The triennial conferences of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies have assumed significant professional importance as events that bring together academics and writers in the Commonwealth to undertake a review of the discipline of Commonwealth Studies periodically -- an extremely useful exercise. These international meets of the ACLALS have played a key role in shaping the direction of commonwealth/postcolonial studies, in nurturing professional networks through which scholars working in the field could establish communication channels for an exchange of ideas and a sharing of knowledge. The Twelfth Triennial of the ACLALS was held at Canberra from 9-14 Jul, 2001.

The quiet city of Canberra, which reflects human achievement in town planning and city building, proved a perfect venue for the meet. The lakeside Rydges Hotel virtually became home for the delegates for the five days of the conference, since each day the sessions began at 9 in the morning and proceedings which included poetry readings, felicitations, book releases besides animated sessions and after session discussions went on till late evening. Australian hospitality-delicious food, choicest wines, fine weather and friendly hosts-made the trip particularly enjoyable for international delegates. In fact, the visitors from tropics, duly warned about the cruel Australian August ,went equipped with woolens that would have sufficed for a polar expedition. But each single day the sun appeared bringing cheer and pleasant warmth.

The broad theme of the conference -- resistance and reconciliation -- provided scope for a wide range of issues to be discussed. As the organisers rightly claimed, it "chimed many bells". As many as 300 delegates participated in the discussions, and the papers presented included a variety of topics ranging from aborigine writing to Telugu cinema, Sydney Olympics to English 3440. Postcolonial theory and criticism, cultural studies, film review, politics of representation, popular culture , pedagogy and a host of related issues came in for critical consideration. One point that emerged from all this is the need for a continual interrogation of what is generally understood as postcolonial critical practices.

The plenary talks by Stephen Slemon and Harish Trivedi merit a special mention in this regard. Slemon examined the relation between postcolonial commitment and a policy of literary advocacy focusing on the contradictions inherent in certain postcolonial positions such as the glorification of the migrant and celebration of the 'transnational.' Trivedi with his characteristic incisiveness showed how 'hybridity' is not the distinguishing mark of a new generation writers like Rushdie, as postcolonial theorists seem to believe, but a feature that already existed even in the earlier generation of writers like Narayan and Raja Rao. He also questioned the postcolonial reconciliation to global cosmopolitanism.

From these presentations it has become quite clear that postcolonial theorists need to review their positions on matters such as migrancy, transnationalism, global cosmopolitanism etc. to ensure that their prime agenda of decolonization does not get depoloticised. A similar re-visionist trend marked several panel discussions and this, it looks like, foresees the directions of future developments in postcolonial thinking.

The readings offered by creative writers are a special feature at all commonwealth conferences. This time, J M Coetzee was a major attraction and his plenary talk which contextualised his work within the paradigm -- resistance and reconciliation -- was very well received. Nearly thirty writers from different parts of the world read from their work, and participants were much grateful for this literary feast. Indian delegates were a little disappointed since there were only two from India -- Makarand Paranjape and Hoshang Merchant. Another event worth mention: Yasmeen Gooneratne received the Raja Rao Award amidst much acclaim.

Just as the Canberra triennial got under way, speculations have risen high about the venue for the next triennial. Hyderabad emerged as the unanimous choice much to the delight of the Indian contingent. So the pleasant duty of hosting the next commonwealth conference (13th ACLALS triennial) rests with us now, and we should be getting down to working towards that soon.

C Vijayasree
vijaya_chaganti@yahoo.com