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.
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