Tuesday, January 13, 2015

MIGRATIONS, BOUNDARIES, TRANSGRESSIONS: COMMEMORATING THE KOMAGATA MARU INCIDENT


Call for Papers
 
International Conference on
MIGRATIONS, BOUNDARIES, TRANSGRESSIONS: COMMEMORATING THE KOMAGATA MARU INCIDENT
 
Centre for Canadian Studies
Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
February 18-19, 2015
 
2014 marks the worldwide centenary celebrations commemorating the Komagata Maru incident. In May 1914, 376 Indian passengers – all British subjects - aboard the Komagata Maru were denied entry into Canada. The incident brought to the forefront Canada's discriminatory immigration policies, especially Canada's continuous journey clause. After two months of futile negotiations, the ship and most of its passengers were compelled to return to India, where in a subsequent clash with British soldiers at Budge Budge, 19 passengers died. The episode has since then been a recurring trope in narratives on migration and diaspora, the politics of nation building and borders, and on conflicts of racism and ethnic identities. In the context of the present day world, the incident raises fundamental questions on belonging, on sovereignty and entangled histories of migration, through the eras of colonialism, and globalisation.  Through the last hundred years, the Komagata Maruincident has shaped, expanded and continuously changed the cultural, philosophical and literary discourse within the purview of topographical and political boundary formation and breaking. The conference invites papers from across the Humanities and Social Sciences focussing on these conceptual frameworks, thereby renegotiating the dynamics of borders, margins and boundaries in terms of socio-political realities and aesthetics of culture. Topics might include but are not limited to:
 
·         Immigration policies and sovereignty
·         Boundaries and transgressions
·         Sexualities and race
·         Languages and discourse
·         Exile – political, linguistic, social
·         Journeys, Mapping, Explorations
·         Memory and Remembrance
·         Indigenous rights and migration studies
·         Civil societies and transnational identities
·         National/ethnic identities and Marginalisation
 
Abstracts for 20 minute papers should be 200 words in length followed by a 50 word bio-note. Please email submissions tocanadacentreju@gmail.com by 18th January, 2014. Outstation participants are requested to arrange for their own funding for travel and accommodation related expenses. Invitation letters would be issued as required for all delegates. All paper presenters would be issued certificates.
 
 
Conference Coordinators:
 
Professor Suchorita Chattopadhyay and Dr. Debashree Dattaray
Centre for Canadian Studies
Department of Comparative Literature
Jadavpur University, Kolkata – 700 032

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