Friday, July 29, 2016

Mahasweta Devi 1926 - 2016

Mahasweta Devi 1926 - 2016



Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to literary parents. Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a well-known poet and novelist of the Kallol movement, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa. Ghatak's brother was noted filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.  Mahasweta's mother, Dharitri Devi, was also a writer and a social worker whose brothers were very distinguished in various fields, such as the noted sculptor Sankha Chaudhury and the founder-editor of the Economic and Political Weekly of India, Sachin Chaudhury. Mahasweta's first schooling was in Dhaka, but after the partition of India she moved to West Bengal in India. She joined the Rabindranath Tagore-founded Vishvabharati University in Santiniketan and completed a B.A. (Hons) in English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University. In 1947, she married renowned playwright Bijon Bhattacharya, who was one of the founding fathers of the IPTA movement. In 1948, she gave birth to Nabarun Bhattacharya, who became a novelist and political critic. She worked in a post office but was fired from there for her communist leaning. She went to do various jobs, like selling soaps and writing letters in English to illiterate people. In 1962, she married author Asit Gupta are divorcing Bhattacharya

Her Books

  • The Queen of Jhansi (biography, translated in English by Sagaree and Mandira Sengupta from the 1956 first edition in bangla Jhansir Rani)
  • Hajar Churashir Maa ("Mother of 1084", 1975; translated by Samik Bandyopadhyay, Seagull Books, 1997)
  • Aranyer Adhikar (The Occupation of the Forest, 1977)
  • Agnigarbha (Womb of Fire, 1978)
  • Bitter Soil tr, Ipsita Chandra. Seagull, 1998. Four stories.
  • Imaginary Maps (translated by Gayatri Spivak London & New York. Routledge,1995)
  • Dhowli (Short Story)
  • Dust on the Road 
  • Our Non-Veg Cow 
  • Bashai Tudu (1993)
  • Titu Mir
  • Rudali
  • Breast Stories (1997)
  • Of Women, Outcasts, Peasants, and Rebels (1990.) Six stories.
  • Ek-kori's Dream (1976)
  • The Book of the Hunter (2002)
  • Outcast ( 2002)
  • Draupadi
  • In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (Translated into English by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak. Methuyen and Company, 1987. New York, London)
  • Till Death Do Us Part
  • Old Women
  • Kulaputra 
  • The Why-Why Girl 
  • Dakatey Kahini

Awards

  • 1979: Sahitya Akademi Award (Bengali): – Aranyer Adhikar (novel)
  • 1986: Padma Shri
  • 1996: Jnanpith Award – the highest literary award from the Bharatiya Jnanpith
  • 1997: Ramon Magsaysay Award – Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts
  • 2006: Padma Vibhushan – the second highest civilian award from the Government of India
  • 2010: Yashwantrao Chavan National Award
  • 2011: Bangabibhushan – the highest civilian award from the Government of West Bengal
  • 2012: Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Sahityabrahma – the first Lifetime Achievement award in Bengali Literature from 4thScreen-IFJW.
  • 2014: 1st Mamoni Raisom Goswami National Award for Literature constituted by Assam Sahitya Sabha and sponsored by Numaligarh Refinery Limited, Assam

(Source: Wikipedia)

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Two-Day National Conference on Distance Education in India: Emerging Challenges and Prospects


Two-Day National Conference 
on
Distance Education in India: Emerging Challenges and Prospects
September 8-9, 2016



Friday, July 15, 2016

Two Day National Seminar on Interpreting Short Stories of the Post 1950s

Two Day National Seminar on Interpreting Short Stories of the Post 1950s

18-19th November 2016
Mumbai

Janseva Samiti SanchalitShri M.D. Shah Mahila College of Arts & CommerceMalad (west), MumbaiDepartment of English presents"Interpreting Short Stories of the Post 1950s" 18th 19th November 2016


About Us
Shri. M.D. Shah Mahila College is an evolving institution offering women's education to the largest number of girl students in the entire western suburbs of Mumbai.It is affiliated to SNDT Women's University and patronized by the Janseva Samiti. The College is conveniently located at Malad (West), on B.J. Patel Road which is at a walkable distance from the closest station 'Malad' on the Western Railways. The college offer courses in the faculties of Arts and Commerce with various discipline components. Besides, it also runs several professional courses like BMS, BCA, BMM & BAFI and Certificate Courses in Interior Designing, Fashion Designing, etc. Established in 1968, the college today offers Post-graduation Degrees in Economics and Hindi as well as M.Com. The Management is thus oriented towards making higher education accessible to the girl-child irrespective of any prevalent social or economic problems. The institution is pro-actively engaged in curtailing several limitations that a girl child faces in contemporary society in her attempts to educate herself. 

