Iaclals: Goals 2000 and Beyond
As we enter the new millennium, it would be well to review our work and achievements as
Iaclals, and plan for the years ahead. The focus of the association has been the promotion
of study and research in Commonwealth literature or what has lately been termed
(tentatively?) postcolonial literature. The continuing quest for definitive nomenclature
indicates how the field has been enlarging its scope and interests. More and more scholars
have been opting for the study of this body of writing. Clearly now, more space is given
to postcolonial writing in the curricula of the universities. That is not even quarter of
the battle won as we all know.
The Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies too has
expanded its scope considerably. The terms ‘language’ and ‘literature’
are rapidly acquiring much broader connotations. ‘Language’ no longer is English
alone, nor is its scope restricted to the verbal medium. Consequently a much larger number
of issues now engage the attention of our members. As the Iaclals annual conferences of
recent years—‘Text and Culture’ and ‘Postcolonial
Translations’—underscore, the focus increasingly is on Indian language
literatures, translations and a variety of cultural forms. Such a shift is paradigmatic
and it augurs well for postcolonial studies. And in a typical postcolonial fashion augurs
well for English studies too, since the process renders the study of English more relevant
and meaningful in postcolonial societies.
Iaclals will continue to expand its terrain to include oral literatures,
indigenous cultural forms, Dalit writing, and literary and non-literary forms of
expression of postcolonial peoples. A three-day seminar "Anuvad-Vivad: Current
Debates in Translation" is planned for September 1999. Close examination,
especially in postcolonial situations, of the ramifications of translation activities
today is the aim of this seminar. We should address the asymmetry between translation from
English into indigenous languages and vice-versa. This is important to us since this
asymmetry is likely to upset postcolonial balance that is just beginning to be
established. |
Iaclals should also consider seriously asymmetries within postcolonial studies too. While
Canadian and Australian writing get the critical attention they deserve in terms of both
research and teaching, Caribbean and African don’t. Reasons could be many. But
inadequacy of financial support resulting in insufficiency of study materials is a crucial
reason. Could Iaclals adopt measures to overcome such inadequacies, and make these
literatures more accessible to students, teachers and researchers?
It would perhaps be a good idea to organise a special session on literature of
one region at each annual conference, invite an expert in the field and initiate extensive
deliberations. Iaclals hopes to make this possible from the year 2001, beginning with a
special session on African literature (going strictly by alphabetical order!).
Iaclals is trying to make the most of the electronic revolution, a major
development of our times. We are planning to prepare a database of all Iaclals members and
their areas of interest and expertise; and make this available for a nominal fee to
interested members. We hope this will help create cohesive groups of scholars in specific
fields of postcolonial literature. Iaclals now has a web page, and we hope this will lead
to better networking among Iaclals members, and Indian scholars living abroad. Visit us at
http://iaclals.8m.com.
What we have sketched out is a plan that calls for a collective effort, and we
know that Iaclals members will have many useful suggestions. When we meet at Trivandrum
for the next annual conference plans of action will hopefully have been drawn up and
deliberated upon. The Trivandrum conference will be called "Milestones and
Signposts: A Century in Retrospect". The conference shall provide a forum for a
review of major developments in literary culture in the past century and speculate on the
possible direction future is likely to take.
We look forward to meeting you at Trivandrum.
C Vijayasree
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