Islam and English in India: Cultural, Literary, Pedagogic, Historical, Political and Philosophical Encounters

Call for Papers



Islam and English in India: Cultural, Literary, Pedagogic,

Historical, Political and Philosophical Encounters



The earliest encounter of the English with Islam in India perhaps dates back to their first trade license granted by the Mughal emperor Jehangir in 1615. It was also the foundation of a long lasting yet tumultuous relationship that would eventually pave the way for a modern India, indelibly marked by the bitter-sweet experience of British rule in India. One of the most abiding legacies of British rule in India is of course the English language and all its attendant accoutrements – English literature, culture, history, cuisine, governing and legal systems, education, ad infinitum. What India lost – or gained – in this most ambivalent relationship has been probed and analysed in umpteen attempts to understand the phenomenon of British colonial rule and its single and most effective aftermath – English.

Yet the interface between Islam and English in India is an area that remains little explored partly due to the preoccupation of most scholars with the predominant idea of India as a Hindu and Sanskritic entity and partly due to the fact that most studies dealing with the issues relating to Islam and English in India are still confined to small regional groups mostly working in regional languages (bringing to the fore the question of power associated with the use of an elite language).



The proposed three day seminar/conference proposes to fill this gap by focusing on the specific relationship/s Islam had with English and continues to countenance, in contemporary times, in India.



The following is an indicative list of areas that will receive intense attention during the seminar:



Muslim and British Encounters in India: Historical Texts, Contexts and Pre-Texts:

The Mughals and the British

English Records, Diaries and Popular Stories about Islam in India

English Narratives of the 1857 Mutiny

Muslim Narratives of the Mutiny

Macaulay’s Minute and Muslim Reaction/s

Islam, English and the Nineteenth Century Muslim Intellectual: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Others

The Struggle for Dominance: The Power of English and Muslim Resistance

English and Indian Muslim Culture and Education in the Nineteenth Century: The Role of the Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and the Deoband Dar ul Uloom



Islam and English in India: Literary Encounters

E. M. Forster and Islam in India

Kipling and Islam in India

English and the Contemporary Indian Muslim:

English and Islam: A Troubled Legacy and an Awkward Relationship?

Islam, English and the Indian Muslim’s Modernity

Islam in India and English Medium Education

English and the Islamic Madrassa

The Uses of English in the Context of Islam in India:

English and the Propagation of Islam in India

Indian Translations of the Quran and Hadith into English

English and the New Islamic Media in India

Representations of the Muslim in Indian Regional and English Media

English and Muslim Personal Law/Sharia

Islam, Arabic/Persian/Urdu, and English in India

Urdu and English: Languages in Competition?

English Translations of Urdu Literature

English Transliterations: A ”Romanised” Urdu?

The Influence of English on Urdu Language and Literature

The Influence of Urdu on Indian English Literature

Representations of Islam, Muslims and Urdu in Indian English Literature

Convergences: Arabic/Persian and the English Language: “Romanisation”, Again?

The Contribution of Muslim Women Writers

Influence of English on Muslim Women Writers

The languages in which they write

How they respond to English in all its manifestations

Linguistic/ELT Issues

Is there an Indian Muslim English?

ELT for the Indian Muslim

English Studies Pedagogy for the Indian Muslim

The Linguistics Context of the Indian Muslim

Indian Muslim Specific Spoken/Communicative English?

Cultural Encounters

Encounters of the Culinary Kind: Muslim/Indian Food on the English Tables

Muslim Impact on English Lifestyles



The above list is by no means exhaustive but is certainly indicative of the vast unexplored research potential of the area. The Seminar/Conference, it is hoped, will help enhance our understanding of the various facets of the Indian Muslim’s life experience in India as well as their encounters with English in India. The Seminar/Conference is envisaged as an inter-disciplinary affair that will encourage scholars and individuals from different disciplines and various walks of life to actively participate in and contribute to the deliberations and discussions.



Participation will be strictly based on the merit of the papers submitted to the Seminar Committee.

Participants whose abstracts are selected will receive travel reimbursement subject to rules and regulations of the University in addition to local hospitality.

All abstracts must be sent to the Director of the Conference by 30 April 2011 at the address given below. Electronic submissions are strongly recommended @ mujeeb_syed@hotmail.com



Prof. Syed Mujeebuddin

Director, Conference on Islam and English in India

Department of English, University of Hyderabad

Hyderabad – 500 0046, A.P., India

E-mail: Mujeeb_syed@hotmail.com

mujeebsyed@yahoo.com

Mobile 00 91 98497 23821

Office: 00 91 40 2313 3400