National Seminar Organised by English Department Janki Devi Memorial College 2011-12

Cityscape: Delhi Through Narratives

English Department, Janki Devi Memorial College is going to organize the national seminar titled Cityscape: Delhi through Narratives on the 21-22 of February 2012 at Janki Devi Memorial College. The purport as well as the academic viability of such a seminar is to discuss the shared views and narratives that co-exist among all who have found a place within the walls of this city. The Seminar Concept Note and Theme: The city finds expression through narratives. These narratives which represent the pivotal category of human communication discuss the shared views, lives lived and changes experienced. The narratives communicate the collective human consciousness, primarily represented by the narrator in his/her multiple roles of an author, journalist, traveller or simply as an observant city dweller. In many societies these narratives or tales of the city is transmitted in different channels of communication including oral narratives or mass media. The changing topography of Delhi from Indraprastha carved out of barren rocks to the ornate Mughal architecture and thereon to Lutyens Delhi, is mirrored in the changing landscapes of the people, the peculiarities of local legends of various places, the culture and the times. The narratives express a cultural conglomeration and draw the attention of academics both in the fields of literature and social sciences. The seminar aims to bring out this diversity by framing the discourse through a process of dialogues or deliberations, towards the dynamics of academic and common narratives of the city of Delhi whose history extends much beyond the hundred years that we celebrate today. Some of the subthemes to be covered by the symposium: (a) Urban Legends (b) Delhi Through the Immigrants Eye (c) The Changing Face of Delhi (d) Narrative of the Capital city (e) Delhi and the Contemporary World