LILA-PRISM Lecture 5 "Theatre and the Right to Food Staples in India" a talk by Dr Kanika Batra at Alliance Francaise De Delhi, 72, Lodhi Estate > 6:30pm-8pm on 17th September 2013

Time : 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : M.L. Bhartia Auditorium, Alliance Francaise De Delhi, 72, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi - 110003
Landmark : Next to Annexe building of India International Centre
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Stations - 'Khan Market(Violet Line)' & 'Jor Bagh(Yellow Line)'
Area : Lodhi Road Area Events

Event Description : LILA-PRISM Lecture 5 : Theatre and the Right to Food Staples in India - a talk by Dr Kanika Batra, Texas Tech University, USA.
The Lecture: “Theatre and the Right to Food Staples in India” discuses how dramatic representations open a discussion on the social implications of food production and distribution in India by presenting dichotomies of the colonial and the postcolonial, the rural and the urban, the moral and the political, and deprivation and hoarding. The availability or scarcity of wheat in these representations points to ubiquitous divisions within Indian society continuing from the early to the late twentieth century. Premchand’s tale “Sava Ser Gehu” published in the 1920s, begins a discussion of staple food and exploitation that continues into postcolonial times. The street theatre group Janam continues a similar tradition of social critique by dramatizing food hoarding and shortages in India through the play “Samrath Ko Nahin Dosh Gosain” performed in the 1980s. This lecture discusses representation of food scarcity in dramatic adaptations of Premchand’s story and Janam’s street performances, as a marker of national pride and shame respectively.

About the Speaker : Kanika Batra is Associate Professor at the Department of English, Texas Tech University. She specializes in Postcolonial literatures and teaches and researches Postcolonial Feminism and Postcolonial Queer Studies. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Callaloo,Feminist Review, The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies. In 2001 she published a monograph on Caribbean poetry for the Indira Gandhi National Open University, India. Her second book, Feminist Visions and Queer Futures in Postcolonial Drama, was published by Routledge in 2011. She is currently working on a new book project tentatively titled Postcolonial Counterpublics: Genders and Sexualities in Printscheduled to appear in 2015.

Moderator : Dr. Purabi Panwar
Purabi Panwar, editor, translator and critic, will introduce the speaker and moderate the discussion. She was Associate Professor at the College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi. Her work includes studies on Rudyard Kipling, EM Forster and VS Naipaul, with special reference to their representation of India. Her areas of special interest are colonial and post-colonial fiction and travel writings. She has published translations of a number of poems by the Hindi poet Nagarjuna into English, and is currently translating fiction for the Sahitya Akademi.

Background : LILA PRISM Lecture Series 2013 is an attempt to explore some major fields of knowledge in the developmental context of contemporary India. This initiative is already finding support and following in India and abroad. The 16 speakers, beyond rigorously discussing their specific topics, will share with us the dream of a society in which creative efforts and meaningful results are integrally connected. They will not only pose key questions that must awaken policy makers, but also share their suggestions to link their disciplinary sites with the lives of common people, in a non-intrusive and creative way.

LILA PRISM lectures : www.delhievents.com/search/label/LILA-PRISM

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