Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 21: A 2-day International Conference on the topic “Redrawing the Boundaries of Ecocritical Discourse: Literary Environmentalism and Plurality of Voices” began today at Central University of Jammu (CUJ).
The Conference being organized by Department of English of CUJ in collaboration with Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), was inaugurated amidst the presence of noted scholars, academics, environmentalists and students.
In the Inaugural address, Prof Devanand Padha, Dean, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, said that the theme of Conference resonates well with one of our national goals of environmental protection and opens vistas of study in inter-disciplinary areas in consonance with NEP 2020.
Further, Prof Padha said that Puranas and Upanishads talked about the ecological balance which was disturbed by human greed and such conferences are a suitable platform for exploring our knowledge traditions and their contemporary relevance.
In his key note address, Prof Murali SivaRamakrishnan, formerly Head, Department of English, Pondicherry University and founding president of ASLE India redrafted eco-dialogues by integrating certain Indic points of view from Sanskrit and Tamil sources towards an eco-wisdom. He said that as literary ecologists we must re-discover our ties with nature.
Eminent plenary speakers include Prof Mihai Stroe from Bucahest University (Romania), Prof Peter Quigley from University of Hawaii, Prof Usha VT from Pondicherry and others. Approximately 60 papers will be presented in the Conference both in virtual and offline mode.
Earlier, in his address, Prof Rasal Singh, Dean, Schools of Languages highlighted the contemporary relevance of the topic and said that need of the hour is to de-colonise our minds and study eco-consciousness from Indian perspective.
In the welcome address, Dr Vandana Sharma, Head Department of English said that the Conference provides a stellar platform for deliberations on subverting ecoparochialism which was initiated from western academia and restricts eco-discourse.
Dr Neena Gupta proposed a formal vote of thanks and research scholars of the department Shivam and Tania conducted the proceedings.
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