National Seminar on De-stereotyping Indian Body and Desire: Reconsidering the Representations

Call for papers for the U.G.C. Sponsored National Seminar

Organized by

The Department of English

Southfield College

Darjeeling

In collaboration with

The Department of English

St. Joseph’s College

Darjeeling

Date: March 12-13, 2012

on

De-stereotyping Indian Body and Desire: Reconsidering the

Representations

For the most part, postcolonial studies, quite understandably, have privileged the political. Historical and economic processes, forms of identification (race and, to lesser extent, gender) and categories of difference have been refracted through this particular lens. The affective, however, has received scant critical attention. Body, sex and desire are usually allegorized, often standing in as sites of political conflict. Nonetheless, there is an alternative tradition, such as represented in queer and feminist studies as well as in recent work on 'affective communities' and performativity. Notably, feminists, queer theorists, and creative writers such as Mahesh Dattani, or directors like Rituparno Ghosh engage with forms of the affective that incorporate,
exceed, threaten or destabilize the political.

This interdisciplinary conference is an endeavor to bring together into productive confrontation issues of body, love, sex, desire and the postcolonial Indian representations. By drawing together a range of participants and some of the experts in the field, it aims to promote collaborative work between academics, activists, and the non-profit community.

The papers (2000—3000 words) can be based on, but not limited to, the following topics:

Gender, Desire & Sex: Interrogating Mystifications, Stereotypes and Archetypes De-stereotyping efforts in Indian Cinema, Drama, T.V. shows, advertisements, fashion • Desire & the Body: The politics of social bodies; Androgyny in Indian culture and representation

Sex, Politics, Nation and Modernity in (Post)Colonial India
• Erotic Places / Spaces / Literary Representations/ Disruptions of Form, Body and
Landscape
• Ex-Centric Identities: interrogating the categorizations like normal/abnormal, natural/
unnatural desire and body
• Sexual policy, sexual politics/ movements in India
• Counter(acting) and de(constructing) racist and sexist stereotypes
• De-stereotyping sexualities and gender identities through cyber culture
• The Erotic as Power: representations in media (electronic, print) / craft and architecture/
visual and performing arts
• Representations of women’s and men’s bodies in contemporary Indian culture; de-
stereotyping childhood, old age and disability
• Queering India/ Discovery of Indian Queer heritage

Author Guidelines:
PROPOSALS OF 200 – 300 WORDS SHOULD BE SENT WITH
• AUTHOR’S NAME AND DESIGNATION
• INSTITUTIONAL ADDRESS
• A BRIEF BIO-NOTE
• MAIL ID, AND CONTACT NO.
To
kaustavchakraborty2011 AT gmail.com

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: 15th January, 2012
ACCEPTED PAPERS WILL BE NOTIFIED TO AUTHORS BY: 20th January, 2012
REGISTRATION FOR ACCEPTED PAPERS ALONG WITH THE FULL PAPER MUST REACH
THE CONVENER BY: 27th February, 2012
Registration fee: Rs. 1500 (With accommodation); Rs. 1000 (Without accommodation),
Demand Draft should be drawn in favour of “Southfield College, Darjeeling”.
For postal communication (while sending a copy of the selected paper [full paper] and
the registration form along with demand draft) and also for any queries please contact the
Dr Kaustav Chakraborty

Convener—UGC Sponsored Seminar
Assistant Professor in English
Southfield College
Formerly Loreto College

Post & District : Darjeeling
Pin: 734101
West Bengal
Mobile: 9733184654

A selection of papers will be published after the conference with ISBN
number.