After the proud
publications of our issues on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary
nationalism in Bengal (Vol.1, No.1), Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and
Cinema (Vol.1, No.2), Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre (Vol.2,
No.1), Science and Technology in History: Modern Bengali Perspectives
(Vol.2, No.2), Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads
(Vol.3, No.1), Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer
reviewed interdisciplinary online academic journal (ISSN: 2277-
9426) meant for scholarly discussions into the history and
culture of the Indic Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call
for Papers for its sixth issue (Vol.3, No.2) on the theme of Kolkata
due to be published on the occasion of Kalipujo, 23 October 2014. The
final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 30 September
2014. Commentaries in JBS are accepted by invitation/commission
alone. If you want to author a commentary instead of a regular
article or review, or want to know how they are different, please
get in touch with the editorial board beforehand at
shoptodina@gmail.com
Kolkata
The theme of
this issue is Kolkata. Dinesh Chandra Sen writes in his Brihot Bongo
(where one of the main theses runs as that the Bengalis are the
inheritors of the ancient flourish of philosophy, culture, politics
and science which eastern India witnessed since the rise of Magadh)
that Kolkata, via medieval Nabadwip and ancient Gour, is the legacy
bearer of the ancient Magadhan civilisation (174). So, we begin by
suggesting that Kolkata is not (merely) a colonial legacy,
that it was not established by one Job Charnock, and that the
place in all likelihood derives its name from Kalikhetro.
The topics for
contribution will include the following but will not be limited to
the same:
The ancient and
medieval recorded mentions of Kolkata prior to British arrival. A
riverine history of Kolkata. Kolkata waterbodies.
Chouranginath,
the ancient Nath saint (reputed to be a Pal prince) and Chowringhee.
The related
history of South Bengal kingdoms since ancient times and Kolkata's
rootedness in that history; vicinity to the Bay of Bengal, sea port
of Tamralipta, the Gangariddae of Ptolemy.
Kolkata and the
empire of Pratapaditya of Jessore.
Kalighat.
Kolkata and
other Europeans prior to the British East India Company. British
arrival and the Hindu response; Hindu consolidation against the
misrule of Siraj. Beginning of Durgapujo by Nabakrishna of Kolkata
and Krishnachandra of Nadia to celebrate the overthrow of Islamic
rule.
Bengali
compradorship. The dialectics of collaboration and conflict. Tagore
family as a type. Collision of the east and west resulting in early
Renaissance: Rammohan Roy. The flourish of Brahmo Movement and
Debendranath Tagore.
The beginning of
a Native resistance and Hindu revival. Rani Rashmoni.
Bengal
Renaissance: Giants like Vidyasagar, Michael, Bankim, Vivekananda.
Kolkata and the
flourish of periodicals, newspapers, journals and magazines. Kolkata
and little magazines. Kolkata's printing press and publishing
industry. Chapbooks and Bot tola. Kolkata bookshops.
The rise and
fall of Bengali business class. Kolkata's eventual domination by
non-Bengali business interests.
Kolkata and
literature (Bengali and English): Poetry, Novels, Short Stories,
Essays.
Kolkata's
dialect of Bengali: Kolkata's spoken tongue.
Kolkata and
food: Kolkata's food history. Kolkata cuisine, Kolkata eateries.
Kolkata's
landmarks. Kolkata streets and crossroads. Tematha, Coumatha and
Panchmatha. Kolkata's urban space. North versus South. Officepara.
Shahebpara. College Street. Kolkata's entry points: Sealdah and
Howrah. Kolkata's new townships and satelites.
Kolkata: music
and poetry. From Gojla Guin to Nidhubabu to Bangla band. Kolkata and
Kobiyals. Ishwar Gupta and Kolkata. Rupchand Pokkhi and urban
decadence.
Kolkata and
politics. Kolkata and movements. Congress. Kolkata and the
anti-partition movement of 1905. Kolkata and the Revolutionary
Nationalists. Kolkata and C R Das; Kolkata and Subhash Bose. Kolkata
and the communists. Kolkata and Muslim League. Suhrawardy. Direct
Action Day. The Great Calcutta Killing. Partition of 1947. Kolkata
and East Bengal refugees.
Kolkata and
erudition; Kolkata and academia.
Kolkata and
theatre. Kolkata and cinema.
Kolkata's
downtrodeen: slums, pavement dwellers, homeless. Kolkata underworld
and Kolkata's fictional as well as historical detectives.
Kolkata and the
Bengali babudom.
General
details about submissions to Journal of Bengali Studies:
Journal of Bengali Studies is published in English and is an online journal. A contribution must be electronic and in English language. It should consistently follow any one of these three scholarly styles of citation: MLA style, Chicago Manual of Style and APA style. Contributions must always be 1.5 line-spaced. An article, with notes and bibliography, should not be more than 10000 words. In case of reviews, the upper limit is 2000 words; we welcome reviews of new books as well as old and out of print ones, not necessarily of books written in English alone; we accept reviews of books, texts and artworks (new and old alike) which are related to our theme. From our Cinema issue onwards, we started a section (in addition to articles and reviews) called Workshop: Theory in Practice. This section features creative/critical works which are related to our theme. Any kind of creative/literary writing that concerns Kolkata is welcome in this issue; a priority may be given to historical fictions/plays/poetry, which may be originally written in Bengali, in which case it has to be in English translation, or it may be originally written in English. In either case, it should focus on our theme and be relevant to the CFP. The workshop may also include critical writings, for example, the narration of one's experiences in Kolkata, exploring the question of one's involvement with the social, cultural, literary, economic and political aspects of Kolkata. Upper Limit of Creative Workshop: 10000 words. We have no lower word limit for the contributions, the authors are free to use their discretion. Contributions should only be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to all of these three email ids: editorbengalistudies@gmail.com, editjbs@gmail.com and shoptodina@gmail.com. Before submission, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further details about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.
Editor: Tamal Dasgupta
Journal of Bengali Studies is published in English and is an online journal. A contribution must be electronic and in English language. It should consistently follow any one of these three scholarly styles of citation: MLA style, Chicago Manual of Style and APA style. Contributions must always be 1.5 line-spaced. An article, with notes and bibliography, should not be more than 10000 words. In case of reviews, the upper limit is 2000 words; we welcome reviews of new books as well as old and out of print ones, not necessarily of books written in English alone; we accept reviews of books, texts and artworks (new and old alike) which are related to our theme. From our Cinema issue onwards, we started a section (in addition to articles and reviews) called Workshop: Theory in Practice. This section features creative/critical works which are related to our theme. Any kind of creative/literary writing that concerns Kolkata is welcome in this issue; a priority may be given to historical fictions/plays/poetry, which may be originally written in Bengali, in which case it has to be in English translation, or it may be originally written in English. In either case, it should focus on our theme and be relevant to the CFP. The workshop may also include critical writings, for example, the narration of one's experiences in Kolkata, exploring the question of one's involvement with the social, cultural, literary, economic and political aspects of Kolkata. Upper Limit of Creative Workshop: 10000 words. We have no lower word limit for the contributions, the authors are free to use their discretion. Contributions should only be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to all of these three email ids: editorbengalistudies@gmail.com, editjbs@gmail.com and shoptodina@gmail.com. Before submission, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further details about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.
Editor: Tamal Dasgupta
Issue Editor:
Subrata Nandi
Editorial Board:
Sourav Gupta
Mousumi Biswas
Dasgupta
