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ACADEMIC EVENTS
Pre-Academic Congress Event: Movie Screenings

Under the umbrella of the much awaited Academic Congress, several movies were screened on the subject of homosexuality. With the criminilisation of this sexual orientation, these movies initiated severe debate and deliberation towards the socio-political antagonism towards homosexuals. The screenings included a diverse set of movies, European and American- Boys Don’t Cry (1999) , Milk (2008), and Blue is the Warmest Color (2013). While these movies individually raised question on transgendered identities, the need for political rights for homosexuals and the acceptance of lesbian love, they fundamentally demanded a sensitisation of the society towards seeing homosexuality as equally ‘normal’ as heterosexuality. They blatantly attacked the society’s psyche which is perceives homosexuality as a sin, as an act that is against nature and is constantly threatened by it. Thus the movies effectively instigate their audience to scrutinise these views and start acknowledging homosexuality as normal and not a disease.
Pre-Academic Congress Event: 'Perspectives in Art'

Providing an insight into the evolving perspective regarding art, student paper presentations by Gautami Reddy, Natalia Khanijo and Adrita Mukherjee were held by the English Department on 25 February 2014. The papers focussed on Modern Art, with particular emphasis on Impressionism and Expressionism. The paper presentations explored the ideas ranging from the subject of paintings shifting from the indoors to the outdoors with the advent of Impressionism and the obsession of Impressionist artists with light to the themes of paintings changing from mere depictions of scenes in the Bible or mythical figures (as during the Renaissance) to a need to channel one’s inner emotions and feelings, the artist as a social subject and the increasing attempts by Expressionist artists to incorporate 3D into the 2D as well as their emphasis on space and time. A series of paintings by Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Emil Nolde, Edvard Munch and Francis Bacon were projected on the screen in order to emphasise the rapidly changing perspectives in art. The presentation concluded with the audience being asked to react to a number of paintings and photographs (including several photographs of Yves Klein’s “Anthropometrie” series), to emphasize on the fact that the art and perception of art is entirely subjective.
Pre-Academic Congress Event: ‘The One Dimensional Woman and the Feminization of Labour’



Aimed at giving a new perspective to feminism, a talk by Dr Nandini Chandra, Assistant Professor at the English Department of the University of Delhi, was held on 27 February on ‘The One Dimensional Woman’ that focussed on the themes explored by Nina Powers in her book by the same name. Dr. Chandra’s arguments about feminism chiefly revolved around the topics- ‘the feminization of work’ and ‘the labourization of women’ and the way te capitalist culture has affected feminism. Quoting from important Hindi texts like 'Naukar ki Kammez' , she expressed the power dynamics that earlier worked , and still prevail in the bourgeois Indian families. The books depict domestic violence as a display of authority of the husband over his wife. In a society that exploits both men and women, she discussed how men are counted as 'living labours', with specified working hours and holidays while the women are treated no more than 'dead labours', machines that have to work endlessly.
Pre-Academic Congress Event: ‘A Raag of One’s Own’



‘A Raag of One’s Own: The Complex Play of Gendered Identities in Hindustani Classical Music’ was aimed at exploring the discord between the middle-class ideas of respectability century. Held on 28 February 2014, second-year students from the English Department, under the moderation of Mr. Kanav Gupta, presented papers on Hindustani music aesthetics, specifically for women artists, in the 19th century and the evolving position of ‘singing women’ in a seemingly unbiased cultural sphere through the analysis of two primary texts, The Music Room by Namita Devidayal, and Raga ‘n Josh by Sheila Dhar. Mr. Kanav Gupta concluded the session with a round of demonstrations from live concert recordings, exploring what he called the space for impersonation which is integral to the performance of Hindustani music.
JABBERWOCKY TUNES
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