REPORT OF MITRAKSHAR, ENGLISH LITERARY SOCIETY 2020-21

Convener: Dr. Chaity Das and Ms. Monica Zutshi

Co-Conveners: Ms. Shipra Gupta and Ms. Tanu Sharma

Office Bearers:

President – Antara Dutt

Vice president – Vanshika Pandey

General secretary – Rama Singh and Sakshi Tewari

Joint secretary – Yashi and Prakriti

The English Literary Society has held a number of interactive events through the academic

session 2020-21. The details of the same are as given below:

Feature Writing Workshop

Mitrakshar organized a Feature Writing Workshop on 7th November, 2020 guided by Amrita

Dutta. Ms. Dutta is currently writer-editor at ‘The Indian Express’ with over fifteen years of

experience in Indian mainstream newspapers like ‘The Asian Age’, ‘The Telegraph’ and

‘Hindustan Times’.

The workshop was structured around three feature articles circulated to the attendees

beforehand who were also asked to develop a pitch for a prospective feature article. Ms Dutta

untangled the expansive and complex process of developing a feature article by describing

the journey of the aforementioned articles. She spoke about the importance of a seemingly

insignificant detail in creating a story which appeals to the audience—we look at anything

and everything and this very process can be synthesized into a story. Her emphasis on

curiosity of the writer as the defining characteristic of a successful feature article gave us a

glimpse into the aptitude of a good journalist. The pitches developed by the participants were

individually evaluated by Ms Dutta and constructive criticism was doled out. This workshop

made feature writing an interesting creative outlet and a possible career path for all attendees.

Webinar about “Writing History: A Study of Poetry in Nagaland” and

“Poetry of Conflict: An Overview of Contemporary Manipuri Poetry”

On 16th October, 2020, Mitrakshar was proud to organise a webinar about “Writing

History: A Study of Poetry in Nagaland” conducted by Dr. Emisenla Jamir and “Poetry of

Conflict: An Overview of Contemporary Manipuri Poetry” by Dr. Chingangbam Anupama.

Dr. Jamir is Assistant Professor at Kohima College, Kohima. She has authored several short

stories, a poetry collection called “Loneliness is an Orange” and contributed to “The Many

That I Am: Writings from Nagaland”. Dr. Anupama is currently Assistant Professor in the

Department of English at Post Graduate Government College, Chandigarh. She was involved

in the curriculum creation of IInd year B.A. General Discipline-Centric Course (“Selections

from Modern Indian Literature: Cultural Diversity) for IGNOU. Her works have been

published in numerous eminent literary journals.

The webinar drew the attention of students and educators to the definition of national identity

and ‘Indianess’. Dr. Jamir described the oral tradition of Nagaland and discussed the poetry

of Temsula Ao, Monalisa Changkija and T. Keditsu. Dr. Anupama detailed the historical

influences on Manipuri poetry while exploring the works of R. K. Madhubir, Shri Biren,

Thangjam Ibopishak Singh and Robin S. Ngangom. This webinar gave us an enlightening

insight into Manipuri and Naga poetry and life which narrates the violence of unifying the

diverse.

A Two-part Virtual Workshop about “Emancipatory Laws for Women in

India”

Mitrakshar put together a two-part virtual workshop with Dr. Swati Jindal Garg on

“Emancipatory Laws for Women in India”. Dr. Swati is currently Advocate-on-Record,

Supreme Court of India and has a PhD in Criminal Law. She is also on the legal panel of

various private as well as government organizations. Her position gives her a unique insight in

not only the laws but also their implementation within institutions.

The lecture was well attended by students and faculty alike with a lively discussion on the

nature and effect of emancipatory laws for women as well as the socio-cultural position of

women in the everyday Indian context. Dr. Swati discussed in-detail the rights of women and

explained the laws put in place to protect those rights. She answered queries based on the real

life experiences of the attendees and juxtaposed her explanations with existing or decided

lawsuits making the workshop much more engaging than a solely academic discussion. At the

end of each session the attendees were quizzed on their now improved understanding of legal

rights and laws protecting these rights.

