International Conference on Traditions of Cultural Production in Northeast

Silchar: The Department of English, Gurucharan College, Silchar, is all set to serve the rich and the affluent traditions of cultural production in northeast India on a platter. The 2-day international conference has been organized by the Department of English in collaboration with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Kolkata and the Northeast India Company (NIC), Silchar, supported by the Iravati Memorial Grants 2018-19. The conference will be held on December 27 and December 28 at the College auditorium. The inaugural session of the conference will be held at 10 in the morning on December 27 and will be presided over by senior journalist Prof Jyoti Lal Chowdhury who is also the president of the governing body of the College.

This information has been shared at a press meet held in the Department of English of the College today. Addressing the media-persons, Dr Panthapriyo Dhar, coordinator of the conference, said, “The conference, the first of its kind to be organized by a College in Barak Valley, will be attended by resource persons from various parts of the country and abroad. Kathrin Witte, an Art critic from Germany and John Vater, translator from the States will enlighten us at the conference. 51 abstract papers have been selected for presentation. Papers presenters include faculty form different colleges and universities from India and independent researches”.

Dr Dhar further said that the conference will endeavour to untangle some of the myths and misconceptions about northeast’s myriad cultural forms and formations and the traditions that have shaped them. The conference will also attempt to unravel the concepts of space and place, race and culture, folk life and gender, performative arts and their religious significance, language and politics, pointed out Dr Dhar. “Prof Kailash Chandra Baral, Department of Comparative Literature and India Studies, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, will deliver the key note address,” he added to say.

Other eminent speakers, continued Dr Panthapriyo Dhar, include Prof Nandana Dutta, Department of English, Gauhati University, Dr Anil Kumar Boro, Department of Folklore Research, Gauhati University and also Sahitya Akademi awardee, Mitra Phukan, renowned novelist and short story writer from Assam, Yumlembam Ibomcha Singh, writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee (twice), Dr Meghali Goswami, art critic and faculty, Kala Bhawan, Visva Bharati University and Prof Dipendu Das, Department of English, Assam University. “We are also expecting Prof Ananya S Guha, regional director, IGNOU, Shillong. Some of the papers that we have received papers are based on food, culture, issues of partition and migration, tourism, identity, of Barak Valley,” said Dr Dhar. Arjun Chaudhuri, assistant professor, Department of English of the College, said that an Italian photo journalist Niccolo Fillippo Rosso has also been invited to speak about one of the themes or sub themes of the international conference.

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