Indian Feminism/s: Writing Liberation in Modern India

One-Day National Students’ Seminar

Organised by English Literary Society, Zakir Husain Delhi College (M), New Delhi

As part of Rhapsody ’17: The English Department Fest

20 February 2017

Call for Papers

There is a trend, fast gaining ground these days, to reject modernity as an alien ‘Western’ concept and argue that traditionally women were free and equal in India. Many historians have pointed out that reconstruction of such ancient glory does not take into account the rampant social inequalities of the time. The creation of a modern nation in 1947 was a watershed event in the history of Indian feminism/s. On the one hand there was opportunity for women to secure constitutional guarantees of equality; on the other hand, there was the variable of a country divided by class, caste, religion and region. To add to this, the burden of demarcating and preserving ‘Indian’ identity in the modern world was also made over to women. Globalization of the 1990s in certain senses generated more hierarchies; disseminated more myths about India and Indianness and, thereby, made the situation more complex. The recent rise of Right Wing politics factored on religion, tradition and nationalism poses a big challenge to all secular and liberative processes but especially to resolution of women’s issues. Thus, Indian feminism/s in the present time would have to be located not only between tradition and modernity; the home and the world but also between the myth and reality of India.

Up till now Indian feminists have successfully resisted any essentialising of ‘Indian feminism’. At the same time they have been very careful to respond to the ground realities of the country. At the level of theorising, it has been an important and useful feminist practice to represent Indian feminism/s as history of ‘doing’ - to describe how women in India have challenged, subverted or transformed patriarchal practices – rather than to fetishise the ‘Indianness’ of their actions. Writers have participated in this doing; writing in many languages; shaping themselves and the societies that they live in. The present seminar is an attempt to explore Indian feminism/s through the many ways in which Indian writers have contributed to the liberative process of creating gender equity in modern India.

We invite analytical and focused research papers on the topic “Indian Feminism/s: Writing Liberation in Modern India” from undergraduate and postgraduate students from colleges and universities. Abstracts of maximum 200 words may be sent to elszhdcm@gmail.com latest by 30 January 2017.

The panels and papers may be related but not restricted to any of the following areas:

Women and the Nation 

Writing the Body
Activist Writing/New modes of protest writing like Blogs and Multimedia
Popular Cultures and Representation of Women
Women and Globalisation/India and the Global South
Indian Diasporic Writings and Women
Men and Feminism

Important Dates:
Last date for abstract submission   : 30 January 2017
Intimation of abstract selection       : 05 February 2017
Last date for full paper submission : 15 February 2017

Note: Registration will be free for all participants. No TA/DA will be paid to participants. There will be a best paper award adjudged by the jury. Refreshments and certificates will be provided to all participants. Participants are expected to read papers of not more than 15-20 minutes.

Queries may be directed to: 
Abdul Hameed P. A.
Convenor, English Literary Society
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Zakir Husain Delhi College (M), New Delhi
elszhdcm@gmail.com, abdulzhdcm@gmail.com