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American
Literature Study Circle - A Decade of Reading, Sharing, Learning and
Teaching
Compiled by SMITA BASU
The first program of the American Literature Study Circle on August 28,
1997, was a digital video conference on "Asian American Writers," held
in the Lincoln Room in the American Center in Kolkata. Twenty-five
founding members attended, all of them die-hard aficionados of American
literature.
Today, the Circle has grown much wider, boasting a vibrant membership of
more than 300 academics, researchers and students in eastern and
northeastern India. As the group prepares to host its 10th international
conference on American Literature, in September, it continues a busy
schedule of monthly and bimonthly lectures, discussions, poetry and play
readings, translation sessions and film discussion programs. Speakers
include senior college and university faculty members, research
scholars, writers, poets and graduate students from India, the United
States and other countries.
After her participation in a U.S. State Department sponsored Summer
Institute Program on "American Literature in the 19th & 20th Centuries"
at the University of California, San Diego, in 1993, Dr. Krishna Sen of
Calcutta University returned enriched with the vast range and scope of
American literature. She was enthusiastic about promoting American
literature in colleges and universities in West Bengal, where the
curriculum was mainly focused on British literature. Largely due to the
efforts of Dr. Sen and Professor Amitava Roy of Rabindra Bharati
University, my own interest and support from then Kolkata Public Affairs
Officer Janey Cole, the American Literature Study Circle was established
and started functioning. That first Circle gathering involved the
members listening to and questioning two panelists sitting in
Washington, D.C.: Gish Jen, author of Typical America, and Belle Yang,
author of Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father's Shoulders. Their
Indian interlocutors were Dr. Sen and Jayabroto Chatterjee, novelist,
filmmaker and corporate communicator.
The inaugural program caught the imagination and aroused interest among
academics and students who attended. They publicized it among their
colleagues. Younger academics from major West Bengal universities came
forward to establish a working committee. Gradually, American literature
courses were popularized in universities, and scholars worked on Ph.D.
programs on American literature themes. Some scholars expressed their
view that American literature is vast, varied and unexplored and they
asked: Why not expand knowledge to new research areas? The formation of
the Study Circle thus fulfilled a long-felt need, not just to interact
on matters of mutual interest in American literature, but also to be
able to interact on an inter-university basis, for which there were not
too many opportunities at that time.
The exuberant membership still holds panel discussions like the first
one, but also puts on major seminars and workshops on various
interdisciplinary areas relating to American studies, with help from the
American Center in Kolkata on logistics and formulating and coordinating
program plans. These include annual summer courses for undergraduate
college teachers teaching American texts at eastern India universities;
outreach and support activities at regional universities and
undergraduate college campuses, an annual international seminar on
African American literature and culture as part of the Black History
Month observance in February, as well as the annual international
conference on American studies to mark the anniversary of the Study
Circle's foundation. One such special event was the commemoration of the
birthday of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in
January 2006. The keynote address on "Protest Literature" was delivered
by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, governor of West Bengal and grandson of Mohandas
K. Gandhi.
This year's annual conference will focus on "Reconfiguring Identity:
Bridging Faiths and Cultures." The meetings and discussions will attempt
to bridge divisions between cultural orientations by encouraging
critical perspectives that unite the global and the local, the distant
and the familiar. The Study Circle will also release the fifth volume of
its journal, "Studies in American Literature."
The objective of the American Literature Study Circle was to provide an
active academic platform for those engaged in diverse research fields
relating to American studies. Though it began with a focus on mainstream
American literature, it has gradually branched out into diverse critical
fields, such as popular culture, environment and ecology, globalization,
multiculturalism, African American studies, Asian American studies,
gender studies, terrorism and peace studies, nationalism and
trans-nationalism, American literary criticism and socio-cultural
theory. Apart from these purely academic pursuits, there have been
several programs on American films and music, as well as translation
workshops to render American poetry into Bengali, creating lively
interactive environments for members of all age groups.
The active dissemination of American studies by the Study Circle has
provided its members with a locus for deepening their knowledge, and the
outcome has been a broadening and strengthening of American studies in
eastern Indian universities and has lead to the introduction of American
literature at the undergraduate level in several colleges and
universities where it had not been taught. Continued requests from
undergraduate college teachers for familiarization programs on teaching
American literature texts resulted in the Study Circle arranging summer
courses over the past four years. They have been held at different
venues like the American Center, Bharatiya Vidya Parishad, Vidyasagar
University and North Bengal University. Also, Burdwan University and
North Bengal University have collaborated with the Study Circle to
arrange departmental seminars and conferences at their campuses for
students and faculty members.
Smita Basu is a program manager at the American Center, Kolkata,
who founded the American Literature Study Circle along with senior
academics teaching in West Bengal universities. She continues to be the
guiding force of the Circle.
Working
Committee
The American Literature Study Circle working committee displays the
Circle's publication, "Studies in American Literature" (1999, 2001, 2003
and 2005). (From left) Dr. Aninda Basu Roy, Dr. Deb Narayan
Bandyopadhyay, Dr. Shobha Chattopadhyay, Dr. Krishna Sen, Professor
Amitava Roy and Ashok Sengupta. The founding working committee included
Aparajita Nanda of Jadavpur University. After Nanda went to teach in
Berkeley, California, in 2004, Dr. Chattopadhyay was invited to
represent Jadavpur University.
Previous Anniversary Seminars
American Literature and South Asian Visions (1998)
American Critical Theories in the 20th Century (1999)
Pop Goes Culture (2000)
Environment and Culture: American Literature and Literary Discourses
(2001)
Crossing Borders: American, Asian and Postcolonial Literatures (2002)
Literature, Peace and Globalization (2003)
American Literature and Civil Society (2004)
Internationalizing American Studies (2005)
Writing America: Intercultural Dialogs (2006)
Courtesy : SPAN Magazine
editorspan@state.gov
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