GUWAHATI, May 8 - A two-day national seminar with focus on literature from Assam and the north-eastern region was held at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, on May 6-7.
The seminar basically looked at the implications of contemporary critical approaches to literature with respect to the idea of periphery and margin.
Academicians and researchers from various parts of the country participated in it to discuss the contexts of literatures emerging from Assam and the other north-eastern States.
The major objective of the conference was to help bring forth a fresh understanding of the writings of authors from this region.
The seminar focused on tribal societies of the region and examined the new and emerging approaches of literary criticism that were until recently deemed marginal from the perspective of the traditional cultural-linguistic centres, such as mainstream English, Hindi and other regional literatures in India.
�It will be a new addition to the existing knowledge on the large number of writings emerging from the north-eastern region and unlike other seminars this seminar is expected to bring out new perspectives on the literature from the North East,� said Prof Makarand Paranjape, Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, while inaugurating the event.
Delivering the keynote address at the occasion, Prof M Asaduddin of Jamila Millia Islamia, New Delhi, spoke on the writings from the North East and highlighted the interesting aspects of this region�s literature as a category.
Prof Asaduddin said that the writings from the North East are getting more recognition and publishers are now more open to printing them.
�However, the North East is not a homogenous identity. Rather it has a number of distinct identities related to the diverse number of tribes, languages and cultures that are associated with the region,� he said.
Prof Baharul Islam, Dean of Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur, was the convenor of the seminar.
�This seminar not only makes a case for examining literature with a pre-existing, pre-compiled traditional literary history but also examine them critically from the point of view of caste, class, the minority, the marginal and the quintessential �subaltern�,� Islam said.
