Call for Papers for JBS Vol.3, No.2 on the theme of 'Kolkata'

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

Issue Editor: Subrata Nandi

Editorial Board: Sourav Gupta

Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta