Previous CFPs

Please note that these are previous CFPs. They are stored here for archival reasons alone.  

Call for Papers for JBS Vol.5, No.1 on the theme of Foreign Encounters: Bengal and Abroad

Note: Deadline for submission of articles, reviews and workshop is extended to 25 April 2016. The issue will be published on the occasion of Okkhoy Tritiya, 9 May 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), 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 ninth issue (Vol.5, No.1) on the theme of Foreign Encounters: Bengal and Abroad, due to be published on the occasion of Okkhoy Tritiya, 26 Boishakh 1423, 9 May 2016. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 25 April 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

Foreign Encounters: Bengal and Abroad

The theme of JBS Vol.5 No.1 is Foreign Encounters: Bengal and Abroad

This issue will focus on Bengal's contact with various foreign cultures since recorded times. It would largely be divided into two categories: those encounters that took place when foreigners visited Bengal, and those which took place when Bengali influences travelled abroad. Bengal's interface with rest of Indian landmass (Indian subcontinent, that is) will not be a part of the explorations of this issue. Further, invasion of Bakhtiyar Khilji or other Islamic missions from western parts of the subcontinent will not be a part of this issue. However, Islamic contacts with Arab, Iran etc. may be explored in this issue.

Buddhadeb Basu once famously claimed (or at least it has been assigned to him) that culturally Bengal is a part of Europe. This hyperbolic assertion captures the intellectual state of affairs in modern Bengal, which we need to problematize. Out of Bengal's encounters with various foreign cultures, the modern period is marked by western influences. Nevertheless, such influences have never been merely one way, as Bengalis also have influenced the west and other foreign lands.

The topics for contribution will include the following but will not be exclusively limited to the same:

History of the Bengali diaspora since ancient times. Colonies of Bengalis in different territories: the stories, myths and historical accounts of Bengalis settled outside India in the ancient period. A focus may be on such figures as Prince Vijaya Simha in Ceylone and Atish Dipankar in Tibet.

Foreign encounters facilitated by Buddhism. Nalanda and other universities as world class meeting grounds of native and foreign scholars. Foreign Buddhist accounts of Bengal.

Ancient and medieval western accounts of Bengal.

Bengalis' maritime activities.

Advent of Europeans in Bengal. The story of settlements on the banks of Hooghly river.

Other non-European settlers. Chinese, Armenian, Jewish inhabitants of Bengal.

Foreign religions and conversions. Islam, Christianity.

Rise of Orientalism. Asiatic Society and the production of historical discourses.

Bengal renaissance as the cultural, philosophical, political product of the encounters between Bengal and the West. Raja Rammohan Roy: the exchanges of influence in Bengal and abroad.

Western influence on Bengali learning and literature. Hindu College, Derozio, Young Bengal, Michael Madhusudan.

The system of Macaulay. Vidyasagar's implementation of imperial education policies.

Western influences on Bankim and on Bengal's Hindu revival.

Vivekananda: western encounter and the Bengali influence on the world.

Aurobindo and the west.

Anti-colonial and revivalist resistance against foreign influence in Swadeshi movement.

The western ideas of universal humanism in Tagore. Home and the world in Tagore. Tagore as bishshokobi. The ideals of bishshomanobota.

Bengalis in Europe and America.

The Bengali globe trotters. Bengalis working abroad. Colonel Suresh Biswas in Brazil. Bengali circus in foreign lands (Professor Bose). P C Sorkar's magic captivating the world. The rise of ISKCON. Important Bengali personalities abroad.

Bengal's lasting liaison with foreign languages and literature (including the Bengali tryst with English).

From Rasbehari Bose to Subhash Bose. Bengali revolutionaries abroad.

Bengalis in Burma.

History of Western, Russian, Chinese and other influences on Bengali politics and culture in the twentieth century. From China's Chairman to China's Chowmien.

The Irish influence on Bengal's Ognijug. Bengal and Japan.

Cultural encounters in Bengali theatre. Lebedev. Shakespeare adaptations on stage. Bengal's love affair with Brecht.

The realm of Soviet books in Bengali. Also books from China.

The lasting legacy of continuing and new encounters in our contemporary times.

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 and uniformly 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 manually edited notes and bibliography (DO NOT use the footnote and endnote mechanisms of your writing software e.g. MS Word, and instead just manually insert 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 Bengal's interface with the foreign experiences 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, for example, the narration of one's experiences and involvements with specific foreign influence(s), exploring the question of one's involvement with the social, cultural, literary, economic and political aspects of such foreign influence(s). 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 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. For updates on facebook, please like our page www.facebook.com/BengaliStudies

Image: Portrait of Atisha Dipankara from Tibetan Kadamapa Monastery, eleventh century. This tangka is one of the two earliest Tibetan portraits which have been found till date.

Call for Papers for JBS Vol.4, No.2 on the theme of Microhistory: Bengali Perspectives

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), 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 eighth issue (Vol.4, No.2) on the theme of Microhistory: Bengali Perspectives, due to be published on the occasion of Kalipujo, 23 Kartik 1422, 10 November 2015. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 31 October 2015. 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 

Microhistory: Bengali Perspectives

The theme of JBS Vol.4 No.2 is Microhistory: Bengali Perspectives.

Existing models of historiography mostly qualify as macrohistory and often don't do justice to several smaller events, minute timelines, localized events of a caste/community, oral histories, narratives from a specific locality, and that's why microhistory emerged in western academia during 1970s, 80s and 90s as a distinct method to approach various socio-cultural issues which are often silenced and marginalized within the ambit of professional historical research.

Microhistory is the study of the smaller histories. Microhistory can be the annals of a certain district, a specific community, a particular class, a certain caste. Microhistory might involve the study of a specific event, a certain oral history, a certain fair, a certain gathering from the remote and/or recent past.

To the best of our knowledge, this will be first systematic use of microhistorical methodology to study the events, societal formations, cultural aspects and human geographies of the Bengali people, though many proto-microhistorical attempts have been made in the past. Ishwar Chandra Gupta's study of different districts of east Bengal qualifies as a proto-microhistory, for example.

The topics for contribution will include the following but will not be exclusively limited to the same.

• History of the Bengali diaspora, . Colonies of Bengalis in different Indian states and territories: the stories of Bengalis settled outside Bengal. Bengalis outside India.
• Specific counter-cultures of Kolkata Bengalis which set them apart from mainstream India, non-aesthetically (or anaesthetically) dominated by commerce, power, interest. Film Society movement. Little Mag movement. Group Theatre movement. Bengali music as a form of rebellion from Salil Choudhury to Rupam Islam.
• Clubs as community formation. Organization of Baroyari Durgapujo.
• Bengali snacks (e.g. telebhaja, rolls) and sweets, Bengali eateries and food culture.
• Bengali romance with books. Writers, Publishing houses, College Street Boipara, Kolkata Book Fair, book shops in the districts.
• History of the various regions, districts, cities, villages, localities of Bengal. Archaeology and new townships. Juxtaposition of exotic antiquities and casual, callous, amnesiac everyday.
• Bengalis in education. Histories of schools, colleges, universities, institutes. Histories of students and youth organizations, movements. Histories and legends of teachers.
• Bengalis in business.
• Topography of water, rain, monsoon, rivers, ponds waterbodies, boats and fishermen.
• Histories of farmers and farming. Rituals and festivals associated with agriculture.
• Histories of cultural celebrations, religious rituals, festivals, social gatherings. Rother Mela, Shib Ratri, marriage ceremonies etc.
• Little histories of Partition. Histories of displacement. Setting up of refugee colonies, oral history, family narratives.
• History of Bengali castes, sub-castes, communities, professional classes.
• Bengali fondness for travel. Travels to Puri, Digha, Darjeeling.
• Bengalis and internet. Community formation, politics, cultural groupings and events in Facebook and other social networking sites.
• History of Suburban culture. Stations, markets, livelihood, office-goers, local trains.
• History of Western, Russian and Chinese influences on Bengali culture. Bengalis and European languages and literature (including the Bengali tryst with English), Bengali literature and Naxalism, the realm of Soviet books in Bengali.

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 manually edited notes and bibliography (DO NOT use the footnote and endnote mechanisms of your writing software e.g. MS Word, and instead just manually insert 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, texts and artworks (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 Bengali microhistory is welcome in this issue; a priority may be given to historical fictions/plays/poetry concerning local tenors and colors of Bengal and different Bengali communities, 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 with a specific Bengali microhistory, exploring the question of one's involvement with the social, cultural, literary, economic and political aspects of a certain Bengali microhistory. 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. 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/.

Editor: Tamal Dasgupta

Call for Papers for JBS Vol.4, No.1 on the theme of Bengali Music:Bengalis and Music

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), 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 seventh issue (Vol.4, No.1) on the theme of Bengali Music: Bengalis and Music, due to be published on the occasion of Noboborsho, Bengali New Year, 15 April 2015. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 15 March 2015. 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

Bengali Music: Bengalis and Music

The theme of JBS Vol.4 No.1 is Bengali Music: Bengalis and Music.

Indian civilisation records it penchant for music which goes back to the earliest Vedic times.

Bengalis of antiquity as well as of modernity have been known for their excellence in music. Classical Sanskrit aesthetics (Bharata's Natyashastra for example) corroborate the existence of distinct eastern/Gaudiya styles and schools of music and dance. In Caryapada (chorjapod), there is a famous mention of a performance of “Buddha play” (Buddha nataka) with the accompaniment of songs and dance. The following informations are provided by Nirharranjan Ray in his Bangalir Itihash Adiporbo (637 -643).

The Chorjas were supposed to be sung as each of them was assigned a specific raag. We find Goudiya and Bongaal raag among others in the the list of the raags.

Gitgobindo of Joydeb was sung with eleven different raags and five taal.

Lochon Pandit's Raagtarangini is an ancient treatise on music from Bengal. Lochon was a contemporary of King Bollal Sen. Lochon mentions a still earlier (but lost) treatise on Bengali music called Tumburu nataka from which he quotes at length; it seems that the Shakto performative tradition which later flourished as Agomoni songs had its origin in the specific form of song and dance called Tumburu.

Further, We find twenty eight raags and seven taals in Bodu Chondidas's Shrikrishnokirton.

During the middle ages, the rise of Gouriyo Boishnob movement made exhaustive use of music in order to propagate the message of Gour and Nitai. Choitonyo himself is reputed to have authored Jagannatha Ashtakam, a beautiful song in Sanskrit in praise of Lord Jagannath.

Almost every other household in Bengal to this day has a custom of music learning.

The topics for contribution will include the following but will not be limited to the same:

Instrumental music across the ages. Durga puja and dhaak, Baul and ektara/dotara.

