Webinar on pandemic & literature organized by Dakshin Kamrup College

MIRZA: An international webinar organized on 'Plagues, Pandemics and Literature' by Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza on August 3. The Internal Quality Assurance Cell of Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza organized the international webinar which was in conformity with the present pandemic situation, stated a press release.

Dr. Amit R. Baishya, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Oklahoma, USA, joined the webinar as a resource person. The webinar was inaugurated by Dr. Nabajyoti Das, Principal, Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza. Dr. Rakhee Kalita Moral delivered an insightful keynote address that dealt with how plagues and pandemics became a veritable part of life and literature since the medieval ages. In her speech, Dr. Moral gave instances of various literary texts from different time periods that are replete with references to pestilences or plagues.

Then Dr. Amit R. Baishya spoke at length of a certain homology in plagues narratives, highlighting how such narratives treat the idea of plague as being of a foreign origin, how the narratives always allude to some form of media that is instrumental in the spread of news and panic, and so on. He also showed video clips from films and read out portions from texts so that the audience could arrive at a better understanding of the topic.

After their deliberation, Dr. Moral and Dr. Baishya also interacted with the participants who enriched the session with their reasoned queries. The technical support for the webinar was lent by Barnali Kalita, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, and Manabendra Kalita, Lecturer, Department of Biotechnology. Dr. Gargee Chakraborty, coordinator, Internal Quality Assurance Cell, Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza was the moderator of the webinar. The webinar was attended by participants from across the world.

This webinar was the third of the series of four international webinars to be organized by the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of the college. The fourth international webinar will be held on August 8 on 'Biohazard: Environment, Health and Safety' where Dr. Akan Das, Post-doctoral Fellow of Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, will join as resource person.

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