Cultural Studies

Workshop

Hello friends,

Have you ever imagine that one has dilevered full day leacture and yet not feeling tired some even for a while? Listen, not only Dr.Kalyani Vallath ma'am has dilevered leacture for full day but also made it so stimulating and interesting. While giving preparatory for. Dr.Dilip Barad sir challenged us that may you will be tired of sitting and learning for a full day but she will definitely not feel tired for a moment and I am very happy and also delight to see her enthusiasm and passionate feelings towards teaching. The way she taught is only necessary for anyone to create interest to learn. 

If someone ask  me how you come to know about exploring your interest into  Cultural studies , I would definitely say it's credit will certainly goes to Dr. Kalyani vallath. While she is taking leacture no one can dares to feel sleepy, not because just she is scolding students but she has pleasing and charming techniques for angaging students with topic and she also makes it easy to understand.

What is cultural Studies?

Cultural studies is cultural analysis.

 It also wiretap upon how power is associated. 

The objective of cultural studies includes understanding culture in all its complex forms and analyzing the social and political context in which culture manifests itself. Cultural studies is a site of both study/analysis and political criticism/action. (For example, not only would a cultural studies scholar study an object, but s/he would connect this study to a larger, progressive political project.)

Worthy to mention, "Cultural studies" is not synonymous with either "area studies" or "ethnic studies," although there are many cultural studies practitioners working in both area studies and ethnic studies programs and professional associations

Hall and others have identified some core originating texts, or the original "curriculum", of the field of cultural studies:

♦️Richard Hoggart's The Uses of Literacy

♦️Raymond Williams' Culture and Society  The Long Revolution

♦️E. P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Classes.

In Cultural studies combines a variety of politically engaged critical approaches drawn including semiotics, Marxism, feminist theory, ethnography, critical race theory, post-structuralism, postcolonialism, social theory, political theory, history, philosophy, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, communication studies, political economy, translation studies, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies and historical periods.                                                   

POints oF WORKSHOP’S  DISCUSSION  What is Cultural Studies ♦️ Frankfurt  School ♦️ Critical Theory ♦️ Hegelian Dialectical Method ♦️ Dialectic of Enlightenment ♦️ New left in Britain ♦️ Center Contemporary  Cultural  (CCCS) ♦️ Richard Hoggart (1918-2014) ♦️ E.P. Thompson (1924-1993) ♦️ Raymond Williams(1921-1988) ♦️ Willaim’s The Long Revolution ♦️ Cultural Materialism ♦️Stuart Hall (1932-2014) ♦️ Circuit of Culture ♦️ Major Influences ♦️ Michel Foucault ♦️ Archeology and  Genealogy ♦️Power/Knowledge

♦️Episteme and Dispositif (Apparatus)

♦️ Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002)

♦️ Cultural Intermediaries

♦️Black Atlantic

♦️ Subculture Studies

♦️ Public Sphere

♦️Posthumanism

♦️Information Society and Network Society

♦️ Trauma Studies

♦️ Globalization  Studies : Disjuncture

♦️Appadurai’s  Five Scapes

♦️ Queer Studies

♦️Performativity

♦️ Intersectionality

♦️Visual Cultural Studies

Of course, what I describe here is only a single drop of water, there is very interesting depths where we should looked into it, and definitely it will absolutely help in enhancing our views about cultural not only for cultural studies!

Hearty thanks to Dr.Dilip Barad sir who constantly tries to break down stereotypes of culture and society through his direction, genuine thanks to Dr.Kalyani Vallath ma'am who menaged her hectic schedule free for a while to share her knowledge and to make very certain about concept of Cultural Studies with us. I would  assuredly say that ma'am is really first women who really inspired me personally as well as she shared her dare and not a story but reality which she has faced and successfully came out of it and becomes living force for others also who are may traped by culture. Once again, thank you so much ma'am.

Thank you.

Thinking Activity on John Keats

Hello Friends,

ज़िन्दगी तो बेवफा है एक दिन ठुकराएगी
मौत मेहबूबा है
मौत मेहबूबा है अपने साथ लेकर जाएगी!

