SEMINAR

Two faculty members Dr. Sunil Mishra and Dr. Parul Mishra from Applied Sciences & Humanities Department of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon presented their papers titled “Construction of gender identity in The Tiger’s Daughter” and “Quest for cultural identity in Amitav Ghosh’s In An Antique Land” in a two day National Seminar on Narratives of Freedom in Indian English Literature organised by DAV PG College, Varanasi on 29th and 30th April 2016.

The objective of this seminar was to provide a platform for open discussion on the relevance of literature in present and to look back into the Indian tradition for establishing its relevance in contemporary times.

The seminar began with the keynote address delivered by Prof. Avadhesh K.Singh, former Vice Chancellor, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad. He enlightened the participants with his valuable inputs particularly on the theme of the seminar. Other eminent experts and guest speakers like Prof. Sudhir Kumar, Multi - disciplinary Research Centre, Punjab University, Chandigarh; Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Prof. R.N.Rai, Ex - Head of Department English, B.H.U.Varansai; Prof. S.D.Singh, Principal,DAV PG College, Varanasi; Dr. Sangeeta Jain, Head, Dept of English, DAV PG College, Varanasi also presented their concrete thoughts on Narratives of Freedom in Indian English Literature.

Dr. Parul Mishra presented her paper on “Quest for cultural identity in Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land” and explored a valuable insight into some abiding aspects of human life and human character in the novel. She explained that as the novelist, Amitav Ghosh has unveiled the multiple strata of the interrelationship between the Indian, Egyptian, Jewish and Islamic cultures and their histories.

Dr. Sunil Mishra presented his paper on “Construction of gender identity in The Tiger’s Daughter” and analysed the treatment of women empowerment and the construction of gender identity in Bharati Mukherjee’s The Tiger’s Daughter. Moreover, he explicated the role of various movements in women empowerment. He also discussed how the current dramatic, poetic and fictional narratives of India have exercised multifaceted freedom such as feminist, diasporic, socio - political, psycho-cultural etc.

More than 120 participants across the Nation availed this opportunity to know the crux of freedom in Indian English Literature. They learnt that the individual freedom of Aurobindo and Tagore established the Indian culture while Mulk Raj Anand and R.K.Narayan raised voices for the downtrodden class of the society and Raja Rao sought freedom from ignorance.