IGNOU to organise international seminar on Diasporic Writing

New Delhi, Jan 20 (UNI) The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is organising an international seminar on Diasporic Writing next month.

The two-day seminar, titled 'The Dynamics of Be/Longing' on February 21 and 22, will focus on some recent trends in diasporic literatures to see where they are headed -- a return to the roots or a re-alignment in the wake of a blending of the two different world orders.

There shall be 12 paper presentations as well as a session for panel discussions, an IGNOU press release said.

The seminar will see participation of Prof Sneja Gunew and Prof Chelva Kanaganayakam (Canada), Prof Prem Poddar (Denmark) and Prof John Thieme (UK), while participants from the country include Prof Malashri Lal, Prof Jameela Begum, Prof Harish Narang, Prof Shyamala Narayan, Dr Hema Raghavan, Prof Mohan Ramanan, Prof S K Sareen, Dr Charu Sharma and Prof Pankaj Singh.

The term 'diaspora', originally used for dispersal from one's homeland, is now applied as a metaphoric designation for all expatriates, refugees, exiles and immigrants, whose lives, language and experiences have been altered by paradigms of bilingualism, biculturalism and geographical dislocation.

Diasporic writers are deeply attached to their homeland, yet yearn to belong to their current abode. They are caught between two worlds and this double marginalisation by both their root culture and host culture negates their belonging to either location.

The condition of being 'unhomed' is associated further with alienation, a desire to reclaim the past yet revolt against it, the inability to move out, and the urge to show solidarity to the homeland but unwillingness to threaten relations with the host country.

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