This very famous lyric leads us towards mournful feeling.  Generally, Metaphor of Death is used in poetry or in any piece of work, it might have a kind of positive feelings. People consider death as sun which will set in very short time.  My question is that why human being has not courage to accept the reality of death which is conclusive or ultimate reality of universe.  Very worthy contradiction for this concept of death we can find in any artist’s thought v/s layman. Many of artists believe in afterlife or death as enchantment.  They usually consider death as only death of physical body and that’s why death is also fascination for artist rather than any other.

Roger McGough, Dylan Thomas, John Donne, Henry Scott Holland, Emily Dickinson, W.B.Yeats, Khalil Gibran are poets who wrote chiefly focusing upon this. When we are discussing about death poets how can we disremember John Keats. Many of Keats’ poems primarily deal with death. We can also say that Keats was half in love with death.

Examples:

Grecian Urn, Nightingale, Autumn sharpens the concept of death. John Keats’ does not consider death as destroyer but he has slight unique fascination towards death.

Pablo Neruda, Nothing but Death, P.B.Shelley etc.

There are many poems written on death in the world but each poet tries to unfold unique views regarding this.  This is absolutely kind of that thing about, which one can never have exact fact which can be narrated.

It is said that who has courage to face the death he/she can do anything and thy artists are closer to the feelings of death or it provides kinds of attraction. It is also quite interesting that how poets or authors are seeing the death and celebrate also. As we know that language is just a medium of literature but poets and authors are those who are very curious towards this mysterious concept and that’s why in any language we can find that poems upon death are written in numbers of manner and having wide interest area also.

“BEFAM” also celebrates death. His very famous line about death is..

રડ્યા ‘બેફામ’ સૌ મારા મરણ પર એ જ કારણ થી,

હતો મારો જ અવસર ને મારી હાજરી નહોતી!

Here we can say that poet Barakat Virani celebrates death as a festival. Though this lines gives doleful feelings of death he describes his absence as a victory of his life. Ultimate truth of our life is that we are came from dust and we have to transform into dust. In gujrati it is said that,

માટીમાં માટી ભળી જાય તો એને મૃત્યુ ન કહો!

JIGNESH ADHYARU also says that,

મૃત્યુ એટલે

ઝરણોનું ભળવું સાગરમાં

અને સાગરનું

વાદળ થઇ ગાગરમાં.

મૃત્યુ અંત નથી,

વર્તુળનો છેડો છે.

એ એક અનંત પ્રકાશ છે,

ઉલ્લાસનો ઉજાસ છે.

કદાચ એટલે જ હવે

ચિત્તાનો અગ્નિ

વ્હાલો લાગે છે,

સોનાની અશુદ્ધિ દુર કરતા

પાવક શુધ્ધોદ્ક સમો

ચિંતન આવકાર્ય છે.

-જીગ્નેશ અધ્યારૂ

If we are talking about poems upon that how can we forget MARIZ! There are innumerable shayries also on death which sees death as victory.

‘મરીઝ’ એની ઉપરથી આપ સમજો કેમ ગુજરી છે,

મરણ આવ્યું તો જાણ્યું જિંદગાની લઈને આવ્યો છું.

– મરીઝ

જે જાણે તે જાણેઃ

મૃત્યુ એટલે કાચબો

ધીમે ધીમે ચાલીને એ હંમેશાં

સસલાને હરાવે છે.

મૃત્યુ એટલે સોનાનું પતરું

એ કાટથી ખવાતું નથી;

લખેલા અક્ષર

કદી ભુંસાતા નથી.

મૃત્યુ એટલે ફૂલ પર

ગણગણતો ભમરો નહિ;

મૃત્યુ એટલે મધમાખી

મૂંગીમૂંગી જે રચે મધપૂડો.

મૃત્યુ એટલે એક અજાણ્યું ઈંડું

ફૂટ્યા વગર એના ગર્ભને

પામી શકાતો નથી.

– જયંત પાઠક

An Era of Darkness

Shashi Tharoor

Hello Friends,

Now-a-days, repeatedly we are listening about many awards are given to authors for their writing. But question is that what’s the use of it? It is necessary to have such kinds of awards or writers are writing for the sake of award? No! Awards are for admiration, recognition and kind of thanking vote to author as they are pondering upon reality sure-enough. Before some days, SAHITYA AKADAMI AWARDS were announced. It’s to give an honor.

When we are talking about this awards in last days of 2019, how can it possible consign to oblivion to Shashi Tharoor. In this very time he came up with a book which will inevitably be much mattering for India and it is too.  “An Era of Darkness” is most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the major Indian languages. On February 25, 2020 he will be awarded at Delhi. Now, let’s try to look farther about book and to read between lines which he unfolds in “An Era of Darkness”.

