International Conference on 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐲: 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐚 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦

Organised by: The Department of English, Midnapore College (Autonomous), West Bengal, India.

𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬:

The conference aims to explore the confluences and conflicts in the literary and cinematic understanding of things, basically in a South Asian cultural and socio-political context, that call into question the systematised yet internally fractious nature and notion of “postcolonial cinema.” It attempts to understand and examine if/how cinema within the postcolony questions, parodies, or unsettles the normative nods in cinematic gazing as articulated in the scholarly and immanent critique of Bollywood cinema. The mainstream, subjected to a contrite position of articulation and radically supplemented by the cultural-popular, generates (productive) excesses suited to the tastes of and consumed by the ordinary and general masses of people. This international gathering would seek to position contemporary South Asian cinema as a pivotal marker of a “time of cultural uncertainty” (Bhabha, 1995: 155), prompting inquiry into how it diverges from established theoretical frameworks governing identity, resistance, and social change in the postcolony. Additionally, the conference aims to investigate how cinema, as a textual medium, occupies a peripheral space that challenges binary constructions prevalent in post-Orientalist and post-imperialist social contexts.

The conference, with its ambitious scope, aims to explore the interplay between literature and film across various postcolonial scapes, which are shaped through:

Popular South Asian films and the subterranean disruptive contours of “mass cinema”. Nationalism and popular South Asian cinema.
The cooptive fields of risky cinema: representing Kashmir disputes in South Asian cinema.
The political contours of South Indian mass cinema.
South Asian cinema and Disruptive Masculinities. Migration and Partition in South Asian cinema.
Graphic violence in South Asian cinema.
Depicting queer lives and alternative communities in South Asian cinema. Sports and alternative nationalisms in South Asian cinema.
OTT platforms and censorship regimes in South Asian cinema.
The politics of film award ceremonies in South Asia.
Nonhuman in South Asian cinema.
Dalit lives and the spectres of Ambedkarite politics in South Asian cinema.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬:

Dr. Meheli Sen is an Associate Professor at the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures (AMESALL) and Director of Rutgers University’s Cinema Studies program.

Dr. Suvadip Sinha is an Associate Professor of South Asian Literature and Culture at the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota.

Dr. Seema Kumari Ladsaria is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Please send an abstract (word file) of three hundred words, five keywords, and a brief author note with the contact number to postcolonycinema@gmail.com by June 30, 2024. We will send out acceptance/ rejection emails and further information by July 10, 2024.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
Conference proceedings with selected papers in the form of an edited volume (with an ISBN number) will be published by Bloomsbury/ Routledge/ Edward Elgar/Peter Lang. Please note that the selection of papers for publication will undergo a blind peer-review process.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐫: Dr. Sk Sagir Ali
Joint convenors: Dr. Saikat Sarkar and Mr. Sanjoy Saren.
Organising Secretaries: Dr. Tanmoy Kundu and Mrs. Sangita Konar

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: August 10, 2024.
The deadline to submit abstracts is June 30, 2024. Acceptance and rejection of abstracts: July 10, 2024.
𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 10–15 July 2024.

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬:
Students and non-Paper Presenters: INR 600; Paper Presenters: INR 1200.

The registration fee will cover lunch, refreshments, a conference kit, and conference proceedings in the form of an edited volume. 𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝟏𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. The conference will be 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 at Midnapore College (Autonomous), West Bengal, India. Please be aware that there will be 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 for this conference. Please do not hesitate to e-mail or contact us with your query regarding the conference. Contact: +91 9734430677, +91 7029240631.