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.
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.
Online Registration link*: https://www.signupforms.com/
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
