[Reader-list] Panel Discussion on 'Different Tales', Anveshi's series of children's books: Hyderabad, March 4, 2010

[Chintan]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Raju Naik <raju5678 at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 11:31 PM
Subject: Invitation to a Panel Discussion


On behalf of the Department of English Literature of Common Wealth
Countries, EFL University, I am pleased to invite you to a panel
discussion on Different Tales (an initiative by Anveshi, Hyderabad, in
the field of Children’s literature). Please see below for more details
about the project.

Time: 2-5 PM

Date: Thursday, 04 March 2010

Venue: Conference Hall, EFL University


Panelists and topics:

Prof. Susie Tharu (Scholar in Residence, Dept. of Cultural Studies,
EFL University): Why Different Tales? An overview of the project

Prof. D. Vasanta (Dept. of Linguistics at Osmania University):
Narrative account of the project

Dr. Deepa Srinivas (Coordinator of the stories project; worked as a
Fellow at Anveshi): Re-thinking Children’s Literature

Shyamala (Fellow, Anveshi and a well-known Dalit Feminist writer):
Context in which I wrote the stories

Dr. Deeptha Achar (Reader, Dept. of English Literature, MS University
of Baroda): Imaging Children, Imagining Children’s Books

Different Tales is an attempt by Anveshi, Hyderabad, to develop
stories for children that expand the scope of our democracy with new
characters, new settings, new conflicts and dilemmas and levels of
dissent, as well as unexpected sources of enjoyment and strength. The
stories engage questions of marginalization--along the axes of gender,
caste, minority, region, disability by bringing the everyday worlds of
people from such groups into the mainstream of children's reading. The
narratives pull critically away from the normative idea of childhood
even as they affirm the variegated lives of different children. Most
importantly, they propose a concept of education that centres ideas of
teaching conflict. Several of the writers draw on their own childhoods
to depict different ways of growing up in an often hostile world. The
artwork, done by a group of distinguished artists from Baroda, extends
these issues into the field of visual representation and provides
parallel experiences of looking, seeing and thinking. It breaks with
the idea of illustration as an ornamentation of the text as the
artists explore a diversity of painterly languages and idioms to
develop the propositions made in the series.
All are welcome. Please forward this mail to those who might be interested.
Raju Naik
Asst. Professor, EFL University