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FSLE-India Kerala Conference 2018

FSLE-India & Amrita Vishva Vidyapeetham, Kollam, Kerala jointly organize

International Conference

on

Ecology & Culture

Ecological and Cultural Cognizance: A Boulevard of Sustainable Amiability

December 15-17, 2018

Venue: Amrita Vishva Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kollam, Kerala

About Amrita

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary research academia that is accredited ‘A’ by NAAC and is ranked 8th Best University in India by NIRF. Amrita is spread across five campuses in three states of India – Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with the headquarters at Ettimadai, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham continuously collaborates with top US universities including Ivy league universities and top European universities for regular student exchange programs and has emerged as one of the fastest growing institutions of higher learning in India. The institution is managed by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math.

 

About FSLE-India (the Foundation for the Study of Literature and Environment, India)

FSLE-India is an International open academic forum for creative interaction among intellectuals, academicians, environmental activists, naturalists, nature-lovers, researchers and those who are involved and earnestly dedicated to these issues and are receptive and undogmatic to one another’s individuality and their standpoints. It intends to amalgamate two relevant issues Gender and Human Rights with Literature and Environment primarily initiated by Rishikesh Kumar Singh what he calls it the LEGH Movement (Literature, Environment, Gender and Human Rights). This is the first venture of its kind where all the four issues are juxtaposed together. This specialty makes this movement relevant. One of the primary objectives of the organization includes promotion of research in the field of Literature, Environment and Human Rights, promotion of the idea of Sustainable Development, conducting seminars, workshops, symposiums in different states, propounding theories based on Field visits and empirical researches and also to promote these issues through its Theatre Society, staging and performing for the common people.

 

Concept Note:

Has man drifted away from an Eco-centric to an anthropocentric world, thereby distorting the Dharma of existence? This International Conference, “Ecological and Cultural Cognizance: A Boulevard of Sustainable Amiability,” is an attempt to review, reconstruct and re-harmonise the equation of Nature, Man and Culture — to help chart out a strong path for an organic and sustainable future for man on this planet. When we speak of ‘ecological cognizance’ what is inevitable is the consciousness of our indigenous traditions: the spiritual, religious and cultural.  This can help drive towards a future where science, technology and development go hand in hand for ecological sustainability.

In academics, ‘eco-criticism’ still has an impression of an entrant, but as a literary movement, its development has been gradual and imperceptible. However, this movement has picked up a rapid pace in the United States, resulting in organisations like Association for the Study of Literature & Environment (ASLE), in 1992.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus & FSLE – India are happy to come together to explore Ecological Cognizance across various fields of study in this International Conference on Ecology & Culture (ICEC). The study of indigenous cultures and oral traditions, as well as reclaiming and preserving these cultures and traditions, provide a starting point towards a possible solution to the ecological crisis of the day. Ecological consciousness could not have been better encapsulated than in the Sanskrit mantra Tat Tvam Asi, which proclaims the age-old awareness of the unity of all things.  A verse which reads,

 

“Dasha-kūpa-samā-vāpī, Dasha vāpī-samo hrada,

                                Dasha hrada-samah putra, Dasha putra-samo drumah”

 

(meaning, “a pond equals ten wells; a reservoir, ten ponds.  A progeny equals ten reservoirs, and a tree equals ten progenies.), underlines the ecological philosophy in ancient traditions.

Nothing in creation is less important, is what every element of myth and landscape, be it the Oriental or the Occidental, the Colonial or any other, cry out.  In recent times association of Nature with woman has taken us to various constructs of ‘Deep Ecology’.  The Eco-critics too rise to expose the “fissures of Race, Gender and Class” in Environmentalism. The way the world of man is decapitated today, necessitates a paradigm shift in thought process across all individuals, organisations, governments, institutions and nations – all those who are in a position of power to tilt the windmills.  Environmental crises of gigantic proportions have been triggered by man.  And unless some radical approach is envisaged, it is a matter of time that this blue/green planet gets hurled towards a sure-footed man-made disaster.

Can there be a collective search for paradigms and pathways towards a world that is sustainable, equitable and just?  How can such frameworks and visions build on an existing heritage of ideas and world-views and cultures, anchored on practices past or new?  How can they be fundamentally different from today’s dominant economic and political systems, which have brought us to the brink of a catastrophic collapse in terms of socio-economic inequalities and despair?

 

At the crossroads today, we have to decide unerringly on the direction to take if we must have a future on Planet Earth.  The leading scientists of our day concede that the key to man’s progress, science and technology, are now a near threat to life on earth itself — some even fear that man is now confronted by a dead-end situation.

 

The questions arising in the minds of thinking individuals in this context, to list a few, look like:

Have the Homo Sapiens a future on this planet?

Is dearth of values the cause of this crisis?

Is ‘something’ wrong in the methodology and culture of ‘modernity’?

Have our traditional beliefs taken us astray?

Will what we condemn as ‘orthodoxy’ has the last laugh?

