Centre for Canadian Studies, Jadavpur University
March 3-4, 2022, online
Deadline: February 14, 2022
“Just birth,” you smiled,
“creation, re-creation,
new paths cut
from old patterns”
— Lee Maracle, Ta’ah
Conversations about creation and re-creation seem difficult when the present realities
of the world appear to be antithetical to the premises of creation or re-creation. The pandemic, as it enters into its third year, has successfully ‘created’ a great amount of confusion among the people of the world — we are unable to concretely understand its nature, its potential, and the multiple variations that it morphs into, as it hits the world in successive waves. This confusion delays the prospect of containment or extermination of the virus and affects the virtues of hope and motivation that enable processes of ‘creation’ and ‘re-creation’. But the transformative and resilient potentialities of the virtue of ‘hope’ in individuals/communities have created/recreated multiple models of sustainability during the pandemic. Communities, from all over the world, have joined hands to ensure that we persevere and do not perish in the face of this difficult and confusing adversary — without causing a significant depletion in the share of the resources for the future generations. In the pandemic situation, it has become necessary for individuals and communities to take newer responsibilities. A part of these responsibilities is to ensure that sustainable access to food, healthcare, shelter, transportation, communication services, remunerated jobs, and natural resources are facilitated; but sustenance involves more than these tangible requirements. It also entails the creation of spaces and possibilities — the ‘headspace’ being a significant inclusion in this regard — that enable conversations, creativity, communication, and resistance as they are imperative to ‘sustain’ ourselves during a pandemic. In pertinence to this multi-nuanced understanding of sustainability and of spaces/possibilities that sustain — the Centre for Canadian Studies, Jadavpur University aims to open up a conversation, among scholars, academics, writers and activists, on the resilient and transformative potential of communities and individuals in Canada and India that enable sustainability during a pandemic.
Canada and India have been substantially affected by the pandemic and the ordeal has exposed the discriminatory structures that prevent marginalised communities from accessing basic amenities that are necessary for their sustenance. Though vaccination 1s being carried out on a large scale in both the countries, the continuity of the pandemic has compelled people to re-figure and re-formulate the pre-pandemic ways of regular life — and terms like ‘virtual’, ‘digital’, ‘distancing’, and ‘isolation’ are now a part of the global parlance. In Canada, the indigenous and diasporic communities, who have been on the receiving end of racist discrimination, were often seen to emerge as self-sufficient entities during the pandemic. They have taken charge of issues, concerning their communities, that are related to dissemination of pandemic-specific knowledge, access to basic amenities, outreach, and facilitation of uninterrupted communication between members. This period also saw the revisitation, as well as reevaluation, of existing knowledge systems, traditions, and ways of life that have sustained these communities for generations. Some of the indigenous communities of Canada have also advised members to return to their cultivable ‘lands’ from the crowded towns and cities — so
that the purposes of social-distancing and self-sufficiency in terms of food production could be achieved. Communities, especially the indigenous people of Canada, have also been vocal about sustainable access to natural resources and have reiterated their concerns about climate change. They have relied on different kinds of cultural outlets, with maximal usage of the digital mediums, to facilitate conversations on — but not limited to—the pandemic, race, identity, sexuality, climate, and history. The younger generation have vocalised on the importance of ‘cultural safety’ as they stood vigilantly over the elders from their communities — assisting them to get used to the newer, but often isolating, ways of life that characterised a pandemic. Since discussions on mental health comprised an important part of the sustainability efforts of different communities, the ‘content’, that was being produced by individuals/communities on different platforms and mediums, developed on these discussions and were often geared towards nurturing a feeling of well-being and awareness among the content-consumers. Communities have also continued to question the virulent legacy of colonialist onslaught in Canada through these different kinds of media. Likewise, India had witnessed a difficult second wave of the pandemic that was marked by images of corpses flowing down the the river, make-shift burial grounds/crematoriums being set up in different parts of the country, and hospitals being overcrowded with patients gasping for breath. But in coincidence with Canada, individuals and communities in India have also forged different strategies of endurance and sustenance, that go beyond just helping people get access to basic amenities. The people of the subcontinent, especially the youth, continue to play a very important role as volunteering bodies, as think-tanks that ideate on different and varied modes of ecological sustainability, as disseminators of pandemic-specific knowledge, as vocal dissidents of digital-divide in the classroom and elsewhere, and as producers of ‘content’ that
allows the instillation of hope and motivation in the ‘headspace’ of the population that reels under a pandemic. While enduring the unfathomable nature of the pandemic, the communities in India and Canada, have utilised their resilient and transformative prowess to posit different tangible and non-tangible methods of sustainability.