Folk Music. Bankim's reminiscence of a bhatiyali song on the Ganges in a moonlit night (in his biography of Ishwar Gupta) testifies about the core appeal of Bengali folk music for Bengali psyche. Baul music. Tusu, Bhadu, Jhumur, Bhawaiya, Gombhira, Brotogan.

Songs in folk performing arts. Jatra: Palagan.

Kothokota/narrative songs by Kothok Thakurs/Bengali rhapsodes .

Classical music. The survival of Bishnupuri Gharana.

Religious music. Boishnob kirton and Shakto devotional songs. Songs of Kali (Shyamashongeet) and Songs of Radha and Krishna.

Occasional songs: Shiber Gajon. Raash and Jhulon songs. Agomoni songs on the eve of Durgapujo.

The emergence of Kobigaan.

Toppa, Aakhrai, Half-Aakhrai, Panchali.

Rise of Nationalism and Bengali patriotic songs. Before Bankim's Vande Mataram and after.

The rise of writer-composers of late Victorian and modern period. Tagore, DL Roy, Nazrul.

The advent of Film music. Raichand Boral, Krishnachandra Dey, S D Burman, Hemanta, Shyamal Mitra. Singer actors. K L Saigal, Kanan Debi.

The golden age: Bengali film music of the Uttam-Suchitra era.

The ebb of film music in the 1990s. The rebirth of Bengali film music in the second half of 2000s. Contemporary Bengali film music.

Lyric of film music.

The musical diaspora. Bengali musicians, singers, composers, lyricists in Bollywood and abroad. R D Burman, Kishore Kumar and others.

Theatre and music. Songs of Bengali professional stage. Rise of IPTA and gonoshongeet (people's songs, communism-inspired). Songs in Bengali group theatre to this day.

Bengali Adhunik songs.

First Experiments with western band form. Mohiner Ghoraguli.

The rise and fall of (Kabir) Suman. Nachiketa, Anjan Dutt, Shilajit and other three-in-one (lyricist-singer-composer) performers of the 1990s. The last bow of left liberal sensibility in their works.

The postmodern shift and the contemporary scenario. The rise of Bangla Band and their distinct forms of lyric and music. Anindya, Chandril and Chandrabindu; Rupam Islam and Fossils; Sidhu and Cactus. Other bands.

Dissemination of music. Music commerce. Bengali music from the days of gramophone to the days of mp3. Technologies of music and studio system. Sound engineering.

Bengali music and politics. The case of George Biswas: Bratyojoner Ruddhoshongeet.

Bengali music in the digital age.

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 fieldnotes which are related to our theme. Any kind of creative/literary writing that concerns Bengali music is welcome in this issue; a priority may be given to historical fictions/plays/poetry concerning key musical maestros of Bengal, 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 with Bengali music, exploring the question of one's involvement with the social, cultural, literary, economic and political aspects of Bengali music. 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-in-Chief: Tamal Dasgupta

Editorial Board: Sourav Gupta

Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta

Joydeep Bhattacharya

Call for Papers for JBS Vol.3, No.2 (Kolkata issue)
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





Call for Papers (JBS Literature issue, Vol.3 No.1)

After the proud publication of our inaugural issue on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary nationalism in Bengal, and the consecutive issues respectively on Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema (Vol.1, No.2), Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre (Vol.2, No.1), Science and Technology in History: Bengali Perspectives (Vol.2, No.2), Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer reviewed academic interdisciplinary online journal (ISSN: 2277- 9426) meant for discussions into the history and culture of the Indic Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its fifth issue, on the theme of Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads(Vol.3, No.1), due to be published on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, 14 May 2014. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 30 April 2014.

Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads

The theme of this issue is centred on the interrelationship between the literature produced by the Bengalis (not necessarily written in Bengali alone) during a given historical period and the social, cultural and political ferments of that age. We argue that since antiquity, Bengal witnesses a number of intellectual, cultural and social ferments which have actively interacted with literature; here it may be pertinent to recall Tamal Dasgupta's theorisation of the interactions between history and literature from his article "Understanding Hi-story" in JBS inaugural issue:

The relationship between history and story (narrative/art/literature) works at multiple levels. Historical fiction in Bengal is well established as a genre that began with Bankim Chandra. Secondly, fictionalised history (different from historical fiction) is a popular format and just like popular science it offers documentary-fiction, and as a classic example of that we have Sailesh Dey's Ami Subhash Bolchi(This is Subhash Speaking). In recent times, Shankar's Ami Vivekananda Bolchi(This is Vivekananda Speaking) is a specimen that falls within this genre. Thirdly, history can be made by stories as well, so the novels of Bankim which created nationalist history, like Anandamathdid, constitutes another category; stories which gave birth to history. A similar example from abroad is the Russian novel What is to be Doneby Nikolai Chernyshevsky (Lenin, who was a lifelong admirer of Chernyshevsky, took the title of his eponymous history-making treatise from this novel). Another category, the fourth one includes the plethora of narratives and legends and stories/songs/poems which accompanied the events of revolutionary nationalism, for instance Sharatchandra's Pother Dabi(The Demand of the Path), and the revolutionary songs and poems of Nazrul Islam (both the writers were actively involved with the revolutionaries); later on, similar narratives were made to describe the continuity, legacy and heritage of the revolutionary nationalist movement as inherited by the communist party.

Thus the relationship between literature and movements during a given historical period is dynamic, multi-faceted and interactive. The relationship is never one way, and literature is never simply a reflection of social, cultural and political movements: literature is sometimes the most significant determinant of those movements.

The important topics for contribution will include the following (but will not be exclusively limited to the same):

Ancient times to the early middle ages and the flourish of literature in Bengal. Sanskrit and Prakrit literature produced in Bengal and the Indic religious and social ferments. Chorjapod and Buddhism;the seeds of tantra, shakti, mystical cults of baul-sahajiya etc.

Jayadeva's Gitgovinda and Vaishnavism. Jayadeva as an essentially Bengali poet whose Gitgovinda celebrates Radha-idea which is in tune with Bengal, not with the Jagannath worship of Orissa (for historical evidences of Jayadeva as a Bengali poet, one may refer to P K Dasgupta's excellent treatise, Jayadeva and Some of His Contemporaries).

Chandidas's ShriKrishnaKirtan. The flourish of Vaishnav literature in the middle ages and Chaitanya movement.

Social engineering of the middle ages and Mongol Kabyo.

Shakto literature and the flourish of Shakti worship: from late middle ages to the modern period; beginning of Durga Puja and Agomoni songs. Shyama songs and Kali puja.

Bengal Renaissance and literature.

Registers of popular ferments: literature of Bot tola.

Hindu Revival and literature: Bankim Chandra and others.

Literature celebrating the glorious past of Bengal, and Bengali nationalism.

Literature and Ognijug.

Literature and the communist and naxalite movements.

Literature and the refugees; registering the trauma of the Hindus uprooted from East Bengal, the experiences of Noakhali, Marichjhapi and post-independence Bangladesh. Taslima Nasrin's Lajja, Amitav Ghosh's Hungry Tides.

The Eurocentric turn of modern and postmodern Bengali literature (Buddhadeb Basu wanted to emphasise that Bengal was culturally a province of Europe) and the dominant left-liberal-universalist milieu of the bhadralok-comprador classes. Globalisation and contemporary Bengali literature.

Group theatre movement and Bengali theatrical literature.

The Hindu response to Eurocentrism: The non-communist, non-materialistic movements of literature, most notably the works of Kamal Kumar Majumdar.

Poetry and politics in Bengal.

Literature and the overturning of the communist regime: Bratyo Basu's plays, Joy Goswami's poetry and Kabir Suman's songs.

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 double 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 the relationship between Bengalis and social, cultural and political movements is welcome in this issue; a priority may be given to historical and political 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 the experiences in one's creative/literary/artistic field/profession, exploring the question of a writer's involvement with social, cultural and political movements. 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 either 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 andTerms and Conditionsfor further details at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.

Editor: Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta

Editorial Board: Tamal Dasgupta (founder-editor), Sourav Gupta, Joydeep Bhattacharya, Saptarshi Mallick.

CALL FOR PAPERS (JBS Science and Technology issue, Vol.2, No.2):

After the proud publication of our inaugural issue on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary nationalism in Bengal, and the consecutive issues respectively on Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema (Vol.1, No.2) and Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre (Vol.2, No.1), Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer reviewed academic interdisciplinary online journal (ISSN: 2277- 9426) meant for discussions into the history and culture of the Indic Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for its fourth issue (Vol.2, No.2) on the theme of Science and Technology in History: Bengali Perspectives, due to be published on the occasion of Durga Pujo, 2013. The final date for submission of article/review/workshop is 30 September 2013.　


Science and Technology in History: Bengali Perspectives

The important topics for contribution will include the following (but will not be exclusively limited to the same):
Ancient times to the early middle ages and the flourish of science and technology in the Eastern Indic civilizations of which Bengal was the prominent seat:

The flourish of Ayurveda and pharmaceutical sciences.

Civil Engineering, architecture and draftsmanship.

Metallurgy, and other branches of Inorganic chemistry.

Sculptural technology, woodcraft, terracotta, different forms of handicraft.

Textile technology.

Navigation.

Irrigation and other forms of water management.

Agriculture, Fishing technology, Veterinary sciences, and other Biological sciences.

Physical sciences.

Linguistics, grammar and philology.

Military technology.


The general setback suffered by the Indic science and technology in the middle ages by Islamic invasion (the destruction of Nalanda University immediately coming to mind); later, the appropriation of the native science and technology by the Islamic rulers.


The British colonization. British destruction of native knowledge and technology, immediately coming to mind is the brutal annihilation of superior textile technology of Bengal by cutting out the thumbs of Bengali muslin weavers. Also, the systematic uprooting of Ayurveda by encouragement given to Western system of medicine.

Bengalis' encounters with western science and technology.

Asiatic society and the flourish of philology and archeology.

The establishment of Medical College in Calcutta in 1835, and Bengal Engineering College at Shibpur in 1856.

Bengal renaissance, the nationalist awakening and the flourish of science and technology in Bengal. Bankim Chandra's tome of writings on modern science.

Mahendralal Sarkar's establishment of Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. Presidency College and Calcutta University. The great scientists during Bengal Renaissance: J.C. Bose and others.

The spirit of Hindu Revival in A.P.C. Ray's History of Hindu Chemistry. Tagore's exchange with A.P.C. Ray regarding the chemist-turned-litterateur Rajshekhar Basu (whose brother Girindrashekhar was the first Freudian psychoanalyst in the entire non-Western world) exhibiting the tremendous amount of talent which went into the cultivation of science and technology in Bengal.

Developments in Printing technology. Upendrakishore (U. Ray and Sons) as a case study.

Bengali nationalism and Bengal Chemicals of A.P.C. Ray.

Ognijug and the flourish of science and technology in an overall atmosphere of nationalism.

