Call for Papers – The Mahabharata and Inter-Asian Cultures: Transmissions, Adaptations, Performances and Histories

November 11, 2016

Call for Papers: International Conference

The Mahabharata and Inter-Asian Cultures: Transmissions, Adaptations, Performances and Histories

The long history of the Mahabharata and its cultural assimilations is spread across not only South East Asia but across Asian regions and is a living reminder of a shared consciousness and is reflective of a syncretic Asian culture. As a travelling text it circulated, since ancient times, through maritime links across monsoon Asia. It is a strong reminder of an Asia that was interconnected through trade, religion, manuscript, art, architecture, performance, and not the least, through people to people contact. Before the coinage of terms such as cosmopolitanism, universalism, and globalisation, this master text and its epical narrative spoke across the gap of ethnicity, race, religion and culture. In fact, such is its deep embedment across several Asian regions that even the deep historical rupture created by European colonialism, a timewhen colonised Asian regions became fragmented and inward looking, did not erase the legacy of the Mahabharatawhich lay like a rich seam and kept alive the connections between a pre and postcolonial Asia.

This international conference seeks to bring together

Litterateurs
Linguists
Art historians
Archaeologists
Philosophers
Historians
Performers
Filmmakers
Sociologists
Religious studies experts
Researchers

Willing to comment, interrogate, dialogue and discuss the emergent field of Asian studies and the complex dynamics of cross cultural exchanges through a singular text.

Dates of the conference: 6, 7, & 8^th April, 2017

Abstracts containing not more than 500 words on topics pertinent to the theme are invited for submission by 10^th December 2016. The selected presenters will by intimated by 10^th January, 2017, and will be expected to submit working drafts of their full papers by 28^thFebruary, 2017. The abstracts can be mailed to asharma99@gmail.com

No TA/DA will be paid to the outstation participants. Accommodation at the University Guest Houses can be arranged on request at a nominal cost.

Convenors

Professor Christel R Devadwason

Dr. Anjana Sharma

Dr. Haris Qadeer

Thanks & Regards:

Abu Saleh

PhD Research Scholar @ Centre for Comparative Literature (CCL)

School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad (UoH), India.
Mobile: +91 94 94 24 26 45

Mail: abusaleh@uohyd.ac.in Or abusalehenglish@gmail.com

Profile: http://profiles.uohyd.ac.in/abusaleh/

Blog: http://abusalehenglish.blogspot.in/