenced by the social, economic and political interests of the dominant groups/institutions.

The selection of events also plays a vital role in the text. It is interesting to note that Stephen Greenblatt turns to history to explain the formal structures of literary texts while Hayden White investigates the formal literary structures of history describing the poetics of history. In fact, words exist within a context. Stephen Greenblatt’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an example.

Edward Said’s contrapuntal reading of texts and his views on “latent” and “manifest” Orientalism, Homi K. Bhabha’s investigation of “ambivalence” and “mimicry” in colonial discourses, and Gayatri Spivak’s views on the predicament of the female subaltern emphasize the need for fixing the text in its context. Therefore, Research Guides and Research Scholars must orient their analysis towards the study of how creative artists present their themes vis-à-vis the text, context and metacontext (e.g. Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and the Ibis Trilogy; Jeyamohan’s Vellai Yaanai; Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and The Enchantress of Florence; Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude). The greatness of literature lies precisely in the interplay between literary context and metacontext. 

OBJECTIVES
To discuss the major principles of literary theory and to establish methods of literary research
To promote and strengthen interdisciplinary research through familiarity with texts across disciplines, continents, and cultures
To explore the various schools of contemporary literary criticism
To discuss the concepts of History, Nation, Diaspora, Culture and Existence
To study the process of the text becoming the “product” and “maker” of the historical context

PUBLICATION OF PROCEEDINGS

The Proceedings of the Conference will be published with ISBN by the Research Dept. of English and Folklore Resources & Research Centre, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai. Copies of the book will be sent to Paper Presenters by post in July 2018.

Editors: Dr. V. S. Joseph Albert and Dr. Lizie Williams

Length of the Paper: Maximum 2000 words
Format: Times New Roman—12 font—MS WORD—1.5 Spacing—A 4 Size
Parenthetical Documentation as given in MLA Handbook should be followed.
The paper should be sent on or before 13th February 2018 by email to vsjalbert@gmail.com

PROGRAMME

19th February 2018

09.00 a.m. - REGISTRATION
09.30 a.m. - INAUGURATION
Prayer        - Dept. Choir
Welcome Address - Dr. Lizie Williams, Head of the Dept. of English, SXC
Presidential Address - Rev. Dr. V. Britto, S.J. Principal, SXC
Felicitations - Rev. Dr. A. Antonysamy, S.J. Secretary, SXC

10.20 a.m.
Themes and Objectives
Dr. V. S. Joseph Albert, Deputy Principal & Convener                  

10.30 a.m.  
Keynote Address
Dr. A. S. Dasan, Former Chairman of the Dept. of English, University of Mysore, and Director of Shukrodaya’s Academy for HRD, Mysore                                      
Theme: Historicity and Textuality: Relational Striving as a Way forward towards Meaning-Making”                                 

11.45 a.m.  COFFEE BREAK

12.15 p.m. PLENARY SESSION – I
Dr. P. P. Ajayakumar, Professor of English & Former Director, Institute of Distance Education, University of Kerala
Theme: “New Historicism and Cultural Materialism”                               

01.15 p.m. LUNCH

02.30 p.m. PLENARY SESSION II 
Dr. S. Samuel Rufus, Asst. Professor of English, MCC, Chennai
Theme: “Archival Silences and Liminal Spaces in Postcolonial Studies”

03.30 p.m. PAPER PRESENTATION (PARALLEL SESSION)  

05.00 p.m. Closing for Day 1

20th February 2018

09.30 a.m.  Summary of Day 1 Sessions
                                                            
09.40 a.m. PLENARY SESSION III
Dr. R. Jeya Sundararaj, Associate Professor of English, St. John’s College, Palayamkottai   
Theme: “Deconstruction: Towards a New Poetics”     

10.30 a.m. PLENARY SESSION IV
Dr. T. Gangadharan, Associate Professor of English, Govt. Arts College, Salem                              Theme: “Theorizing the Indian Diaspora”    
                        
11.20 a.m.  COFFEE BREAK                                                                      

11.50 a.m. PLENARY SESSION V
Dr. V. S. Joseph Albert, Associate Professor of English, St. Xavier’s College
Theme: “Existential Angst as a Lived and Liberating Experience: Situating Existentialism in the Context of Contemporary Theory”     
                                                               
01.00 p.m. LUNCH

02.00 p.m. PAPER PRESENTATION (PARALLEL SESSION)

04.15 p.m. VALEDICTION
                                                                                                                                                                            

05.00 p.m. NATIONAL ANTHEM

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