Re: AUSTRALIAN STUDIES CONFERENCE 2023
Deb Narayan Bandyopadhyay
Dear All,
The Australian Studies Conference is going to be organised in collaboration with University of Wollongong, Australian National University, Routledge, SAGE and the Centre for Australian Studies, Bankura University. It will be held on 25-26 February, 2023 at Astor Hotel, Kolkata.
The theme of the conference is: Re-structuring the Canon: New Readings on Australian Studies in India and Australia.
This conference intends to move beyond the traditional readings of Australian cultural texts and envisage how new inflections of critical readings reshape and re-structure our critical paradigms. It does not of course take issues with the interpretive conventions prevalent in Indian academies; but it is time now we had discussed how new invasive theoretical models help re-design our perceptions of Australian Studies. Sergio Famiano has, for instance, recently published a book called New Australian Dream which negotiates the problematic of city space in terms of the logistics of housing. We may also reconsider Philip Knightley’s 2002 parliamentary speech where he contends on questions of new Australian identity:
I think that’s the problem in trying to decipher Australia. Just when you think you’ve grasped what it’s all about, it suddenly slips away again and you realise that it is a very different place from what you imagine when you’re looking at it from abroad. This is not ‘Britain Down Under’. It’s not a slice of Europe or Asia. It’s not a branch office of America. It is a very different place.
There is also greater resilience in Australia’s economy and strategic diplomacy in terms of its developing relationship with India. The increasing measure of FDI or the developments of QUAD or QSD, free and open Indo-Pacific, the gradual decrease of China factor, and Indian Act East Policy brought about new changes in the relationship of India and Australia.
We should also now take into account a huge resource of Asian Australian literature and memoirs. Settlers or immigrants from Southeast and South Asia have already created a rich body of cultural texts. It is therefore pertinent to re-interrogate the Australian transnational literature.
Under the rubric of new shifting patterns, we intend to focus on, though not strictly limited to, the following areas:
· New strategies in Indo-Australian Cultural and Political Diplomacy ( QSD, CSP Partnership etc)
· Beyond Transnationalism
· Posthumanities and New Knowledge
· Virtual World and the Hyperreal
· New Readings of Australian History and Politics
· Post-Covid Narratives
· Indigeneity, Marginality and New Interrogatio
· Textuality, Space and Cultural Geography
· Law, Justice and Global World Order
· Environment and the New Ethics
· Beyond 'Trans-' and 'post-'
· Australian Studies in South and Southeast Asia, and the Asia Pacific
· New Writings in Australia
Abstracts not exceeding 200 words should be sent to Dr Jatisankar Mondal by email: jat...@gmail.com
Deadline for sending the abstracts: 25 January, 2023
IASA, ER TRAVEL AWARD:
Please find attached the guideline and application form for IASA TAVEL AWARD and return the application form by 20 January, 2023. Prof Paul Sharrad will announce the award during the conference.
Round table on Australia India Research Students’ Fellowship Programme:
There are 35 fellowships for Indian students and this also includes a couple of postdoctoral fellowships. The Australian academics and the Indian senior academics will engage in a special session for the students and postdoctoral candidates.
Announcement of Routledge Award for Best Student Paper:
The papers presented by the students in the conference will be adjudged by the senior Australian academics and results will be announced at the concluding session of the conference.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the conference,
Warmly,
Professor Deb Narayan BandyopadhyayVice ChancellorBankura UniversityBankuraउत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान् निबोधत