Awards & Achievements 
  • Best College Award by SNDT Women's University  
  • NAAC Re-Accredited 'A' Grade (Third cycle) 
  •  ØPerformance Excellence Trophy in IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award
  • Awarded at University and District level by Government of Maharashtra in Jagar Janivacha Campaign  
  • Seven time winners of 'Best Educational Quality Enhancement Team Award by NCQM' 
 Department of English

Our college offers English language as a compulsory subject to all the students in the B.A., B.Com., B.M.S., and B.C.A degree courses, practically making each and every student of the college, a student of the department. The compulsory component English at all the degree courses is aimed at imparting and enhancing the basic language skills of the students. Keeping in mind our university’s mandate of women’s education, the texts used in the compulsory component English subject deal with women’s issues.

Keeping in mind the need of the students and the ever-growing demand of human resources, specially trained in English, the department started the B.A. in English special. As per the University curriculum a student of B.A. in English has to study 20 papers in different areas of English Literature and language, over a six semester period.

The last UGC Sponsored National level seminar conducted by the Department was in the year 2012 on Children's Literature in India: "Reading Children:Children's Literature in India" 05th & 06th October 2012. It was a successful seminar which resulted in a publication of an edited book in 2014 containing the revised papers of the seminar Apart from this the Department has a tradition various University level workshops & seminars. 

About the Seminar / Call for Papers
Narrative literature dates back to oral storytelling traditions. As long as people have told stories, there have been short works of prose and occasionally poetic fiction being published. Such works are categorized as short stories, and their modern form was devised during the 19th century. Short stories differ from the novel as they tend to be less complex than novels and focus on one incident; have a single plot, a single setting, fewer characters and a short time frame. The endings at times are abrupt or open and may or may not suggest a moral or practical lesson. Their myriad characteristics and brevity of length makes it a favored form in the language classroom for language acquisition. The short story has evolved in its approach, purpose, reach and popularity over the years. From Chaucer to Boccaccio and later E. A. Poe, the short story has transformed dramatically. Indian writers of the English language have worked extensively with this genre. Due to its flexibility, adaptability and huge popularity, the short story will long continue to meet the needs of readers and authors and find new material for its special purposes in a constantly changing world. The usability and malleable quality of this form makes it an interesting area for experimentation and research. 

Objectives of the seminar
  • Develop Innovative ways of teaching English through short stories  
  • Provide better understanding of the genre of short stories 
  • Initiate discussions on the themes of short stories  
  • Explore theoretical aspects of the form of the short story 
  • Investigate new trends in short stories 
Sub-themes  
  • Theorizing the Short story 
  • Short stories in translation 
  • Short story in the new media  
  • Narratological analysis of short stories 
  • Short story as protest 
  • Use of short stories in the language classroom 
  • Thematic analysis of the short stories 
  • Significance of short stories as a genre of literature  
  • Short story as an art form 
  • Use of myth in short story 
Papers on all the above themes are invited. The list of topics is indicative and not exhaustive. All other topics which fall under the wider title of "Short Stories of post 1950" are welcome. Kindly send a 200-250 word abstract as an email attachment. The abstracts will be scrutinized and selected for presentation by a peer team. All the selected papers will feature in the proceedings of the seminar which will be published with an ISBN number. Abstract & paper format:Font: Times New Roman 12 size. The paper must follow MLA 2007 Kindly send the abstract, paper and any query to englishseminar.mdshah@gmail.com  sujitchandak@gmail.com or to the Convener & Head of the Department of English Ms Shubha Acharya shubz67@gmail.com 
Important Dates
  • Submission of Abstract: 16th August 2016 
  • Confirmation of Abstract:20th August 2016 
  • Submission of full paper: 25th September 2016

Registration
Paper presenters and participants have to fill up the following form and send it by email to 


Registration fees of Rs 500/- will cover the conference kit, proceedings, breakfast, lunch & tea for 2 days.
Outstation participants have to arrange for their own accommodation. However, our organizing committee will assist in finding suitable & comfortable accommodation, near to the college for the outstation participants. T A will be provided to outstation participants only

For assistance in finding accommodation please contact 
·         Mr. Sujit Chandak (sujitchandak@gmail.com, 9819378548) 
·         Dr. Tamasha Acharya (jits3@rediffmail.com,  9867330870)
·         Ms. Sheena Soman (sheenasajit@yahoo.co.in 9820687325)