HARRY POTTER: RECONTEXTUALIZING THE MAGIC



ONE-DAY SEMINAR ORGANIZED BY JNU FORUM FOR MUTUAL LEARNING 
COMMITTEE ROOM, CENTRAL LIBRARY, JNU 
20th SEPTEMBER, 2014 (SATURDAY)



Concept Note

The first ever conference organized by the JNU Forum for Mutual Learning is titled “Harry Potter: Recontextualizing the Magic”. Almost two decades since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, as we begin to gain historical distance, it is now perhaps opportune to begin contextualizing Harry Potter as a popular cultural phenomenon. This conference aims at bringing together a wide spectrum of viewpoints about ways in which this can be achieved, and the methodologies best suited for the purpose. Impediments to this endeavor are plenty, not least among them being the immense popularity of the Harry Potter books and films which forces onto it a timelessness, or at least a classicality which it becomes imperative to deconstruct. The most obvious way to do this, then, would be to look at the ways in which Harry Potter perpetuates popular cultural tropes – evaluating the larger narratives such as those of magic, good and evil and so on vis-à-vis the more particular thematic strains which work in Rowling: like the radicalization of education or the allegorization of British (and European) history. However, it is also crucial, for example, to follow the money, as it were, and examine the ways in which Harry Potter has generated in multiple sectors. It is our objective to create a wide spectrum of positions and opinions and institute a much needed critical reading of Harry Potter, this conference being one of the very first of its kind. 


Program Schedule: 


9:30 AM – REGISTRATION
10:00 AM -WELCOME ADDRESS – AMARTYA PAUL (CONVENER, JNUFML)
INAUGURAL ADDRESS – DR. RAMESH C. GAUR (LIBRARIAN, CENTRAL LIBRARY, JNU)
INTRODUCTION – SARONIK BOSU (JNUFML)


10:30 AM – 10: 45 AM - TEA BREAK


10:45 AM – 12:15 PM – SESSION I
“PAST, PRESENT AND POTTER”

CHAIR: PROF. MAKARAND R. PARANJAPE, CES, SLL&CS, JNU

SPEAKERS:       

KULDEEP PATOWARY (CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL STUDIES, JNU) – “HARRY POTTER AND THE TIME CAPSULE: NOTIONS OF THE MEDIEVAL”

AKASH RAHA (CENTRE FOR ENGLISH STUDIES, JNU) – “CONTEXTUALIZING HARRY POTTER AS A NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD REICH”

PARAMITA BHATTACHARYA (DEPT. OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY) – “HARRY POTTER THROUGH THE FOUCAULDIAN LENS: EXPLORING FANTASY FICTION”


12: 15 PM -  1:45 PM – SESSION II
“CHARACTERS IN CONTEXT”

CHAIR: ABHIJA GHOSH, PH.D.  SCHOLAR, CENTRE FOR CINEMA STUDIES, JNU

SPEAKERS:       
C.S. BHAGYA (CENTRE FOR ENGLISH STUDIES, JNU) – “PLAYING HAPPY FAMILIES: GENDERING THE WEASLEY FAMILY”

INDRASENA MUKHOPADHYAY (DEPT. OF ENGLISH, JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY) – “’IT IS OUR CHOICES HARRY, THAT SHOW WHAT WE TRULY ARE, FAR MORE THAN OUR ABILITIES’: EXPLORING MULTIPLE HEROES IN HARRY POTTER

SHARON PHILIP (CENTRE FOR ENGLISH STUDIES, JNU) – “SNAPE AS TEACHER: DISOBEDIENCE AND HEROIC LOVE AS TOOLS OF INSTRUCTION IN HARRY POTTER


1:45 PM – 2:45 PM- LUNCH



2:45  PM-4:15  PM  - SESSION III
“MYTHS, MOTIFS AND MAGIC”

CHAIR: PROF. G. ARUNIMA, CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S STUDIES, JNU

 SPEAKERS: 

MANASI SAXENA (CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL STUDIES, JNU) – “DEATH, THE LAST ENEMY: GRIEF AND LOSS IN THE HARRY POTTER SERIES”
               
KANAD SINHA (CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL STUDIES, JNU) – “HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY QUESTION: J.K. ROWLING’S PHILOSOPHICAL ENCOUNTERS WITH THE QUESTION OF OVERCOMING DEATH”