Establishment of Bengal Technical Institute in 1906 and its later merger with National Council of Education in 1910, a merger that gave birth to what is known today as the Jadavpur University. The contribution of Jadavpur University towards advancements in science, engineering and technology.

The sustained flourish of Calcutta University's Science Colleges.
The phenomenal, original contributions of Satyen Bose, Prasanta Mahalanobis, Meghnad Saha and other such luminaries.
Interactions and exchanges: science and technology, and other disciplines. Science and literature, Bengali science fictions. Popular Science. Science and philosophy. Science and art and culture. Technology and Bengali cinema (particularly early Bengali cinema, prior to the left-IPTA take-over of Bengali cultural scenario; for a brief idea of the technological superiority of early Bengali cinema one may refer to Tamal Dasgupta's article in the JBS cinema issue).


Post-Independence to the present. The stagnation. The flight of talents. Bengali bhadralok fascination with Joint Entrance Examination (for admissions into Medical and Engineering). Left domination and the degeneration of science and technology in Bengal, immediately coming to mind the fate of Doctor Subhash Mukhopadhyay (on the basis of whose tragic but nevertheless pioneering life, Tapan Sinha made the movie Ek Doctor Ki Maut). The paradox of largely left dominated so-called science movements (so-called rationalist movements) in Bengal which could not arrest, but perhaps further fueled the degeneration and decline of the dilapidated condition of cultivation of science in Bengal that increasingly embraced mediocrity; the vulgar Marxist, mechanically materialist outlook of such movements, so aptly touched upon in Nabarun Bhattacharya's Herbert.　


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 double 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 science and technology related books, texts and artworks (new and old alike). 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 writing that concerns the relationship between Bengalis and science is welcome for this issue; a priority may be given to science fiction stories, 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 the experiences in one's particular field/profession, exploring the question of the Bengalis' involvement with science and technology. 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 either 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 for further details at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.

Editor: Tamal Dasgupta

Editorial Board: Sourav Gupta, Rishi Ghosh, Nirvik Banerjee.

For this science and technology issue of JBS, Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta will be the issue editor.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Note: This was the CFP for the Bengali Theatre issue (JBS Vol.2 No.1).

After the proud publication of our first issue on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary nationalism in Bengal, and the second issue on Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema, Journal of Bengali Studies (JBS), a peer reviewed academic interdisciplinary online journal (ISSN: 2277- 9426) meant for discussions into the history and culture of the Indic Bengali people, is happy to announce the Call for Papers for its third issue (Vol.2, No.1) on Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre, due to be published on the occasion of Boshonto Ponchomi, i.e. Saraswai Pujo, 15 February 2013. The final date for submission of article/review/creative workshop is 1 February 2013.
　
Owing to certain unavoidable circumstances, the previously announced CFP titled Bengalis and Power has been temporarily withdrawn, we deeply regret this decision and JBS pledges to return to it in future.
　
Call For Papers
Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre

"The really conspicuous talent for histrionic art possessed by the Bengali, cannot be seen to better advantage than in this drama."
-The Englishman (1873)

7th December 1872 was a historic day for Bengali Theatre as well as the socio-cultural spectrum of India as the nation witnessed the inception of a public theatre with the staging of Nildorpon. It was the first time that a public space was thrown wide open to the common masses in lieu of ticket and not on the basis of class, caste, creed, race, religion or gender. Every inhabitant of Bengal was welcome in the playhouse, which would now be the site of mass agitation, nationalist revolutionary awakening and cultural-spiritual cultivation in the coming decades.
Dinabandhu Mitra’s Nildorpon (translated by Michael Madhusudan Dutt as Indigo Mirror) signaled a new herald of nationalism that swept the Bengali stage to evolve into a potent weapon of protest against the British colonialism. The legacy of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay in Bengali literature was carried on by the likes of the "Shakespeare of India", Girish Chandra Ghosh who pioneered modern play writing in Bengali. Soon, the Bengali stage acquired importance beyond socio-economic and cultural boundaries as spiritual leaders like Ramakrishna Paramhamsa patronized it and the British rulers despised it by drafting one coercive legislation after another.
The immortal words of Ramkrishna,"Theatre e lokshikkhe hoi" (Theatre provides mass enlightenment) catapult theatre from the mud of rich man’s entertainment and forced prostitution of actresses like Binodini by patrons to an aesthetic art form with an immense potential to influence people, that was evident in case of Binodini playing Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Girish Ghosh's theatre. As time progressed, better technology, innovation and indigenous features and an imminent Bengaliness characterized Bengali theatre with the likes of Notosurjo Ahindra Choudhury and Natyacharjo Sisir Kumar Bhaduri coming to the forefront. Tagore's contribution to Bengali theatre was noteworthy too.
During the 1940s, with the advent of Leftist ideology in theatre, nationalism took a back-seat; anti imperial struggle was displaced and sabotaged under the name of class struggle in renowned plays like Nobanno. IPTA became the buzzword and Bengali theatre appeared in new avatars like Gononatyo, Nobonatyo and finally to the present form of Group Theatre. It has changed parallel to the change in Bengali society, values, norms, ideologies.
The present issue would like to throw open arguments, broadly regarding the change in Bengali theatre from its glorious nationalistic beginnings to the domination of leftist ideology and to what extent this has affected Bengali theatre and its environment.
The topics for contribution will include the following sub-themes but will not be exclusively limited to the same:

