[Discussion] CFP: Criticism & Theory (India) (8/1/04; 12/13/04-12/16/04)

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Forum on Contemporary Theory
Seventh International Conference
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam  (India)
13-16 December 2004

Topic: "Dialogics of Cultural Encounters"

The theme of the conference, "Dialogics of Cultural Encounters," is part 
of the ongoing debate of the Forum on the question of identity, which 
has acquired greater urgency and meaning today in the context of the 
recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq and the threat of international 
terrorism to the civilized world. The theme of the 2004 conference 
extends the scope of the debate on modernity, initiated at the Jaipur 
conference in 2003, to encompass the larger dimension of the question 
involving dialogue between cultures, between civilizations, between 
religious and political ideologies, and between the present and the 
past.  The idea of modernity, which was disseminated throughout the 
world under colonial dispensation, was both a spatial mode of 
intervention across cultures and a reflection on the nature of residual 
temporality of the past through the present. Through migration and 
displacement of people, through translations of works, through study of 
comparative literary perspectives and influences, and through expansion 
of regimes of control under colonialism and forms of globalization the 
world continues to be shaken and invigorated by spatial dynamics of 
cultural exchange. Temporal markers of disjunction and conjunction of 
cultural forces would include modernity's invocation of the past and its 
continued reworking of tradition through both conflicting and 
collaborative dialogues. The influx of modernity into the life-world of 
the countries influenced by the West could be seen as both a disturbing 
phenomenon for traditional cultures as well as a facilitation for a 
fruitful exchange of ideas for a healthy cross-fertilization of shared 
perspectives. Although some cynics have predicted a clash of 
civilizations and battles over ideological differences, there seems to 
have continued a subtle dialogue between systems of thought apparently 
opposed by their epistemic differences. The emergence of 
poststructuralist thinking and its profound impact on contemporary 
thought have made us aware that the old-fashioned dichot
re-conceptualizing the nature of the human world; there is a need for a 
fresh look from the vantage point of the new century and new millennium, 
which is expected to offer us a vision of a new future.  By using the 
term "dialogics" from Mikhail Bakhtin and implying its opposition to the 
Marxist term "dialectics" we have tried to understand the more complex 
but valuable interplay of ideas across cultures and time as a way of 
making sense of the intricate process of encounters between cultures, 
despite the more obvious signs of many forms of conflicts resulting in 
violent political and ideological clashes. The conference will try to 
examine through close studies of cultural forms as well as the nature of 
philosophical debates through history how there has been a persistence 
of dialogical impulses, even when conflicts among cultures have been 
more open and bloody.

Papers, mostly on conceptual nature, supported by textual examples, are 
welcome.  Mere textual analysis without any broad philosophical 
framework will not be entertained.

Special Session:  In keeping with the earlier convention, a special 
panel on a regional text will be one of the highlights of the 
conference. This year's choice for the panel is the nineteenth century 
Telugu play  Kanyasulkam (1897) by Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao, translated 
into English by C. Vijayasree and T. Vijaya Kumar, and published in 2002 
by The Book Review Literary Trust (239 Vasant Enclave, New Delhi 
110057).  The play gives a clear picture of Telugu society in the late 
nineteenth century, between the collapse of an old order and the 
uncertain emergence of a new one. Hailed as the first "modern" text in 
Telugu, it interestingly is one of the earliest to have critiqued the 
colonial models of modernity.  It also anticipates many postmodernist 
techniques through its inter-textual links with past authors and texts, 
both Indian and Western, and negotiates playfully between the past and 
the present through a meaningful dialogue with historical periods as a 
way of understanding how temporal dislocations and changes have also 
vestiges of continuity.

Submission deadline: 500-word abstracts or proposals are due by August 
1, 2004.

Complete papers should be limited to 12 pages (approximately 20 minutes 
reading time).  A longer version may be submitted for possible 
publication in the Journal of Contemporary Thought, brought out by the 
Forum, or in the conference volume.  The completed paper should reach 
the Convener of the Forum by October 30.

Registration deadline: September 5, 2004.  All participants need to be 
pre-registered.

1. Participant from India (non-member)    *******..    Rs2,500/
2. Participant from India (member of the Forum) ****...     Rs.2,000/
3. Overseas Participant (SAARC countries)       *****.    $100.00
4. Overseas Participants (non-SAARC countries)      ***.    $150.00
5. Local Participant (non-member)   *********.    Rs.800.00
6. Local Participant (member of the Forum)   ******    Rs.700.00

The registration fee covers room and board for 4 days. The fee from the 
local participants will cover lunch, conference tea, and other 
conference material.  A cashier check made payable to THE FORUM ON 
CONTEMPORARY THEORY should be sent to: Prafulla Kar, Convener of the 
Forum, 14 Pitambar, Old Padra Road, Baroda 390 020, India.

Sightseeing Tours: Those who go on a local tour on December 13 will be 
charged a small extra fee to be determined by the local hosts.  Those 
who want to go on a day-long sightseeing trip to the historic Aruku 
valley, famous for its Buddhist sites on the 17th may contact the local 
hosts to arrange the tour through Andhra Pradesh Tourism Corporation.

Visakhapatnam, the second largest city of Andhra Pradesh, next to 
Hyderabad, is a naval base on the Bay of Bengal.  It is famous for its 
beach, hills and ancient temples; Simhachalam temple, dedicated to Lord 
Narasimha, is the most famous, situated on the top of a picturesque 
hill. The city has also has lovely hills like Kailash Giri and Dolphin 
Point overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The city is connected by air to 
Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar, and by 
train to major cities. One can make a trip  from here to Hyderabad, the 
capital of Andhra Pradesh, called Cyberabad these days, the city of the 
Nizams as well to the famous Chilika Lake and the temples of Puri, 
Bhubaneswar and Konark in the neighboring state of Orissa.

Andhra University, one of the oldest universities in the country 
(established in 1926), has played an important role in the development 
of higher education in India, particularly in the discipline of English 
Studies, with such luminaries on its faculty and administration as C. R. 
Reddy, a friend of Sri Aurobindo, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the 
philosopher, and K. Srinivasa Iyengar, the first historiographer of 
Indian Writing in English.

For further information, please visit the Forum web site at 
www.factworld.org or contact any of the following:

Sura P. Rath, Director
The William O. Douglas Honors College
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA 98926
ph: 509.963.1440  fax:  509.963.1206  e-mail: raths@cwu.edu

Prafulla C. Kar and Parul Dave Mukherji
Conveners, Forum on Contemporary Theory
14 Pitambar, Old Padra Road, Baroda 390 020, India
Tel: (0265) 2338067; 2351323
Email: pck@satyam.net.in; paruldm@icenet.net

K. Nirupa Rani
Professor of English, Andhra University
V. Sudheer, Professor and Head, Department of English, Andhra University
Local Conveners of the Conference
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 530 003, India
Tel: (0891) 2599595; 2559051; 2702031; 9849346970
Email: nirupark@rediffmail.com; voola _sudheer@yahoo.co.uk