Pluralism is embedded in the very origin of Human civilization: Prof. Harish Narang
Prof. Harish Narang, formerly Chairman of School of Languages, Jawahar Lal Nehru University in his address stated that pluralism is embedded in the very genetic structure of the human species. He said that the idea of imposing one thought, one religion and one way of life is not natural. It is against the very history of the growth of human civilization. He said that this is an established fact that whether Black, White or Coloured – all reces of human beings have their origin in Africa. It was later that they migrated to different parts of the world and evolved differences due to geographic reasons. He said that insistence on following one ideology and promoting one political party is anti – democracy. The beauty of democracy lies in respecting differences and celebrating diversity. He was speaking as the chief guest at XVII Annual Conference of Rajasthan Association for Studies in English held on 28-29 Nov. 2020. The theme of the conference was Plurality is Unity: Exploring Humanity and Celebrating Individual Identities through Literature in Translation.
Prof. Sumanbala, Professor of English at Delhi University delivered Prof. S.N.Joshi Memorial Lecture. Explored the depiction of Identity issues in Indian English Literature and literature of regional languages in India translated in English. She maintained that regional literatures are very rich and enrich English Literature through their translation. The journal of the Association was also released in the inaugural session of the conference.
The conference was held this year in the form of a webinar. General Secretary of the Association Dr.K.S.Kang, Principal, Maharana Pratap Government PG College told that every year the Association organizes conferences at some part of Rajasthan. This year due to Covid-19 it was decided to have it in a webinar form. The inaugural session was chaired by Prof. Sunil Bhargava, Vice President of the Association. Organizing Secretary of the conference, Dr. Rajshree Ranawat, J.N.Vyas University, Jodhpur told that scholars from all over India and also from abroad joined this conference. Scholars from Malaysia, Dubai and Saudi Arabia participated in the conference.
Prof. H.S.Chandalia, Director of the conference and Vice President of the Association stated in his concept that the theme of the conference is very relevant to the present times. Describing the theme he said that Globalization ushered in an era of fear of dispossession of individual spaces leading to a strange kind of imposition of uniformity in all spheres of life. It was becoming visible how a super power was using its entire means to demean all other entities and establish a hegemonic control over peoples and countries. Over the years this has percolated down to smaller countries and the talk of national identities as central to political discourse is becoming evident. One nation, one language, one culture, one ideology and one party seem to be becoming the new normal. The pandemic also seems to have been used by the power centers to consolidate their positions and curb the alternative voices. The world, however, has never been so in the past. This new normal is not normal. Plurality is normal. Existence of multiple voices, multiple choices, numerous colours and varied fragrances make a world normal. Small things matter. Their presence makes the big ones big.
The conference discussed many of these issues on the basis of literature in Translation. This was chosen as the domain of the conference because translation brings people together by making them available literature which is otherwise inaccessible. This also enables one to know another culture and respect it. Translation manifests respecting the other. One attempts translation from one language to another only when (s)he loves the two languages and wishes to engage with them.
A major high light of the conference was the plenary session in which Prof. Galin Tihanov, George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of London delivered his address. In his address he talked about some of the reasons for the resistance to theory we have been living with over the last few decades. One of these reasons, he said, is the realization that theory (specifically literary theory in this case) has not had universal applicability. Theory has not been the primary mode of reflection on literature beyond the Western tradition (however risky in its generality, and open to accusations of essentialism, this notion might be). In other, equally powerful (but non-Western in their formation) cultural zones (China and the Middle East would be good examples), there has not been, historically speaking, much demand for theory; instead, literature would be reflected upon through the equally enabling prism of poetics – a very different prism indeed. Literary theory derives its specificity from being the outcome of a particular historical negotiation over the place literature occupies vis-a-vis the state and its institutions, vis-a-vis religion, and other important societal factors – and only in conjunction with (and sometimes in the invisible shadow of) these larger emancipatory developments does literary theory emerge as a specific mode of reflection on literature. This session was chaired by Prof. Umed Singh of CDL University, Sirsa, Haryana.
Dr. Mehzbeen Sadriwala and Mayadah Mohammad of Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia and AAshima Jain of Nottingham University, Malaysia presented their papers in the conference. The conference had four plenary sessions in which Prof. Dipa Chakrabarty of Amity University, Jaipur, Dr, Rimika Singhvi of IIS University, Jaipur and Dr. H.C Hajela, Editor of literary journal Dialogue addressed the participants. These sessions were chaired by Prof. Anand Mahanand of University of English and Foreign Languages , Hyderabad, Prof. Sanjay Arora of Central University, Kishangarh and Dr. S.K.Singh of O.P.Jindal University, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. Dr. Veenu George, Dr. Sonu Shiva, Dr.Kshamata Chaudhary, Dr. Arpit Kothari, Dr. Manoj Kumar convened the sessions.
Prof. P.K. Patra , Academic Registrar of Bodoland University Assam delivered the Valedictory address. Prof. Patra an eminent Indian English Poet, talked of cultural pluralism and cultural relativism. He said that the character of translation is inclusivity. He said that the theme “Plurality is Unity” is very relevant to Indian situation. He said that centrality of the whole thing is culture. This session was chaired by Prof. Sudhi Rajiv, professor of English at Purnima University, Jaipur. This session was convened by Dr. Anjali Singh, M.L.Sukhadia University, Udaipur.
Nearly forty research papers were presented in three technical sessions. These sessions were chaired by Dr. Sumer Singh, Dr. Rekha Tiwari, Dr.Vibha Bhoot, Dr. Anant Dadheech, Dr. K.S.Kang and Dr. Khushpal Garg.
