Women and Indian Shakespeares – conference CFP

CALL FOR PAPERS

Women and Indian Shakespeares:
Exploring cinema, translation, performance

30 October – 1 November 2019
Queen’s University, Belfast

 

Indian Shakespeares is an established field of study, but no international conference has yet centralised the issue of the female in Indian Shakespeares. Recent feminist works include the retelling of King Lear in Sangeeta Datta’s film Life Goes On (2010) or in Preti Taneja’s novel We That Are Young (2017), Romeo and Juliet in Arshinagar (dir. Aparna Sen) or Bornila Chatterjee’s 2016 film adaptation of Titus Andronicus, The Hungry. Indeed, it has been argued that the women in Vishal Bhardwaj’s celebrated hero-centric film trilogy possess transformative agency. Such works have continued to reshape the debate surrounding the role of women.

This conference thus emerges in the context of these retellings and recent historical events in India and worldwide. It aims to explore uncharted territory, bringing together researchers and practitioners to establish the state of current scholarship in this vibrant, under-examined field. We invite proposals for 20-minute papers, panels, workshops and creative approaches on any aspect of Women and Indian Shakespeares. Alternative presentations are also equally welcome, such as film shorts, film scripts, etc.

Contributions are invited on any of the following aspects of the topic:
* Depictions of women in Indian Shakespeares on screen or on stage
* Indian female practitioners of Shakespeare
* Female Indian diasporic practitioners of Shakespeare
* Examinations of cross-dressed women
* Examinations of cross-gendered casting
* Transgender women in Indian Shakespeares
* LGBTQ Indian Shakespeares
* Feminist theory and intersectionality in relation to Indian Shakespeares
* Issues of caste in relation to women and Indian Shakespeares
* Regional perspectives and representations of women
* Challenges of researching Women and Indian Shakespeares

200-300 word abstracts for works to be presented at the conference should be sent by 1st April 2019. Together with the abstract, participants are invited to send a brief (up to 100 words) bio stating their affiliation, research interests and relevant academic output. Decisions will be made by 1 June 2019. Both abstracts and bios should be sent in Word or PDF format to: indianshakespeares@gmail.com If accepted, abstracts will be circulated among conference participants in advance of the event. Auditors are also welcome to attend, but priority will be given to those presenting.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Prof. Paromita Chakravarti (Jadavpur University)
• Ms. Bornila Chatterjee (filmmaker, The Hungry )
• Ms. Sangeeta Datta (filmmaker, Life Goes On )
• Dr. Sreedevi Nair (NSS College for Women)
• Prof. Jyotsna Singh (Michigan State University)
• Dr. Poonam Trivedi (formerly Delhi University)

Organising Committee (Queen’s University, Belfast):
Dr. Thea Buckley, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow (co-chair)
Dr. Rosa García Periago, Marie Curie Research Fellow (co-chair)
Prof. Mark Thornton Burnett (consultant)

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Cinema: “All Is True”

All Is True follows Shakespeare in the final days of his life in 1613. With his beloved Globe theatre burned to the ground – an accident that took place during a performance of his play Henry VIII: All Is True – Shakespeare returns to Stratford. After long periods away from his family, Shakespeare attempts to reconcile and reconnect with his wife and children.

Written by Ben Elton and directed by Kenneth Branagh, the film stars Branagh as William Shakespeare, Judi Dench as his wife Anne Hathaway, and Ian McKellen as Sir Henry Wriothesley (the dedicatee of Shakespeare’s narrative poem “The Rape of Lucrece”.)

All Is True opens in Irish cinemas on 8th February 2019.

Watch the trailer here.

The Shakespeare family – All Is True  (photo credit Sony Pictures)