ICSSR-sponsored international conference “De/siring India: Representations through British and French Eyes (1584 – 1857)

ICSSR-sponsored international conference “De/siring India: Representations through British and French Eyes (1584 – 1857)

ICSSR-Sponsored International Conference 

organised by 

the Department of English, Chandernagore College, 

Hooghly in collaboration with Institut de Chandernagor 

De/siring India: Representations through British and French Eyes (1584 – 1857)

18 & 19 January 2016 

Chandernagore College

Concept Note 

Since Columbus’s failure and Vasco da Gama’s successful trip to India the Europeans have time and again undertaken travels to discover India, to trade, to proselytize, to make both material and spiritual gains. In the process their desire for discovering the ‘other’ and analyzing the ‘self’ through this discovery led to the siring/begetting of many ‘India’s. This conference will focus on two nations, the British and the French, not only because they were rival colonial powers but also because the motives, means and ends achieved by them in their discovery and representation of India were heterogeneous and multiform. From Ralph Fitch’s arrival in India in 1584 to the Sepoy Mutiny, a landmark event altering colonial relations for ever, the proposed period of examination offers innumerable opportunities of looking at the ‘marvelous possessions’ of the British and the French in India;these cultural pilgrims and colonial aggressors were in their turns possessed by the magic of alterity, the enchantment of desiring and begetting novel representations of India through their travel writings, letters, diaries, journals, reports and illustrations as well as paintings. Whether it is Fitch at Akbar’s court or Tavernier at Shah Jahan’s, the moments of encounter always produced different resonances, antiphonic music, paradigms of alterity. The conference will address the following issues: 

Travelogue and narrative theory

Journey and the self Culture and alterity 

Material culture and its fluidity 

Visualizing difference Anthropology and travel 

Hybridity and identity 

Women and representation 

Nation and diplomacy 

Religion and mysticism 

Desire and Utopia 

Music and Colonialism

Online Registration Fee: (Please wire transfer to CONVENOR, D.I.R.T.B.F.E. SEMINAR COMMITTEE; A/C No. 35088429507, State Bank of India, Chandernagore Branch, Barabazar, Chandannagar, Chandernagore, Hooghly, Dist. Hooghly West Bengal 712136

IFS Code: SBIN0000053 

Individuals: Rs. 800/- 

The last date for online registration is 15 Dec. 2015. 

On Spot Registration: Rs. 1000/- For 

On Spot Registration please send your name by e-mail to desiringindia@gmail.com. 

Students and M.Phil/PhD Scholars: Rs. 500/- 

Contact: 

Dr. Antara Mukherjee (0) 9832133681 

Dr. Abin Chakraborty (0) 9830239959 

Ms. SunritaChakravarti (0) 9433764596 

ICSSR-sponsored international conference “De/siring India: Representations through British and French Eyes (1584 – 1857)