Call for Paper for the Edited Volume
THE LAND OF EARLY NIGHTFALL: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE OF
THE LITERATURE OF NORTHEAST INDIA
The phrase
Northeast Literature refers to the writings from the Seven Sisters of Northeast
India as well as Sikkim; but the diversity of this region defies any
such attempt of easy definition. There are more than sixty major tribes in the region and each of
them has its own language, folktales or oral literature and songs as well as
different myths about their origin. Moreover
when we look at the existing anthologies on Indian Literature we find that in
most of these either the Northeast Literature is missing or is marginally
represented although the region is the vast reservoir of literary resources.
Thus naturally the question that troubles the writers and intellectuals of this
region is that how the canon of Indian Literature is formed by excluding the
many literatures that existed in Northeast India.
Many writers such
as Harekrishna
Deka and Temsula Ao
have expressed discomfit with the term North-East India
and North Eastern writers, respectively. A section also strongly argues that
the term is colonial and hence, an artificial construct. There is nothing
called a "north-easterner" and the concept is purely geographical; it
tends to homogenise an extremely heterogeneous cluster of people as there
exists no common history and heritage of the people in North-East India
though formerly the current states of Arunachal Pradesh,
Mizoram
and Meghalaya
used to be constituent states of former British Assam.( Wikipedia)
Generally
people approach Northeast literature from the perspective of its varied and
rich folk art and the way it captures violence and terror that devastated this
part of the country. Again the region has experienced the trauma of partition
and a significant bulk of literature represents that heartrending experience. Moreover
along with the oral literature northeast has a long tradition of written
literature in different languages, many of which are included in the 8th
schedule of the Constitution. Another aspect of the literature of this region
is that a large number of texts written in all these languages are yet to be translated
in English and analyzed.
For a few years now
the academic circles have taken exceptional amount of interest in writings from
this region. Many universities and colleges of the region as well as outside
have organized seminars, conferences and symposiums on the literature of
northeast and several national news magazines have featured special issues on
writers from this region. Easterine Iralu, Temsula Ao, Mitra Phukan, Dhruba Hazarika, Bhabananda Deka, Indira Goswami, Mamang Dai, Anjum Hasan, Siddhartha Deb, Indrani Raimedhi, T. Bijoykumar
Singha, Chandrakanta Murasingh are some the
vernacular and English language writers from Northeast who are getting national
and international attention.
Articles/Research papers on different aspects of
northeast literature are invited for this proposed edited volume with ISBN.
Specifications:
·
Articles must be approx. 5000 words and follow the latest MLA format. All academic
conventions must be followed.
·
Each paper will be peer reviewed and feedback given before final publication. Articles
must include either a study on an established area of focus or indicate a new
reading.
·
All papers must be accompanied by an abstract of 200 words and keywords for
easy reference.
Editor
Dr. Anup Kumar Dey
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Assam University, Diphu Campus
Karbi Anglong, Assam - 782460
Mobile No. 8876909239
Email: deyanup1@gmail.com