Shashi Tharoor unfolds reality of Indian history. His arguments are less convincing. In the text “An Era of darkness” he has translated something which not a kind of cup of tea.Very  intriguing arguments he gives is that it is true that  Britishers ruled over India for 150 years but its only single sided perception as before Britishers came to India taxation policy was not humane.  The very meaning of darkness driven by Shashi  Tharoor is itself stands unique.  Though he is blaming colonizing policy of British ruling time in India, the way he used which makes his book kind of transparency.  His very initial and yet covered question is that why we are blaming only British Raj as we are very well about India’s innumerable customs like child marriage, Sati-Pratha and many more which are not forced by them! The very present time is being polled. 

Here I am sharing some videos of Shashi Tharoor  which will help you to unfold his views about “An Era of Darkness”

(1)An Exclusive interview with Author

(2) Interview- An Era of Darkness

What may has drieven him to write in such a way is that he wants to understand the origins of the difficulties that confronted India after 1947. He has called for Britain to pay reparation to India for the lasting toll that colonial rule exacted on the country. He is writing probably as for the same reason a cow gives milk.


(3) Reading between the line
     

It is the one sweeping story of independent India’s history that every Indian must know.

This book alternatively makes us feel hot and cold.

As Tharoor has been writer of fiction and non-fiction he says,..

“Yet the fact that my speech struck such a chord with so many listeners suggested that what I considered basic was unfamiliar to many, perhaps most, educated Indians. They reacted as if I had opened their eyes, instead of merely reiterating what they had already known.

It was this realisation that prompted my friend and publisher, David Davidar, to insist I convert my speech into a short book – something that could be read and digested by a layman but also be a valuable source of reference to students and others looking for the basic facts about India’s experience with British colonialism. The moral urgency of explaining to today’s Indians – and Britons – why colonialism was the horror it turned out to be could not be put aside.”

We can also say that Tharoor is deconstructing darkness in his book.  it is not narrated as a chronological account of imperialism as it unfolded in India but its sections are crafted around specific themes – the utter amorality of the East India Company in its conduct in India. While discussing about British-Raj in India Tharoor has provided us insight to go deep down in contemporary Indian circumstances.

As in the literary crtiticism’s class we were taught to measure how in colonialism one thing is dominating to all in one or another way, corruption, corruption and corruption! Tharoor has hammered us a lot through this and forced us a lot to look inside!  He discusses deep damages of colonialism on various aspects of national life.  Thus, he provides interesting subject matter for post-colonial study also.

It will not become execessive if one say it should be translated into every Indian language.

It can be also seen that our younger generation is just crazy about watching series of Netflix and movies,  no doubt it must be watched but only watching does not make any kinds of difference at all and same Tharoor provides us space to read between line and to connect the dots as well. Indeed it’s amarvelous narrative. Through this we can also say that he is an acclaimed writer.  

Tharoor says,

“If America is a melting pot, then to me India is a Thali.”

In this very modern time, in our 21^st century Shashi Tharoor should widely read for his contribution and his work must be read as he is not only discovering but unfolding meta narratives in his works. If one doesn’t have courage or rather saying that is not getting time to read books, will certainly remain unaware of his time! one should go through “An Era of Darkness”.

This is how you cook the beaf

Hello friends

While reading previous posts shared on Department’s FB page, I read one interesting and symbolic poem of Anand Haridas- “This is how you cook beaf” shared by #Kalyani_Vallath ma'am.

This poem deals with the metaphor of whistles. Process of cocking beaf is narrated in a way that very common thing of day-to-day life becomes very significance.  What is normal use of Whistle in the kitchen and how poet has transformed metaphysically this object into poem to show social, political and also nation’s illness. How the circumstances of a warrior is described in the kitchen as a warrior’s situation. This poem unfolds more than not only one but more than many narratives and goes far.  Reading of this poem reminds me the the poem #Meri_Sari discussed by Dr.Dilip Barad sir in the class discussion.

This is how you cook the beaf

(Go to original source click here:)

Five whistles. Six, at the most.

One more whistle,

And it will lose consistency.

You stand there, by the stove.

Waiting for the first whistle.

Wondering what could be

Happening inside the pressure cooker.

