The Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College organized Peer Seminar: Chapter IV on 17th October, 2023 at 3 pm. The speaker was Mr. Soumyajit Chandra; his paper was entitled Wild Basil and Dancing Lights: Ecofeminist Reconceptualisations of the Bengal Landscape in Select Short Stories by Narayan Gangyopadhyay. The seminar was attended by the faculty members and PG students of the Department of English.
In his paper, the speaker subjected two Bengali short stories composed by Narayan Gangyopadhyay, namely Bana-Tulsi (Wild Basil) and Aleyar Raat (The Night of Aleya) to an ecofeminist critique through a study of the author’s representation of the Bengal landscape.
Traditionally, the Bengal landscape has been represented as fertile, prosperous and maternal in nationalistic and early modern Bengali poetry alike. Gangyopadhyay displaces “Mother Nature” from her nurturing, maternal role, constructing a radically alterantive femininity which undermines patriarchal and essentialist understandings of nature as feminine. Gangopadhyay plays off male protagonists (harbouring varying degrees of patriarchal affiliation) with nature in some of its insidious manifestations, observed in the wild basil wilderness and the dancing lights on a rain-drenched field at night. With respect to critical works of Madelon Sprengnether and Donna J. Haraway, the paper attempted to reclaim Mother Earth imagery and utilize essentialist positions to assign autonomous, self-determining roles to Nature.
The session was conducted by Dr. Gargi Talapatra, Head of UG English. Peer Seminar has served to foster research interests and facilitate academic dialogue at all levels of the academic space at the Department of English, The BES College.
The Department of Political Science organised a field trip to Netaji Bhawan for the students of Semester IV. A total of 47 students accompanied by 4 teachers visited the ancestral house of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. They witnessed the German-made Wanderer car that was used by Netaji in his escape from India in January 1941. …
Industrial visits have their own place of importance in a student’s career. It helps to provide opportunities to involve in active learning experiences both inside and outside the walls of the classroom, as there always remains a gap between classroom teaching and corporate practice. It is here that by going beyond academics, industrial visits provide …
“It is bad enough that people are dying of ‘Aids’ but no one should die of Ignorance.” – Elizabeth Taylor With this aim, The NSS unit of The Bhawanipur Education Society College organized the ‘Red Ribbon Campaign’ through the distribution of Aids Awareness Cards and red ribbons on the occasion of World Aids Day …
Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College On 28th July 2020, an international online reading session titled ‘Writing in Confinement’ (in collaboration with IQAC) was organized by the English department of The Bhawanipur Education Society College. The event was open to all the faculty members and students of the college, along with research scholars, …
Peer Seminar: Chapter IV
The Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College organized Peer Seminar: Chapter IV on 17th October, 2023 at 3 pm. The speaker was Mr. Soumyajit Chandra; his paper was entitled Wild Basil and Dancing Lights: Ecofeminist Reconceptualisations of the Bengal Landscape in Select Short Stories by Narayan Gangyopadhyay. The seminar was attended by the faculty members and PG students of the Department of English.
In his paper, the speaker subjected two Bengali short stories composed by Narayan Gangyopadhyay, namely Bana-Tulsi (Wild Basil) and Aleyar Raat (The Night of Aleya) to an ecofeminist critique through a study of the author’s representation of the Bengal landscape.
Traditionally, the Bengal landscape has been represented as fertile, prosperous and maternal in nationalistic and early modern Bengali poetry alike. Gangyopadhyay displaces “Mother Nature” from her nurturing, maternal role, constructing a radically alterantive femininity which undermines patriarchal and essentialist understandings of nature as feminine. Gangopadhyay plays off male protagonists (harbouring varying degrees of patriarchal affiliation) with nature in some of its insidious manifestations, observed in the wild basil wilderness and the dancing lights on a rain-drenched field at night. With respect to critical works of Madelon Sprengnether and Donna J. Haraway, the paper attempted to reclaim Mother Earth imagery and utilize essentialist positions to assign autonomous, self-determining roles to Nature.
The session was conducted by Dr. Gargi Talapatra, Head of UG English. Peer Seminar has served to foster research interests and facilitate academic dialogue at all levels of the academic space at the Department of English, The BES College.
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