Sub themes
1. Bengali theatre and society.
2. Nationalist/Revolutionary awakening & Bengali theatre.
3. Bengali drama and Bengali language, culture, politics and history.
4. Bengali literature and Bengali theatre: Bankim, Sharat, Tagore et al.
5. Economics, publicity and stagecraft of Bengali theatre.
6. Issues & subjects of Bengali theatre.
7. Bengali influence on Indian and world theatre (on the plays in languages other than Bengali).
8. Leftist ideology in Bengali theatre.
9. The legendary commercial-popular theatre of Bengal. Group theatre movement.
10. Contemporary Bengali theatre & their polyphonic voices.
11. Women in Bengali theatre.
12. The relation of Bengali theatre to the traditional performing arts of Bengal, like dance, Jatra, Kobigaan etc.
(the authors are encouraged to extend beyond the given theme and sub themes)
　
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 double 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 old and new plays alike, as well as reviews of theatre related books, new and old alike.
From our Cinema issue, we have started a section (in addition to articles and reviews) called Creative Workshop: Theory in Practice. This section features creative writings which are related to our theme. Any kind of creative writing that concerns the relationship between Bengalis and Theatre is welcome for this issue; a priority may be given to maiden theatre scripts, 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 touch our theme and be relevant to the CFP; for example, a meta-theatrical play about Bengalis and theatre (immediately coming to mind is Utpal Dutt's Tiner Toloyar) would be very much welcome. So will be any play that explores the question of Bengaliness. 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 either be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to editorbengalistudies@gmail.com, editjbs@gmail.com and shoptodina@gmail.com.
Before submission, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions for further details at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/. For further ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.
Editor: Tamal Dasgupta
Editorial Board: Sourav Gupta , Rishi Ghosh, Sandeep Chatterjee, Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta, Sujay Chatterjee, Amit Shankar Saha.

For this Theatre issue of JBS, Sourav Gupta (+919938902001) and Rishi Ghosh (+919432862316) will be Executive Editors.

The following is the joint CFP that was announed for two issues, Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema and Bengalis and Power. The latter (Bengalis and Power) has been temporarily withdrawn, but JBS pledges to return to it in future.

Call For Papers

Announcement: The deadline for the monsoon issue (Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema) is extended till 20 July 2012. The monsoon issue will now be published on the occassion of Janmashtami.

After publishing the inaugural issue on Ognijug (the age of revolutionary nationalism), Journal of Bengali Studies -an online interdisciplinary academic journal devoted to scholarly nationalistic queries into the history and culture of the Bengali people- is pleased to announce the joint Call for Papers for its Monsoon and Autumn Issues.

　

Monsoon issue

The theme of the Monsoon issue of Journal of Bengali Studies Vol.1 No.2, due to be published on the occasion of Rathajatra is Bengali Cinema and the important topics for contribution will include the following (but will not be exclusively limited to the same):
Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema
First instances of romancing the moving images in Kolkata. Hiralal Sen. The emergence of Tollygunge film industry. Silent movies. Talkies.

The absence of a Bengali capitalist class who could act as steady producers, and the resultant problematics in film production.

Theatricality in acting: the initial "stage". The Hollywood influence (it was the first industry outside Hollywood to be called in its image as Tollywood, and that started a trend of naming Indian film industries after the American industry).

Understatement in acting for which Bengali movie industry was renowned since the days of Pramathesh Barua.

Generic types: historical, mythological, social, romantic, comic, detective/thriller/horror movies. Stalwarts from different acting genres: Durgadas/Pramathesh/Uttam Kumar, and Kanan Debi/Suchitra Sen as romatic matinee idols, Chhabi Biswas/Kamal Mitra as patriarchs, Tulsi Chakraborty/Bhanu Banerjee as "comedians", Dhiraj Bhattacharya/Bikash Roy as "villains". Bengali directors, musicians, lyricists, technologists, actors/actresses and and other notable figures involved with the film industry (including film journalists) preceding, during and after the so-called golden era .

The division between so-called art and commercial films. Bengali "art" cinema, from Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak to Rituporno Ghosh.

Interactions with world cinema.

Interactions with Bengali stage (Commercial theatre/IPTA/Group Theatre). Stalwarts of theatre enriching Bengali film industry.

Boi as a synonym of films. Both-way Interactions with Bengali litearture/Indian and world literature. Bengali writers into movie-directing (e.g. Premendra Mitra) and story/script writing (e.g. Sharadindu Mukhopadhyay in Bombay). Films influencing popular and serious literature, theatre and other art forms of Bengal.

Film music. The deep fondness for songs in films rooted in the Indian/Bengali psyche (as Satyajit Ray commented once). Film music's interactions with non-film music, from Tagore to Bangla bands.

Interactions with television.

Bollywood influence since 1960s and 1970s.

Bangladeshi, Bhojpuri, Oriya influences on Bengali cinema in late 1980s and 1990s, (South Indian influences since 1990s and 2000s) and the evolution of "awkward" movies into "smart" ones (owing to South Indian influences?). Contemporary Bengali movies.

Non-Bengali components of Bengali cinema: films made in Bengal where either the language or crew and cast may not be Bengali, or both the language and cast and crew may not be Bengali. (Early examples: Hindi films of New Theatres. Contemporary examples are English, Hindi, South Indian and cross-over movies made or partly made in Bengal). Bengalis in other film industries, most notably, the Bengali relationship with the Bombay film industry. Bengalis in Direction, script writing, acting, music, art direction etc in Bollywood.


