Page 9 - SAU Connect June 2019

The Quarterly Newsletter of South Asian University | Volume 3 Issue 4 June 2019

Poetic Imagining(s) of Southasia: Borders and Nations

New Delhi SAU (22-23.042019) Sociology News: A two-day international conference “Poetic Imagining(s) of
South Asia: Borders and Nations” was organised by SAU’s Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) on 22-23
April 2019. The conference initiated a dialogue between creative writers and literary scholars on the one
hand and sociologists and anthropologists on the other. It sought to develop alternative
conceptualizations of the politics of nationhood,
borders,andrepresentationsthroughcriticalreading
of literary narratives while drawing on the diverse
scholarly traditions and activisms from within the
GlobalSouth.

The conference began with the opening speech by
Dr. Kavita Sharma (President, SAU), followed by
remarks from Dr. Promodini Varma (Secretary, ISAS
and Director, Admissions & Evaluation, SAU) and Dr
Mallika Shakya (Senior Assistant Professor,
Sociology, SAU). A plenary conversation held between Professor Fakrul Alam (Pro-Vice Chancellor, East
West University, Dhaka) and Professor Abhi Subedi (Professor, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu)
remindedtheaudienceofthecommonalitiesanddiversitiesofSouthAsianwritings.

The rest of the conference comprised of 14 panel discussions over two days held in two parallel sessions.
Forty-two(42)scholarsfromBangladesh,Nepal,PakistanandSriLankawereselectedfromalargepoolof
abstracts submitted. The scholars who represented India came from diverse states and region. There
werejustunder100participantsattheconference.

At the closing session, Dr Ira Raja (University of Delhi) and Dr Mallika Shakya (Department of Sociology,
SAU) synthesized her observations on the papers presented during the conference. Dr Promodini Varma
shared her ideas on possible outcomes of the conference including production of an edited volume and a
special issue in relevant journals. Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi said in his concluding remarks that the
geopoetics of hope may coexist with the geopolitics of despair in South Asia, further anticipating this
paradoxicalpairingtopavewayformoremeaningfuldeliberationsontheconundrumofeverydaynation,
regionandborderinSouthAsia.

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