SHUVATRI DASGUPTA (DEPT. OF HISTORY, PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY) – “WECOMING THE POPULAR EUROPE: HARRY’S JOURNEY FROM HOGWARTS TO INDIA ON THE JADUI CHHARI


4:15 PM – 5:45 PM – SESSION IV
“POTTER IN PARATEXT”

CHAIR: LAXMI MENON, PH.D. SCHOLAR, CENTRE FOR ENGLISH STUDIES, JNU

SPEAKERS:       

BIKRAM BORA (CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL STUDIES, JNU) – “MUGGLE MARAUDERS, UP TO NO GOOD EITHER! – MAPPING OF POTTERVERSE AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURES”
               
HARLEEN BAGGA (DEPT. OF ENGLISH, ST. STEPHEN’S COLLEGE) – “JAPANIZATION OF HARRY POTTER FANART”

RAJARSHI BANERJEE (DEPT. OF ENGLISH, UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD) – “HARRY POTTER: FROM COVER TO COVER”

5:45 PM – 6:00 PM

VALEDICTORY ADDRESS – PROF. SUDHIR KR. SOPORY (VICE -CHANCELLOR, JNU)
DISTRIBUTION OF CERTIFICATES


6:00 PM ONWARDS – TEA
OPEN DISCUSSION FOR ENHANCING THE ACTIVITIES OF     THE FORUM 

                           *Lunch will be served to first 100 people 
                                                                             


Capturing fractured realities: Representation of Youth Culture in Radical Bengali films of Sixties and Seventies



Calcutta witnessed a considerable transformation in its social composition, demography, and political organisation in the decades post independence and partition. With changed borders, a population explosion, continued industrial crisis, and government inefficiency, there emerged a distinct streak of radical left-wing politics with which the youth of that time are often associated with. Moving away from this stereotypical notion of the politicised youth and historicising their engagement with the society however leads to the many subjectivites, identities and contexts. The paper tries to problematise the idea of a homogeneous youth culture through the lens of the visual culture of that time. The varied ways of portrayal of the youth in Bengali films in the two decades of sixties and seventies helps one in understanding the causalities of their distinct reactions towards similar events. With the question of identity in such representations central to the argument, the paper further problematises the notion of what is to be understood by the term ‘youth’ itself, in relation to the debates that are taking place globally since the 1960s. An inter-disciplinary approach is adopted by engaging with film theory to better understand the complexities of cinema and the way it represents individuals and societies. The paper largely moves from one case study to the other, taking up films which were primarily based on three fundamental axes and their inter-connectedness – the city of Calcutta, a concern with the contemporary socio-political scenario, and the youth. Finally, the paper also addresses the implications of the subjectivities of the filmmakers, which made a certain kind of representation possible. The filmmakers themselves were part of a vibrant youth culture whose treatment of cinema changed the artform itself.
                                          
   Speaker: Titas De Sarkar
 Research Scholar, Jadavpur University
Venue:  Committee Room, Central Library, JNU
Date and Time: 11th September 2014 (Thursday), 4:00 pm

Gamifying Elections - A Case Study of Android ‘Games’ and Digital Propaganda in the Run-Up to the 2014 General Elections in the World’s Largest Democracy


Abstract

The  2014  General  Elections  in  India  have  seen  an  unprecedented  blitz  of  media propaganda, which has, given the growing access to digital media with the rise of smartphones  and  cheaper  computers,  spilled  into  new  media.  With  a  general atmosphere akin to that of gladiatorial games, it is not surprising to find a slew of android   application   which   encourages   people   to   cheer   for   their   favourite contenders. The run  up to the elections has seen a prolific use of digital media, online videos, photographs etc, extensive use of social networking sites and so on. The paper will look at the digital media  and games and try to decode how they are aimed at influencing voters. The contention is that rather in the spirit of the Roman  gladiatorial  games,  which  were  aimed  at  shifting  public  focus  from immediate  issues  and  calm  the  populace,  the  new  media  blitz,  alongwith  the gamifying  component  has  been  successful  in  shifting  focus  to  new  age  hero figures,  ‘Mahayodhas’,  and  the  competing  policies  and  ideologies  have  been brushed under the carpet.

Speaker: Siddhartha Chakraborti
Research Scholar, CES, SLL&CS, JNU

Venue:  Committee Room, Central Library, JNU
Date and Time: 6th September 2014 (Saturday), 4:00 pm