History of Bengali film criticism/ film journalism/film magazines.

Film club movements (since Chidananda Dasgupta). Academic study of films. Film schools: Film Studies in Jadavpur University, SRFTI.

The decline of Bengali film industry during 1970s, 80s, and 90s. The contemporary revival (to some extent owing to Southern influence and capital).

Imaginative failure as well as financial failure of Bengali films.

Is the inability of Bengali film industry to produce large canvas, big budget blockbuster movies (which Hollywood and Hindi film industry are capable of producing), apart from the primary factor of the obvious lack of funds required to make such films, also attributable to an imaginative failure? Bengalis are not usually known for a failure of imagination. It is commonly believed that E.T. script was stolen from Satyajit Ray. That Tollygunge could not make epic scale movies -unarguably first and foremost because of lack of funds, and general poverty of infrastructure and poor quality of directors/writers/actors/technical men which is an obvious feature of any cash stripped indusrty (as brain drain will inevitably occur) - may also be due to an imaginative failure of the Bengalis. Had the Bengalis been too much sloppily melodramatic, narrowly idealistic, and hopelessly romance oriented, and so could only make commercial movies with exaggerated sentimentalism (Golden era inlcuded) and so called art films which displayed high voltage, intensely personal (drawing room or outdoor) middle class drama?

　

The overall historical journey and contemporary experience of the Bengali people as reflected in cimena.

　

Upper limit of words in article: 10000 words maximum, inclusive of all components. No lower limit of words, the authors are free to use their discretions. Upper limit of words in review: 2000 words. Final date of submission: 5 June, 2012. For further details about submission and terms and conditions, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.

　

　

Autumn Issue

The theme of the Autumn issue of Journal of Bengali Studies Vol.1 No.3, due to be published on the occasion of Durgapujo is Bengalis and Power. The important topics for contribution will include the following (but will not be exclusively limited to the same):
Bengalis and Power: Bengalis' exercise in power.
How the Bengalis, a people of Eastern Indian origins have negotiated with power (in all the communal/social/political/military/philosophical senses of the term), and how knowledge about power (keeping in tune with knowledge/power paradigm given by Michel Foucault) is present in the various discourses of the Bengali people throughout their history. Collaboration is also a form of negotiation with power.

How ideologies are developed to shroud the real workings of power, liberalism and (Bengali) left-wing politics being cases in point.

This issue will focus on the indigenous eastern Indic attempts (including those of the precursors of the modern day Bengalis, e.g. the Gangaridaes) in appropriating and expropriating power. Military power, financial power (trade and commerce), political power (state formation, community formation) and cultural power (Bhakti movement for instance) will be among the Bengali exercises in power which we shall discuss. Our points of deiscussions will begin from the ancient Hindu texts (including the Vedas), the epic references of Ramayana and Mahabharata, the Puranas, and the narratives and histories which recorded the eastern indic attempts in exercising power. Needless to say, the forefathers of the modern Bengali people were not identified as Bengalis as such, so for the purpose of this paper, we shall focus on the geographical community of eastern India (across historical periods) which has been home to the precursors of the modern day Bengalis, but which may not conform to the modern day geographical boundaries. for instance, people inhabiting regions within modern day Orissa, Bihar and Assam in historical times can come within our discussions if they can be shown to share some concrete Bengali connection (for instance, the Ganga dynasty of Orissa was strongly connected to Southern Bengal, and probably was founded by bengali mahishyas).
We shall discuss the power of the feminine: patriarchal appropriations, women's assertions and aspirations across the history of the Bengali people.

We shall analyse the power of the castes, clans and communities.
Political Power/State Formation/Military Power:

We shall trace a historical journey of bengali exercise in political power from the ancient texts of Ramayan and Mahabharat. We shall begin with the mentions of Anga Banga Kalinga Pundra and Suhma in East India. The Magadh empire, Tamralipta and Gangaridae, the Buddhist emergence and international missionary activities, Vijay Singha's conquest of Lanka, and other overseas colonizations. The Buddhist knowledge hubs and ancient universities of East india. Sasanka and rise of Karnasubarna. Anti-Buddhist Brahminical reaction. Fall of Sasanka and the ensuing period of anarchy, restoration of order with Buddhist Pal (Pala) dynasty. The rebellion of the Koibortos and their state formation. The last Pal king dying in battle while defending Nalanda university against the invading army of Bakhtiyar Khilji.
Sen (Sena) Dynasty and social experimentation and the artificial caste hierarchy generated in Bengal. Brahmin kayastha settler-colonization of Bengal.

The Islamic invasion. Bengali resistances. Ganesh. The resistances of Prataditya, Sitaram, Dakkhin Ray, Malla Kings of Bankura, the Orissan Ganga dynasty's resistance in South Bengal (Medinipur and 24 Parganas). Collaboration of upper castes with Islamic power.

Advent of Europen powers. Bengali collaboration and resistances. Independence struggle. Post-Independence degeneration.

Cultural Power/Community Formation/Philosophical Power/Knowledge:



Sankhya Darshan to Buddhism and Jainsim. Tantra and Buddhism. Shaiva and Shakta sects and shakti peeths and ancient (non-capitalist, pre-modern) imagined communities. Vaishnav movement. Discourses of cultural revival during renaissance from Rammohan onwards. Brahmo movement. Hindu Revival. Bankim on Bahubal and the Bengalis. Revolutuionary organizations and freedom struggle. Communist Party/Congress as Bengali communities. The decline in nationalism since 1940s, and the generally poor intellectual and political and cultural capacity of existing nationalist forces of Bengal post 1950s.

