MELOW CONFERENCE CALL OCT 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS

23^rd MELOW INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

To be held in Chandigarh on

6-8 October 2023

Borders, Boundaries, Lines of Control: Literature across Disciplines in Contemporary Times

Ever since English literature made its way into academia, after enjoying a healthy relationship with other fields of knowledge for centuries, its connection with them became somewhat ambivalent, largely because of what Joe Moran calls its “woolly and ill-focused” disciplinary character. This is reflected in the thinking and practice of several academic scholars who pleaded simultaneously for its limited interdisciplinarity and disciplinary consolidation and its “intrinsic” as well as “extrinsic” readings. To get over this ambivalence and its resultant anomalies, some tightened the disciplinary boundaries of literature with so much unbounded fervour that literature lost its connection with its very wellspring: life and its varied manifestations. Fortunately, soon after, people within the academy realized the need to restore literature' s connection with life by linking it with other branches of knowledge, but within the varied rubrics of isms, posts, and post-posts, which created new constricting prisms for reading literature.

The theme of the 2023 MELOW International Conference suggests that in order to broaden the reach and influence of literature and to ensure its continued relevance in our times, it must move beyond the limiting isms and posts and develop strong links with the variegated life on the planet by forging links with the ever-expanding modes of knowledge. That is how literature and literary studies can take cognizance of the efforts of writers to deal with issues of our time, which, among others, include issues related to environment, health and disease, violence and its varied forms, and their impact, and the exponential growth of technology.

A 3-day conference will be held in Chandigarh from 6 to 8 Oct 2023. We invite abstracts under the following panels:

1. The Thin Red Line: human/animal/non-human subjectivities as portrayed in literature

2. Violence/Trauma: memory and post memory in literature

3. The Reel and the Real: film and visual arts

4. Death and Disease in Literary Discourses across cultures

5. Truth, Post-Truth, Alt-facts and historical memory in literature and other art forms

6. Science, technology, and the literary imagination

Please note:

The focus will remain on Literature and its connection with other disciplines.

We are primarily concerned with contemporary literature (roughly the last half century).

The conference is open to academicians and scholars (who possess at least a Master’s degree).

MODE OF ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:

Abstracts may be sent in the TEXT BOX of your email (not as attachment)

The subject line of your message should read thus: ABSTRACT 2023: [YOUR NAME]

If you’re competing for the ISM Award*: state clearly “Indian citizen below 40 competing for the ISM Award”

The format given below is to be followed for the submission of abstract:

INFORMATION REQUIRED	FILL IN YOUR DETAILS HERE
PANEL HEAD under which abstract may be considered (1 to 6 as given above): Note: Please send only ONE abstract. Double submissions will not be considered.
MELUS/MELOW conferences attended earlier (in which year and where):
Are you currently a member of MELOW? Or do you need a fresh / renewed membership? Please specify.
Competing for ISM Award*: YES or NO
PPT presentation YES or NO
Name of Delegate Official designation (Designation/Dept/College/University) Email id Title of Abstract
ABSTRACT [Text] 200- 250

Send your abstract to melusmelow@gmail.com

Deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15 May 2023.

Presenters need to be at least postgraduate research scholars, teachers, or independent scholars.

All abstracts will be peer-reviewed before they are accepted.

Once acceptance letters are sent, full papers (2500-3000 words) will be invited from all participants.

Only those who submit their papers by the deadline will be invited to participate in the conference.

This is an in-person conference. There will be no online sessions.

All delegates need to be members of MELOW. In case you are not a member, you may apply for membership once your abstract is accepted. Details of membership fee will be sent to you along with your acceptance letter.

* ISAAC SEQUEIRA MEMORIAL AWARD:

In the memory of the late Prof Isaac Sequeira, MELOW annually awards a prize for the best paper presented by a young scholar at its conference. The award comprises a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000.

The competition is open to Indian citizens who are members of MELOW. The competing participant/delegate should be below forty years at the time of the conference. The abstract and paper should be submitted by the stipulated deadline in the required format. Joint entries will not be accepted for the ISM Award.

For further inquiries please email: melusmelow@gmail.com

Our website: www.melow.in

IMPORTANT DATES

15 May 2023: Deadline for Abstracts

15 June 2023: Acceptance of abstracts to be sent.

15 July 2023: Delegate and membership fees to be submitted.

31 August 2023: Full papers to be submitted.

15 September 2023: Programme to be finalized.

ABOUT MELOW

MELOW (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World) was first set up in 1997 as MELUS-India. It is an academic organization, among the foremost of its kind in India. The members are college and university teachers, scholars and critics interested in literature, particularly in world literatures, and literary connections across borders of time and space. The organization meets every year over an international conference. It seeks to maintain academic standards, encourages younger scholars, and provides a forum for a fruitful exchange between upcoming and senior scholars in literature.

MEJO, The MELOW revamped journal has existed in hard print for about a decade. The last issue, released in February 2023, comprises a selection of papers presented at the 22^nd MELOW Conference held at Goa in Sept 2022.

Current Office Bearers of MELOW w.e.f. 1^st April 2020

The Governing Body:

President: Manju Jaidka, former Prof of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Vice-President: Debarati Bandyopadhyay, Prof, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, WB

Secretary: Manpreet Kaur Kang, Prof, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi

Jt. Secretary: Roshan Lal Sharma, Prof, C.U. of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala

Treasurer: Aneel Kumar Raina, former Prof of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Regional Representatives:

Prof Sushila Singh (Varanasi)

Prof Sachidananda Mohanty (Orissa, India)

Prof Dipankar Purkayastha (Silchar)

Prof Jap Preet Bhangu (Longowal, Pb)