What holistic approach and/or philosophical basis can save mankind?

 

Dear colleagues and friends! Let us find an answer to the crisis that stares us on the face. ‘Amrita’ welcomes every one of you with FSLE-India to Her Amritapuri Campus.  Your views, conference papers and presence, enlightening presentations, discussions and life-saving solutions can save posterity, and ascertain for them a healthy, happy and meaningful living.

 

Your papers should be largely related but not exclusively limited to the following themes:

Thrust Area

  • Man & Nature
  • Religion & Environment
  • National Consciousness & Environment
  • Literature & Environment
  • Eco-Feminism
  • Pastoral & Wilderness
  • Environmental Arts
  • Eco-Spirituality
  • Colonialism & Nature
  • Orientalism & Nature
  • Human Mind & Nature
  • Deep Ecology
  • Ecology & Visual Media
  • Myth & Landscape
  • Green Technology
  • Oral Traditions
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Sustainable Environmental Models
  • Environmental Policies and Education
  • Environmental Philosophy
  • Environmental Humanities
  • Environmental Justice
  • Regionalism & Bioregionalism
  • Literature of the Wild – Representing the Other – Animals in Literature

 

 Abstracts of not more than 500 words with five key words must be mailed to:

conf.fsleindia@gmail.com

  • The full paper must be within 4000-6000 words. Use the latest MLA style of referencing.
  • Please use 12 point Times New Roman and avoid footnotes.
  • Selected Papers will be published in an edited volume with ISBN no. (Not in the form of Conference proceedings instead a complete edited book after the conference).
  • Authors are requested to attach their bio-note (in third person, not exceeding 100 words) separately.

Deadlines:

Abstract Submission: September 05, 2018

Acceptance Notification: September 20, 2018

Full Paper Submission: October 30, 2018

Final Draft (Considered for the publication-Only for those whose full papers selected): January 10, 2019

 

 Registration Fee*:

Registration Details:

  With Accommodation Without Accommodation
Faculties, Professionals

& Independent Scholar

           4000               2000
Research Scholars           2500              1000
Foreign Nationals            $ 350 (with accommodation)
(For a day long tour) Extra  2000 (Indian) $ 100 (foreigners)
Participants or Accompanying persons (without paper presentation)             1500 (without Accommodation)
FSLE-India Lifetime Members              2500 (with Accommodation)

 

*Registration details will be provided after the acceptance of Abstracts only to the selected candidates.

**Last date of Registration is September 01, 2018

 

For Further details Contact:

Rishikesh Kumar Singh                                                      Dr. Beena S. Nair

(Convener)                                                                            (Convener)

President, FSLE-India, New Delhi                                         Assistant Professor, AVV

Mob: +91- 9891242768                                                         Mob: +91- 8547722521

Email: rishisengar2011@gmail.com                                      Email: beenasnair@am.amrita.edu

 

Chief Patron: Br. Sudeep

Campus Director, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus

Patrons:         Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar

Dean, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus

&

Dr. P. V. Ramanathan

Chairperson, Department of English, ASAS, Amritapuri

Organizing Committee:  Aswathy Das K.V

Assistant Professor, Department of English, ASAS, Amritapuri

                                          Dr. Dilip Jaiswal

Managing Director, FSLE-India, New Delhi

 

How to reach Amritapuri, Kollam:

Directions to arrive at the campus from the North

By Air and Taxi: Cochin (Kochi) International Airport at Nedumbassery is situated 140 kilometres north of the campus. One can ask for a pre-paid taxi to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri. The taxi-ride takes about three hours.

By Train: Kayamkulam is the closest train station situated 12 kilometres north of the campus. After disembarking, one can hire an autorickshaw to come to the campus. The ride takes about 20 minutes. Buses are also available from Kayamkulam Bus-Stand to Vallickavu Junction, which is about a five-minute walk from the campus.

By Bus: From the Ernakulam Transport Bus-Stand, one may board a bus going towards Trivandrum via Alappuzha, and alight at Ochira. From Ochira, an autorickshaw can be taken to bring one directly to Amritapuri, which is 6 km away from Ochira. Or one may board a bus going to Vallickavu Junction, which is about a five-minute walk from the campus.

Directions to arrive at the campus from the South

By Air and Taxi: The closest airport is Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), located 110 kilometers south of Amritapuri. One can ask for a pre-paid taxi to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri. The taxi-ride takes about three hours.

By Train: Karunagapally is the closest train station situated 10 kilometres south of the campus. After disembarking, one can hire an autorickshaw to come to the campus. The ridetakes about 20 minutes. Bus service is also available from Karunagapally.

By Bus: From the Trivandrum Transport Bus-Stand, one may board a bus going towards Ernakulam via Kollam and alight at Karunagappally. From Karunagappally, a bus going to Vallickavu Junction can be taken, which is about a five-minute walk from the campus.

 

 

Kerala Welcomes You All!