Financial Power (or the lack of it!):

The ancient international and all-India trade. Tamralipta port. Vaishyas. Buddhist patronage.

Decline in sea-trade and Bengali degeneration. The anti-merchant policies of Sen dynasty and the further degeneration in Bengali economy. The sporadic exceptions till date notwithstanding, the general economic hopelessness prevailing in Bengal.

Our discussions of the Bengali experience of power across historical times will include different proto-nationalist (in pre-modern times) exercises of power, as well as the modern day negotiations with power.

　

The final date for submission of article and review: 30 September 2012. Upper limit of words in article: 10000 words maximum, inclusive of all components. No lower limit of words, the authors are free to use their discretions. Upper limit of words in review: 2000 words. For further details about submission and terms and conditions, please see our Submission Guidelines and Terms and Conditions at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.
　
General details about submissions to Journal of Bengali Studies:
Journal of Bengali Studies is published in English. A Contribution should consistently follow any one of these three scholarly styles of citation: MLA style, Chicago Manual of Style and APA style. Contributions, with notes and bibliography, should be double spaced, should not be more than 10000 words (in case of reviews, 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; for the Monsoon issue on Bengali Cinema we accept reviews of old and new films alike, as well as reviews of film related books, new and old alike) and should either be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to 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 ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.

Editor: Tamal Dasgupta

This was the CFP for the inaugural issue of JBS published on 4 February 2012.


Our guiding principle is that a resourceful Bengali identity is an indispensable precondition for a strong India.

Our preliminary endeavour will be to pioneer and found an academic discipline of Bengali Studies, which to the best of our knowledge doesn't exist yet. As the term suggests, Bengali Studies as an interdisciplinary subject will initiate a discussion on the overall history and culture of the Bengali people whose late twentieth century decline can be located into the context of a loss of sense of community/identity in an atmosphere dominated largely by various offshoots of Western liberalism and vulgar Marxist doctrines.

The first issue is going to be an interdisciplinary retrospection and revaluation of our Armed Freedom Struggle/Revolutionary Nationalist Movement of early twentieth century, the period which is commonly called the age of fire (ognijug). In spite of its prominent place inthe history of worldwide anti-colonial struggles, today it is a largely forgotten and neglected phenomenon, while one can tentatively argue that this movement's failure can be one of the factors behind the incomplete transfer of power in 1947.

The important topics for contribution are:

• The cultural revivalism of late nineteenth century: a movement away from the Eurocentrism/Enlightenment-derived rationalism, though paradoxically Nationalism was largely an occidental invention. New Brahmo movement under Keshub Chunder Sen and the rediscovery of Vaishnav Bhakti movement. Hindu revival and Bankimchandra. The figure of Rani Rashmoni and founding of Dakshineshwar temple. Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Nivedita.

• The religious translating into the political. Hindu Mela. Pratapaditya Utsav. Organization of Swadeshi political groups. Anushilan Samity. Partition of Bengal and the peak of Swadeshi movement. The first sparks of Revolutionary activities. Khudiram to Rashbehari.

• The middle stage of Revolutionary Nationalism: from Bagha Jatin to Benoy-Badal-Dinesh and Surjo Sen .

• The fag end: Subhash Chandra Bose.

• The literature, music, theatre,, films and the general culture inspired by and corresponding to Revolutionary Nationalism.

• The International and global dimensions. The networks established with foreign revolutionary nationalists: Irish, Japanese, German connections. Connection with Russia: M N Roy's overseas assignment and how the process of converting Indian nationalists into communist internationalists began.

• How the revolutionary movement fell into decline. The limitations of a largely upper caste, middle class dominated movement. The failure to found a Bengali bourgeois class (traditional absence of a consolidated bourgeois class in Bengal can be traced back historically to the Sen attempt to demote the mercantile classes and their eventual weakening after the decline of Buddhism). The Govt designed hostilities this movement faced. The Muslim question. The communist conversions inside British prisons and the role of the imperial government. Communists' collaboration with the British.

• The challenges faced by the historiography of Revolutionary Nationalism. Ideological impediments for documentation, academic study and analysis of Revolutionary Nationalism. The official policies of successive Central Governments and Bengal governments. The role of the Bhadralok class then and now.

The critiques of Enlightenment derived universal-liberal-secular humanisms and ideologies of rationality (anthropocentric hubris, supremacy of reason and a denial of the concept of dharma and well as the concept of community/communal) might be useful in studying the attacks against the concepts of Bengali/Indian/Hindu identities from various liberal and vulgar Marxist quarters.
The contributions may be informed by several indigenous notions of cultural identity/cultural resistance/swajatya/community as well as various western theoretical schools regarding nationalism and cultural identity ( for instance, Raymond Williams on Welsh Nationalism, Terry Eagleton on Irish Catholic Nationalism, Walter Benjamin on Judaism).

The journal will be published in English. Contributions should ideally follow MLA format. Contributions, with notes and bibliography, should not be more than 10000 words (in case of book reviews, 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) and should either be in MS Word, Open Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to both shoptodina@gmail.com (note: the id is shoptodina) and bengalistudies@gmail.com . The last date of submission: 23 December, 2011. For detailed information, please see our guidelines for submission and terms and conditions on our website. For further ideas about the objectives of our journal, please see the JBS Manifesto on our site.

Editor: Tamal Dasgupta