An International Conference on Children and Childhood: Imaginaries in Indian and Other Asian Literatures and Film
Virtual Platform
Dates: 11-12 November 2021
About the Conference
In contemporary times, with a boom in digital media and other forms of convergent spaces and identities, narratives for and about children and childhood are often multilayered, diverse and complex; making it imperative to critically engage with them from a more specific and contextual perspective. In other words, multiple childhoods require multiple narratives for and about children that cover different contexts. However, ever since the inception of childhood studies and childrens literature studies within academia, there has been a dominant imagination and theorization of the child and childhoods from western and European lenses, despite the notion of the child and childhood in itself having transformed in practice, imaginings and theorizations across ages, fields and spaces.
The scope and understanding of childrens narratives within India and other Asian contexts still remains underrepresented within academic scholarship to a great extent. Considering the multiplicity and contexts of childhoods across cultures, it is imperative that a nuanced and theoretical engagement be initiated in the milieu of non-western or non-European intellectual, educational and creative practices. Above all, it is important and necessary to provide opportunities for multiple engagements and conversations about children and childhoods across narratives.
This international conference aims to reorient the locus of debate and discussion towards the Asian perspective with regards to childrens narratives. It seeks to explore the diverse as well as local narratives of children and childhood within the Asian context, in both theory and practice. It aims to give voice and visibility to the narratives for and about children from an Asian perspective, by understanding and questioning the representations within and outside the narratives. It further attempts to locate and problematize the matrices that polarise representations of children and childhoods, providing a pathway to engage with Indian and other Asian narratives for children and to radicalize the representation of children and childhoods in narrative imaginings and retellings.
In this process, we hope to decolonize the theorizations on practice, education, creativity and publishing that centre around children from the western and European lenses and attempt to establish a voice specifically of our own. And in doing so develop a narrative practice that acknowledges regional and indigenous specificities and nuances in the production, dissemination and consumption of the child and narratives of the child and childhood within the larger Asian contexts.
Call for Paper Presentations: Academic and research papers are invited from academicians, research scholars, UG and PG students who would like to present on the following themes or more pertaining to children, childhoods and narratives for children.
- Disability
- Environment
- Writing for Children
- Morals vs Neutral narratives
- Ideology and Politics in Childrens narratives
- Visual Politics in Childrens narratives
- The Child in Childrens narratives
- The Adult in Childrens narratives
- Gender in Childrens narratives
- Narrativising the child
- Narrativising Morality
- Narrativising the Self
- Memoirs by children and for children
- Comics for children
- Anime
- Historicizing childrens narratives in specific Asian contexts
Dates to remember:
Abstracts (300 words) and bionote (50-100 words): 10 September 2021
Approvals of abstracts: 15 September 2021
Full papers: 30 October 2021
Formats:
All abstracts and papers to be submitted in the MLA 8th edn or APA 7th edn.
About the University:
“CHRIST (Deemed to be University) is a nurturing ground for an individual’s holistic development to make an effective contribution to the society in a dynamic environment.”CHRIST (Deemed to be University), a premier educational institution, is an academic fraternity of individuals dedicated to the motto of ‘EXCELLENCE AND SERVICE.’ We strive to reach out to the star of perfection through an earnest academic pursuit for ‘excellence,’ and our efforts blossom into ‘service’ through our creative and empathetic involvement in the society to transform it. Education prepares one to face the challenges of life by bringing out the best in him/her. If this is well accepted, education should be relevant to the needs of the time and address the problems of the day. Being inspired by Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the founder of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate and the pioneer in innovative education, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) was proactive to define and redefine its mission and strategies by reading the signs of the time.
About the Department of English and Cultural Studies, Bannerghatta Road Campus
The Department of English and Cultural Studies in consonance with its mission statement is committed to promoting an intellectual climate through artistic creation, critical mediation, and innovative ideation. The Department inculcates among its students a critical reading of the self, the society, and the imagined with the aim of molding them into responsible and socially sensitive citizens. The Department aspires to create a nuanced understanding of canonical and non-canonical literary and cultural texts, their social milieu for an engaged and enduring understanding of life. It has geared its academic engagements towards moulding students into responsible and socially sensitive citizens through programs that are designed to facilitate holistic development. The academic programs offered by the department are aligned with the Universitys vision and mission. Offering programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and research levels, the core areas of inquiry range from domain in language and literature, to those in and around culture. Programs currently offered include BA English (Hons); BA (Liberal Arts); MA (English and Cultural Studies), and PhD (Cultural Studies). The Department of English and CulturalStudies (BGR Campus) has consistently worked towards evolving novel and pertinent learning environments that are highly learner-centric, firmly locating its academic exercises in our contemporary world. The courses are a vibrant confluence of valuable engagements with disciplines including history, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, ethics, comparative literature and culture, among others. With faculty members having developed their expertise in a variety of fields including Gender Studies, Studies in Childrens narratives, Popular Culture, Postcolonial Studies, Screen Studies, Language Instruction, Digital Cultures and Sociolinguistics among others, its academic exercises provide for immense scope for students to learn, unlearn, and relearn, and work towards more informed and effective social citizenship.read more
