National Seminar on

Interdisciplinarity in Literary Studies

21-22 February 2025

 

Interdisciplinarity has long shaped knowledge systems, merging diverse disciplines to generate transformative insights. A prime example is William Gilbert’s De Magnete (1600), where physics and astronomy converge to theorize magnetism. However, only in the twentieth century interdisciplinarity gained formal recognition through a seminar organised in 1970 by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) in Nice, France, primarily emphasizing the natural and the human sciences.

 

Despite historical resistance, literary studies now increasingly engages itself with methodologies from sociology, ecology, medicine, and digital media. Interdisciplinarity transcends disciplinary silos, integrating the objective frameworks of the human sciences with the subjective interpretive focus of the humanities. This convergence fosters new insights into the human condition, as seen in works like Karen Barad’s Meeting the Universe Halfway (2007), blending quantum physics with philosophy, and studies in affect theory, ecological interactions, and posthumanism.

 

In literary studies, interdisciplinarity opens pathways into eco-literature, medical humanities, migration narratives, and the digital humanities, redefining traditional analytical boundaries. This seminar invites critical reflections on the paradigms and practices of interdisciplinarity. Key questions include: How do interdisciplinary methods balance disciplinary specificity with integration? How does interdisciplinarity reshape our understanding of migration, ecological crises, or precarity?

 

By fostering dialogue across fields, this seminar seeks to advance interdisciplinarity as a transformative framework for exploring literature and the humanities in relation to natural and social sciences. It envisions an academic exchange that encourages innovation and collaboration, offering fresh insights into the complexities of human experience.

 

Submissions are encouraged on the following topics, but not limited to:

• Theoretical paradigms for interdisciplinary humanities

• Inter/multi/transdisciplinarity as methodological practices

• Critical interdisciplinarity in the humanities

• The ‘human’ in digital humanities

• Text and History

• Medical and legal humanities

• Eco-literature and the sciences of space

• Migration/refugee studies and dislocation narratives

• Conflict-zone narratives and disaster narratives

• Popular, Mass Culture and Literature

• Oral Literature and Culture

• Literature, Science, Space and Nature

• Cultural Values and Knowledge class

 

Abstract Submission Guidelines:

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Format: MS Word Document (Please name your document as: Your Full Name_Title of the Abstract.

Example: Ajit Kumar Kullu_Interdisciplinarity in Literary Studies)

Font: Times New Roman

Font Size:  12

Space: One-and-half

Word Limit: 200

Submission must include the name, address, and details of the presenter(s)' institutional affiliation.

 

Selected papers from the Seminar will be published in the forthcoming issue of Sambalpur Studies in Literatures and Cultures (SSLC) (ISSN: 2231-5616), the department's peer-reviewed journal. Website: https://www.sambalpurslc.com

 

Link for Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQpcHHq67rULNTlLLbWaZ81nIUWELE2LYzJRWOCwuEaSShTg/viewform?usp=pp_url

 

Last Date for Submission of Abstracts: 10.02.2025

 

Registration Fee: ₹1500/-

PhD Research Scholars: ₹750/-

For Registered PhD Scholars of Sambalpur University without fellowship/paid assignments: ₹500/-

For Students of the Department: ₹100/-

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(There is no provision for accommodation. The participants will be provided with lunch and tea. No TA/DA will be paid for attending the Seminar.)

 

Bank Account Details

Name of the Account: Sambalpur Studies in Literatures and Cultures (SSLC)

Account No. 38192098786

Bank and Branch: SBI Jyoti Vihar

 

Contact Details:

Dr Ajit Kumar Kullu

Director, National Seminar

P.G. Department of English, Sambalpur University

Jyoti Vihar, Burla - 768019

Mobile No. 7978839403/Email: ajitkumarkullu@suniv.ac.in