Notice
The upcoming issue of JBS (Vol 5, No 2) on the theme of "The Age of Bhadralok: Bengal's Long Twentieth Century" will be published in December instead of the previous schedule of publication in October. Inconvenience is regretted. The deadline for submission of articles, reviews, workshop now stands extended to 25th November 2016. For any query, please contact shoptodina@gmail.com
Durgapuja greetings and festive wishes to all our friends, readers and contributors.
---Editorial Board. 8 October 2016
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), Kolkata (Vol.3, No.2), Bengali Music:
Bengalis and Music (Vol.4, No.1), Microhistory: Bengali Perspectives
(Vol.4, No.2), Foreign Encounters: Bengal and Abroad (vol.5, No.1)
Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer reviewed
interdisciplinary online academic journal (ISSN: 2277- 9426)
having an Impact Factor of 4.596 for the year 2015, meant for
scholarly discussions into the history and culture of the Indic
Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its
tenth issue (Vol.5, No.2) on the theme of The Age of
Bhadralok: Bengal's Long Twentieth Century, due to be
published on the occasion of Kalipujo, 12 Kartik 1423, 29 October
2016. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 15
October 2016. 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
The
Age of Bhadralok: Bengal's Long Twentieth Century
The
theme of JBS Vol.5 No.2 is The Age of Bhadralok: Bengal's Long
Twentieth Century
Eric
Hobsbawm named his study of the twentieth century history of the
western world as the Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century.
He defines the twentieth century as having been inaugurated with the
beginning of the first world war in 1914, and to have lasted till the
fall of Soviet Union in 1991. He also defines the nineteenth century
as the long nineteenth century, lasting from 1789 to 1914, in his
trilogy Age of Revolutions 1789-1848, Age of Capital
1848-1875 and Age of Empire 1875-1914.
Applying
the same logic, one can propose that the Bengali twentieth Century
rather was a long century, and it has been an age of intense
movements in politics, literature, culture and society dominated by
the towering presence of the Bengali bhadralok. In Case of
Bengal, applying Hobsbawm's paradigm, we can state that the twentieth
century came to an end with the fall of CPIM led regime in 2011.
And
the beginning of this long twentieth century can loosely be traced
back to the Hindu Mela in 1867, or the formation of Surendranath
Banerjee's Bharat Sabha in 1876, while it can be definitively argued
that the dawn of Bengali consciousness characterising the age of
bhadralok was crystallised with the Bengali response to the
anti-Ilbert bill movement launched by the white colonialists in 1883,
which made the Bengalis aware of the power of organised movements and
this was when Bengali babu (a comprador) was steadily transformed
into the Bengali bhadralok (a conscientious objector to British
imperialism), armed with the writings of Bankim Chandra, the
Ramkrishna Vivekananda movement, the intense intellectual and
cultural ferment of Bengal Renaissance and Bengali Revival, and the
spirit of nationalism.
The
Bengali bhadralok started to assert himself and aimed for political
power, and this is how the journey towards India's independence
began. It later culminated in the British agenda of partitioning
Bengal in 1905 and the subsequent transfer of Capital from Kolkata to
Delhi in 1911, a process that continued till the decimation of the
bhadraloks took place.
Bengalis
responded by fierce anti-colonialism. There was the rise of Ognijug,
which was simultaneously accompanied by constitutional struggle of C
R Das's Swarajya Party. The emergence of Subhash Bose, the formation
of Forward Bloc in the 1930s was followed by the first appearance of
communist party among educated Bengalis, greatly aided by the
favourable reception of communist ideology among erstwhile
nationalist revolutionaries. The great Calcutta Killing and Noakhali
Genocide of 1946 was followed by the partition of 1947 which brought
tremendous human displacement in its wake. Then 1950s saw several
waves of communist movements, while the intensification of communist
movement was followed by the splits of 1960s, a decade that also saw
the first United Front governments. During the 1950s and 1960s, the
Bengalis of Assam suffered tremendous hardships. 1947 could be
considered a watershed that earmarked the dissolution of Bengali
power in India, which was followed by a series of unmitigated
disasters. 1970s saw the Bangladesh war and the flow of refugees,
emergency regime of Congress, formation of the first elected
communist regime in Bengal. 1980s witnessed the overall stagnation of
West Bengal and the beginning of Bengali decline. 1990s as a decade
saw the emergence of Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress which
finally dislodged CPIM led left front regime in 2011 through a series
of movements centred around Singur and Nandigram. The fall of CPIM
can be considered to have concluded the age of Bhadralok.
The
year 2011 can be considered to have brought Bengal's Long twentieth
century to a close, given that what 1991 was to western history, 2011
is to our history. And though we primarily talk in terms of the
political scenario, we cannot forget that these decades of the long
twentieth century saw tremendous flourish in all segments of cultural
life, earning Kolkata the sobriquet of the cultural capital of India.
Bengali theatre and cinema during the long twentieth century made
their marks, and so did Bengali literature and other art forms.
This
issue will focus on Bengal's cultural, political, social and and
overall historical journey during this period. This period from 1867
to 2011 has seen the rise and fall of the Bengali bhadralok's power,
the trajectory of which will be mapped in this issue.
The
topics for contribution will include the following but will not be
exclusively limited to the same:
The
Revivalist movement and the rise of nationalism. Bankim Chandra.