We invite papers from scholars at both national and international levels, who look at Indo-Canadian Studies from an inter-disciplinary perspective, to participate in this conversation about pandemics, sustainability, hope, resilience, transformation, and marginality. We are interested in papers that make academic interventions in the fields of literature, culture, international-relations, policy-making, and history in the Indo-Canadian context. The abstracts may have direct bearing on one of the sub-themes mentioned below or may address other issues that pertain to theme of the conference. The sub themes are as follows:
Pandemic, hope, and endurance
Pandemic and the many diasporas of Canada
Cultural safety and community engagements in the times of a pandemic
History of pandemics and sustainability during a pandemic
Food sovereignty and sustainability
Ecological sustainability during a pandemic
Content-creation and pandemics
The ‘virtual’ world, resilience, and transformations
Pandemics, mental health and well-being
Queer hope and resilience
Gendered bodies and the pandemic
Protest and social justice in the pandemic
Pandemic in the intersections of caste, class, and gender
Reconciliation in the times of a pandemic
Literatures of/for a pandemic
The limits of hope during a pandemic
Towards newer ways of sustainability
Abstracts (500 words) along with a 50 word bio-note are to be sent to
canadacentreju@gmail.com by 14 February, 2022. Please write “Abstract: CCS JU 2022” in the subject line. Acceptance will be intimated by 17 February, 2022.
Please note that the abstract must reflect a clear understanding of Indo — Canadian Studies.
Since 2017, the Centre for Canadian Studies, Jadavpur University in collaboration with the
Shastri Indo — Canadian Institute (India Office) has introduced two student awards (from MA till the MPhil level) for the best paper presented at a regular session at the Conference asfollows:
1. “Victor Ramraj Memorial Prize” for the best paper in Canadian Diaspora Studies
2. “Renate Eigenbrod Memorial Prize” for the best paper in Indigenous Canadian Studies
Both the awards are sponsored by the Shastri Indo- Canadian Institute, India.
* A student may apply for only one of the above mentioned prizes and should indicate the same during abstract submission. Joint authors would not be eligible to participate. The student must be registered as a current student at a college/ University/ Research Institute.
* In order to be considered for the prize and upon acceptance of the abstract, completed papers (2500 words excluding bibliography, Chicago Stylesheet, 17th Edition) should be emailed by 28 February 2022. Inability to adhere to given deadlines and formats would lead to instant disqualification.
* Shortlisted students who would be eligible to finally compete at the conference would be
notified by 17 February 2022. Only shortlisted students would be eligible to compete for the prize but all students whose abstracts have been accepted would be eligible to present their paper at the conference.
* The Prize(s) would be awarded only if the Screening Committee believes in the originality and academic excellence of the submission. The decision of the Screening Committee would be final.
Conference Coordinators:
Professor Suchorita Chattopadhyay, Coordinator, Centre for Canadian Studies, Jadavpur
University, Kolkata.
Dr. Debashree Dattaray, Deputy Coordinator, Centre for Canadian Studies, Jadavpur
University, Kolkata.
Organising team:
Krishnendu Pal (Jadavpur University).
Suchorita Chattopadhyay (Jadavpur University)
Debashree Dattaray (Jadavpur University)