Call for Papers (Open) by the

Standing Research Committee for the Study of Literatures and Cultures of South Asia, ICLA

‘Decolonising ‘World Literature’: Perspectives of Oratures and Literatures from South Asia’

If we look back on the evolution of the idea of ‘World Literature’ we will discover that the idealistic pronouncements by Goethe in 1823 and Rabindranath Tagore in 1908 on ‘WL’ have not been realized. The idea of ‘WL’ originated in Europe, when large parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America were being colonised by the imperial forces of European powers. The twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of these colonies into independent nations with greater awareness of their political and cultural identities. The works of those authors from Latin American, African and Asian countries who have won the Nobel prize or such prestigious awards in literature, figure in the list of canonical authors of the West. This only confirms that the idea of ‘World literature’ continues to be dominated by the ideology of Euro-centrism and its exclusivist approach to literary studies.

We find the world being increasingly standardised through the spread of technology, trade and migrations of people. Transnational net-works which ensure the dissemination of Western works of literatures have inbuilt filters that prevent the reception of texts and cultural goods from the global south. A noted comparatist from America, Gerald Gillespie wrote in 2017: “Now, after the year 2000, we are witnessing … the attempt to erect a new style WL movement in the present century via the hegemony of English as a world lingua franca.”

This seminar would like to address this complex situation. We need to shift our attention from ‘World Literature’ to ‘the Literatures of the World’. Papers which analyse the oral traditions of South Asia, colonial encounter and its aftermath, the contradictions and conflicts that accompany the process of decolonisation are particularly welcome. We need to study the Indian diaspora’s perceptions of the globalised world through their authors. Our larger objective is to examine how a new idea of ‘WL’ can emerge from the specific contexts of South Asian literatures and cultures.

Sub-themes: ‘World Literature’ and the South Asian Traditions of Translations,

Orality and Literacy in South Asia,Globalisation and South Asian Cultures,

Literatures of the Diaspora, Gender and Literatures in South Asia, Representation of Caste and Race in Literature

Please note that abstracts for the seminar are to be received by the date: January 10, 2025.

Abstracts should be sent to both:

E.V. Ramakrishnan: evrama51@gmail.com

Sayantan Dasgupta: sayantan.dasgupta@jadavpuruniversity.in