The first session concerning “Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace” took place on

19th September, 2020. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,

Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly referred to as the 'PoSH Act' was clearly

delineated. After a through elucidation of the legal definition of sexual harassment, Dr. Swati

further delved into the concept of consent and the common myths surrounding sexual

harassment. The discussion also involved an in-depth look at the law’s requirement from the

Internal and Local Complain Committees and also explains how the aggrieved should go about

in filing their complaint and what kind of situations and alternatives they might encounter.

Moreover, the session was not limited to the duties and rights of the aggrieved but also covered

the duties of an employer and the conduct and attitude that they should have while handling

such complaints.

The second session on 26th September was “A Overview of Legal Acts on Domestic Violence,

Dowry and Sex-Determination”. Here as well, Dr. Swati used case studies to explain the

working and implementation of these laws in real life scenarios. Further, she provided an

insight into the social conditions and situations that led to the formation of these laws while

simultaneously describing the effects that such practices had on the lives of women. The role

that society plays in the existence and/or continuance of such subjugating injustices against

women was also analyzed. Another important aspect of this discussion was the misuse of these

laws which contributes to undermine the efficacy of these emancipatory laws and cause overall

harm to the women’s movement in India. This session allowed the students and educators to

not only reflect on the legal aspects of crimes against women but also the impact of the legal

institution on quotidian social life of an individual.

The interactive workshop and following discussions not only provided a thorough

understanding of the laws but also led to deliberations on their shortcomings and the

responsibility of each individual in overcoming these limitations in whatever possible capacity.

The workshop was incredibly enlightening for all the attendees and the most engaging feature

of the workshop which resonated with a lot of listeners was the colloquial, simple language

and everyday examples used by the resource person to explain extremely intricate legal matters.

An Online Talk on “Voices of the Voiceless”

Mitrakshar was proud to organize the talk “Voices of the Voiceless” on 6th February, 2021

by Ms. Anchal Kanoujia, an alumna of our English Department. With a Masters in English

Literature from Ambedkar University, she has worked as a Gandhi Fellow in Rajasthan. She

is currently program leader at Genpact centre, Rajasthan and has chosen to make important

interventions in the education sector. The talk was centred around her academic journey as a

Dalit woman compelled by the still prevalent casteist mindset to explore and unpack her

identity.

Through the metaphor of a relocated dumping ground which still receives people’s waste,

Ms. Kanoujia discussed how the bureaucratic removal of caste system is ineffective in the

face of the long ingrained casteist values. Reservation, as always, became the crux of the

prejudice she encountered in personal relationships built during her university experience to

the extent that not pursuing further education seemed a potentially better alternative.

Shouldering the burden of casual casteism, against all odds, Ms. Kanojia was able to not only

pursue rather excel in her academics. The spirited discussion which followed made all

attendees re-examine their privilege, evaluate the gruesome reality of casteism prevalent in

educational spaces and applaud Ms. Kanoujia for giving voice to her struggles.

Two-part Virtual Session centred on Literary Theory

In the month of February, Mitrakshar organised a two-part virtual session centred on literary

theory. The first talk titled “Power from below- Gramsci, Foucault and Butler” was

conducted on 13th February, 2021 by Dr. A.K Ramakrishnan. He is an educator and a former

chairperson at the Center for West Asian studies, School of International Studies, JNU. Other

than articles and reviews for various prestigious academic journals, he has also authored the

books US Perceptions of Iran: Approaches and Policies and co-edited Society and Change in

Contemporary Culture.

In his remarkably rich and comprehensive session, Professor Ramakrishnan unravelled the

complex dimensions of power and its binaries situated at the wavering ends of the individual

and sovereign. He analysed and individually explored the definition of power for

Machiavelli, Gramsci, Foucault and Butler. From the insidiousness of hegemony to the

concept of performativity, this session both untangled and problematized the system-subject

relations. What followed in the post-lecture discussion was again a very informative and

interesting discussion on citizenship, rights, self-determination and liberalism, to name a few.

All in all, the entire session was highly engaging and insightful leaving the audience with an

in-depth knowledge and curiosity for the dynamics of power at large.

