For Two Day Interdisciplinary International Conference

March, 2012

Humanism, Democracy and Culture: Postcolonial Discourse and India

In its contextual locations, postcolonialism is said to encompass ‘life’ in totality (Mbembe, Notes on the Postcolony). However, one of the primary drives behind the inception, expansion and subsequent popularity of this discourse is the invaluable place of democratic aspirations in the cultural discourse. While postcolonialism certainly challenges the established notions of humanism, freedom, universality and nationalism, much remains to be articulated in the context of a perpetual power struggle which spills over the historical phase of ‘colonialism’ and continues to control the attitudes across national and cultural boundaries. Despite the popular success of postcolonialism in the Western academic, the subtle forms of oppression through ‘naturalizing’ tools of power is still more popular in the developed nations and their academies. Given its size and centrality in the colonial enterprise, India holds a unique place in these developments both within the postcolonial discourse.

The idea of Indian humanism gained impetus from the cultural transformation of the modern state and democracy that flourished under British empire. But this internal transformation along with the he arrival of Marxism on the Indian cultural and literary scene is a phenomenon that had complicated, often convoluted bearings on the way colonial experience was received by the Indian writer Contemporary postcolonial debates, partly aided by the success of the Indian English literature in the West, places inordinate amount of faith in secular humanism, rights, indignity, democratic criticism, and a cosmopolitanism that is characterized by increasing local and regional representations. These developments are also coincided by a revival in the literary and cultural representations of the marginalized sections of Indian society – Dalits, adivasis, among other separatist and nationalist movements. In light of this conjecture, this conference invites papers that address:

Postcolonialism and Indigenous Representation
Postcolonialsim and Indian humanism
Postcolonialism and Western Aspirations
Postcolonialsm and Marxism
Postcolonialism and Nativism, and Cultural Fundamentalism in East and West
Postcolonialism and Indian languages

This interdisciplinary international conference will be held end of March 2012 (Exact dates to be conveyed soon). Previously unpublished submissions are welcome. On line presentation of papers would also be considered. Please send an abstract of 300-400 words to rksd.englishdept@gmail.com rajbirparashar@gmail.com. The deadline for proposal from Indian delegates is December 31, 2011 and for foreign delegates January 15, 2012. Details of registeration will follow shortly. The organiser of the event is Dept. of English, R.K.S.D. College Kaithal – 136027, Haryana, India.
RKSD College, Kaithal , affiliated to Kurukshetra University Kuruksetra , Haryana, India