To start with,

You need to be sure that

The meat is cut from the softest region.

Rub salt to the cut pieces.

Nothing cleanses like pain.

Spices are added with precision.

There seems to be some unwritten measure

For every scoop added.

Chopped onion. Sautéed to the right shade of brown.

A slice of green chilli. Crushed ginger.

Unwritten rules of taste.

It takes a long, very long time for the first whistle.

One has to wait patiently.

Once the first whistle happens, rest follows.

But the wait for the first one is long,

And special too.

That’s when you get a whiff of things to come.

First Whistle

A train of thoughts

Filled with dead bodies,

Some cut, some charred,

Always precedes the first whistle.

There is an unsettling silence before that.

In that silence, you try to forget

The fact that the train exists.

But it invariably comes.

From a long dark past

Stretching endlessly behind you,

It will come anyway.

Like that proverbial light in the tunnel

The whistle announces the train.

It comes from across the border of logic.

Driven by the desire for good taste.

Then, it starts.

Second Whistle

Once you have crossed the border

With the first whistle,

The distance to the second whistle is short.

You can measure it, brick by brick,

Spoon by spoon.

The dish is still half-cooked, yet

The smell is so tempting.

It will drive you up domes of fantasy

And put your flags up there.

You start getting visuals, smell and

Feel the touch of soft, cooked meat.

You refer back to cookbooks at this point.

Just to make sure, spices were added

In right measures.

From those pages, letters come out in hordes,

Marching along with chants,

With malice and hatred,

Determined to cook the raw cuts.

That’s when you realise

That the secret of a good recipe

Is in the unwritten measures of ingredients.

Third Whistle

There will be a reluctance in letting go

The third whistle.

A slight hesitance.

As if giving a second thought on

Whether you really wanted to cook this meat.

Is this the dish that you look forward to?

You cannot take it out now,

You cannot have it as it is now.

You are neither there, nor anywhere.

The third whistle will then sound like

‘Where were you, when the first one went off?’

‘What did you do when the second whistle was on?’

‘Why are you now thinking about this?’

‘Who are you?’

The third whistle is when the meat

Starts to get the heat.

From all sides.

Fourth Whistle

By now, the aroma of the meat

Is swirling around you.

You are drooling.

You lie to yourself

That this meal is good for you.

You list out the good qualities

Of this freshly cut meat

Cooked in the perfect manner.

You keep repeating the same lies

Again, and again.

You are desperate to taste it now.

You recall all the best moments

You have had before this.

And assure yourself that

This one is going to be special.

Better than anything that happened

Till now.

The pressure of repeated lies adds that

Extra flavour to the meat being cooked.

Fifth Whistle

You close your eyes.

You have almost lost count.

All you see now is the meat

Well-settled to its edible best

Bubbling within the cooker.

You can see those brown bulbs

Popping up on the top of gravy,

Almost musically,

And then vanishing.

The symphony of a spicy meal.

Half A Whistle More

Just when you are about to

Turn the stove off,

You hear half a whistle.

You stop.

It is not the sixth one.

Neither is it the fifth.

Something happened after that.

Or was it before that?

You wonder, did you really hear it?

But then,

It does not matter now.

The cut pieces have been cooked.

To the best of culinary standards.

They are no longer wounds that bled once.

Spices added in specific measures

Have done their magic.

Those pieces are meant to be eaten.

They await garnishing now.

You switch off the stove

After reading first stanza about first whistle, poet discusses about distance between two whistles and tries to measure it with bricks. Reading the third stanza reminding us about Hamlet’s soliloquy “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Very extensive point is traced upon us with the line “Whether you really wanted to cook this meat?, Is this the dish that you look forward to?” Indirectly it reflects human struggle that why one always realizes at that extreme when very perfect time is passed away. Another fact of life is described in the line “The pressure of repeated lies adds that Extra flavor to the Meat being Cooked.”  That it’s not talking about dishonesty to other but to deceiving the self.  This poem can be read as political satire or satire on the nation.  Poet hammers with the line “It does not matter now.”

Poem- Meri sari

Here is the link of post Kalyani Vallath ma'am which I discussed.

Kalyani Vallath's FB Post

Thank you Kalyani ma'am for sharing this poem & genuine thanks to Dr.Dilip Barad sir as I reached to this post through FB page of Department of English - Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Thank you.