The second session of the talk on literary theory was organised on 15th February, 2021. It

was an enormous pleasure to hear Dr. N. A. Jacob on “Structuralism and Poststructuralism”.

Professor Jacob is currently Assistant Professor in the English Department of Ramjas

College, University of Delhi. His doctoral research at Rutgers University, New Jersey was

focused on nineteenth-century British literature with an exploration of the relationship

between the verbal and the visual, though his research interests are varied and ever-growing.

The workshop was largely structured around Jacques Derrida's critique in “Structure, Sign

and Play in the Discourse of Human Sciences” of Claude Levi-Strauss’ Structuralism and

from it the gradually beginning of Poststructuralism. By juxtaposing these two literary

theorists, Dr. Jacob made visible the overlaps of Structuralism and Poststructuralism—how

Structuralism gave way to Poststructuralism and how Poststructuralism exists in its very

nascent state within Structuralism. He began with Johann G. Herder’s “Treatise on the Origin

of Language” discussing ideas of relational signification, causal determination similar to

those found in Levi-Strauss’ “The Science of the Concrete” which explores the human

impulse to classify, to bring order to the world. From nature, magic and myth to culture and

science, the notion of structural patterns and binaries were broken and re-evaluated. The

entire session was full of some very enriching and diverse concepts which both channelled

and stirred up the audience's attention. The discussion that followed the lecture was a

testimony to this. Towards the end, all the members were left with some essential and very

informative ideas on structure, hierarchy and alienation within a system.

Talk on “Why read Classical Literature in the Contemporary Classroom?

Some Reasons and Ideas for Reading”

On 19th February, 2021, Mitrakshar organized a talk on “Why read Classical Literature in the

Contemporary Classroom? Some Reasons and Ideas for Reading” by Dr. Namrata Chaturvedi.

She is Associate Professor in the English Department of SRM University Sikkim. Her research

interest includes Comparative Theology, Indian Classical Literature and Philosophy (Sanskrit),

Asian Literature (South and East Asian) and a lot more. Her book Memory, Metaphor and

Mysticism in Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam’ was published last year by Anthem Press. Her

works have been published in various journals including but not limited to International Journal

of Asian Christianity, The Yeats Journal of Korea, IUP Journal of Commonwealth Literature,

Muse India.

It was an engaging session where various ideas related to the pedagogical challenges and

confusions that accompany the studying and/or teaching of classical literature were addressed

and discussed. She gave a detailed and informative presentation focused on developing a

deeper understanding of Western and Non- Western classical literature. Further she ventured

into some specific aspects of texts included in the University of Delhi UGC curriculum, such

as the concept of anticipation as an enhancer of desire in Abhijnanasakuntalam, the notion of

ideal Brahminism in Sudraka’s Mrichchhakatika etc. She also discussed the need for better

and more thorough academic scholarships into the, as yet, homogeneous mass of non-western

classical literature. She closed the talk by requesting for patience with these ancient texts, a

deeper dive into their socio-historic context, before we embark on a stringent analysis of them

from our Postmodern critical lenses.

A Workshop on Academic Writing

On 17th April, 2020, Mitrakshar organised a workshop on “Academic Writing” by Mr.

Jyotirmoy Talukdar. He is currently Senior Writing Fellow at Ashoka University and also a

prolific writer who has contributed to "The Wire", "Open Magazine", "HuffPost", "The

Hindu" and other well-renowned publications. He has presented his academic work at

conferences organized by various prestigious institutions including but not limited to Durham

University, JNU, BHU, IIT(Guwahati).

The workshop was well-attended by both teachers and students. It was an interactive and

engaging session with a diverse discussion on structuring academic essays and avoiding

plagiarism in them. Mr. Talukdar gave an informative presentation with exercises to keep the

attendees involved whilst making them aware of the common mistakes in composing

academic literature. He further focused on various forms of plagiarisms and means to

properly acknowledge borrowed work. This opened up a discussion amongst the attendees

who shared their own experience and realisations about having committed plagiarism

inadvertently. The session was overall an enriching experience which allowed us to learn the

dos and don'ts of scholarly writing.