The
transformation of the babu into the bhadralok.
Ramkrishna
Vivekananda Movement.
The
later Brahmo movements of Keshab Sen and Shibnath Sastry.
Hindu
Mela and Indian Association.
Surendranath
Banerjee and the nation in making.
Aurobindo,
Bipin Pal, C R Das, Jatindramohan Sengupta, Subhash Bose.
Ognijug.
Khudiram to Surjo Sen. This is a galaxy and the names of those brave
Bengalis who were sent to gallows, killed by British Raj or
transported to Andaman can fill up thick volumes.
Formation
of Muslim League in Dacca. Beginning of organised pogroms against
Hindus in east Bengal. Satin Sen and the Patuakhali Satyagraha.
Appearance
and reception of Communist Party. Political and cultural advancements
of communists. Rise and fall of Naxalism. Naxal movement and Bengali
literature. Nabarun Bhattacharya. Communist parties and Bengali
culture. Rise and fall of CPIM. Communist party's hostility to the
bhadralok (immediately coming to mind Ashok Mitra's famous statement:
I am a communist, not a bhadralok) as well as submission to
bhadralokism.
Theatre.
Girish Ghosh, Amritalal, Ardhendu Mustafi. Danibabu and Shishirbabu.
Nobanno and the rise of IPTA. Shambhu Mitra, Utpal Dutt, Ajitesh
Bandyopadhyay. Rise of Group Theatre. Bratya Basu: the theory and
practice of Company Theatre.
Hiralal
Sen and early Bengali cinema. The first Bengali ventures into cinema.
Ahindra Choudhury. Dhiraj Bhattacharya. The first matinee idols:
Durgadas and Pramathesh. Kanan Debi. Chhabi Biswas, Bhanu Banerjee,
Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Sabitri Chattopadhyay, Soumitra
Chattopadhyay. Satyajit Ray and new Bengali cinema. Ritwik Ghatak and
the tragedy of partition. Mrinal Sen. The setback of the commercial
movies of 1980s and 1990s. The 2000s: promises and problematics.
Literary
history of Bengali bhadralok during the long twentieth century. The
tortuous trajectory from Bankim to Rabindranath Tagore. Kallol Jug.
Jibanananda Das. The flourish of Bibhutibhushan, Tarashankar, Manik,
Sharadindu. The comic sublime: Rajshekhar Basu and Shibram
Chakraborty. Western influences on Bengali literary movements.
Post-independence prose: Samaresh Basu to Samaresh Majumdar. Poetry
of Sunil and Shakti: the Krittibas movement. The Hungryalists. The
zero decade (shunno doshok) of Bengali poetry.
The
rise and fall of nationalist media houses. Amritabazar, Jugantar. The
emergence and dominance of the ABP group. Other media houses.
Bengali
Music during the long twentieth century: From Bande Mataram to Bangla
Bands.
Bengal's
academic, philosophical, scientific and technological history during
the long twentieth century.
Bengal's
Art forms across the long twentieth century.
The
industrial decline and financial stagnation of Bengal. The lack of a
consolidated Bengali trading class.
The
demographic change in the census reports from 1871 to 2011. The
growth of Muslim population. Hindu cleansing in east Bengal, east
Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Partition
and the Bengali refugees from east Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Marichjhapi massacre.
The
gender question in Bengal's long twentieth century.
The
Namasudra movement: A challenge to bhadralok hegemony. The subaltern
beyond the bhadralok pale (subaltern studies ironically were started
the Bengali bhadralok intellectuals).
Congress
after Subhash. Bidhan Ray to Siddhartha Shankar Ray. The rise of
Mamata within Congress. Formation of Trinamool Congress. Singur and
Nandigram agitations and the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. 2011 Assembly
election.
Quo
Vadis, Bengal? Nostalgia for the bhadralok. Elegy for the bhadralok.
After 2011, the post-bhadralok dynamics.
General
details about submissions to Journal of Bengali Studies:
Journal
of Bengali Studies (ISSN
2277 9426)
is published in English and is an online journal. A contribution must
be electronic and in English language. It should consistently and
uniformly follow any one of these three scholarly styles of citation:
MLA style, Chicago Manual of Style or APA style. Contributions must
always be 1.5 line-spaced. An article, with manually
typed (NOT
auto-inserted) notes and bibliography (DO
NOT
use the footnote and endnote mechanisms of your writing software e.g.
MS Word, and instead just manually
type your notes, references and bibliography into the article),
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, artworks and any kind of texts
(new and old alike) which are related to our theme. We also have a
section called Workshop: Theory in Practice. This section features
creative/critical fieldnotes which are related to our theme. Any kind
of creative/literary writing that concerns the Bengali experiences
in the long twentieth century is welcome in this issue; a priority
may be given to fictions/plays/poetry exploring this theme, 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 in the form of ground
studies and field notes, for example, any first hand account of
investigation into a particular twentieth century experience. Upper
Limit of 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, or Open Office, or RTF
format and should be emailed to both
of these two email ids: editjbs@gmail.com and shoptodina@gmail.com.
Also, do not forget to attach a brief bionote about yourself while
sending your write-up. 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/.
You may also visit our website at www.bengalistudies.com
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Editor:
Dr Tamal Dasgupta
CFP ©
All rights reserved.
Image: Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray, the quintessential bhadraloks, in conversation in 1991.
