Introduction

The Department of English, Assam University and the Forum for English Studies, Assam University will jointly organize a three-day International Conference on “Contemporary English Studies: Society, Culture and Language.” The conference would include a key-note speech and other invited lectures by eminent scholars as well as presentations by participants. The maximum number of participants which the conference could welcome is approximately 200. Proposals for participation from interested faculty members, research scholars and other academicians engaged with the various branches/areas of English studies are welcome.

The Concept Note:

By the first decade of the twenty first century, English Studies has become a complex design of contesting and complementing ideas and interests. In fact, the very shift from “English” to “English Studies” in current usages foregrounds the fact that the area under consideration is no longer a unified and uniform one. While till the advent of postcolonial and other related approaches academic engagement with English meant the study of British and American literature and some bit of history of the language, today literatures in English from the former colonies like India, Africa, Canadaand Australiaare getting attention and priority. Interestingly, texts originally written in the indigenous languages, too, are being studied and here, the theory and practice of translation have become significant tools. The rise in identity politics and awareness in the international scenario has also considerably promoted the study of writings based on identity politics, such as feminist, multi-ethnic, queer and various other subaltern groups. Thus the English canon has begun to expand and renew itself in its journey from the “Eurocentric” to the “multicultural.”  Even within British literature, texts that were traditionally ignored, neglected or unknown, are emerging as interesting records of human transaction. (more…)