How does a society remember, preserve, and narrate its past? This proposed two-day
international seminar, “Myth, Orality, and History: Conceptualizing the Past through the Arts
and Cultural Texts,” organised by the Department of English, Panchla Mahavidyalaya in
collaboration with the IQAC, Panchla Mahavidyalaya is a scholarly expedition at exploring
this Daedalian phenomenon. As contemporary interdisciplinary studies have begun to move
beyond conventional archival approaches, this international seminar emphasizes the myriad
of ways in which the past of a nation, culture, group, etc. can be conceptualized, stored, and
reimagined through different mediums such as myths, oral narratives, scriptures, paintings,
literature, cinema, theatre, digital cultures, and other cultural texts.
As Romila Thapar reminds us in Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History, “There are many
concerns that weave their way through this analysis of an event: the subsequent history, the
historiography and the reconstructed memory.” This statement is a testament to the fact that it
is no longer the objective historical event that the scholar focuses on, but the socio-cultural
context encapsulating it, the consequential narrativization it, and finally, the official writing
of it. Myths and oral traditions have long served as reservoirs of collective memory, just as
artistic and literary representations have often acted as gateways to mediate historical
consciousness, offering counter hegemonic narratives. In this context, the arts and cultural
texts do not merely record or reproduce the past, but actively participate in the creation of it.
In light of this, this seminar aims to engage in a critical dialogue on the interplay between
myths, oral traditions, and historical consciousness. By foregrounding the creative and
interpretative dimensions of historiography, the seminar aims to foster nuanced reflections on
how arts and cultural narratives contribute to the ongoing project of conceptualizing the past.
Call for Papers
We invite original and unpublished research papers from scholars, academicians, students,
and practitioners on the broad theme of Myth, Orality, and History: Conceptualizing the Past
through the Arts and Cultural Texts. Sub-themes include but are not limited to the following:

 Postcolonial and subaltern approaches to history and historiography
 Folklore and indigenous tales as alternative history
 Art and theatre as historical archives
 Adaptations and appropriations of history through fiction
 Community history vs personal history
 Intersections of power and identity in historical narratives
 Feminist and queer historiographic interventions
 Film and visual culture as hegemonic and counter-hegemonic narratives
 Digital storytelling and virtual memory
 Future of historical narratives in the age of AI

REGISTRATION FEES:

FACULTY: Rs. 600/-

REGISTERED RESEARCH SCHOLARS: Rs. 500/-

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH SCHOLAR: Rs. 400/-

UG/PG STUDENTS: Rs. 200/-

PAPER PRESENTERS FROM OUTSIDE INDIA: 40USD

SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACTS ONLY THROUGH THE FOLLOWING LINK: https://forms.gle/EDXM4BHjyR7UTDJH8

THE SEMINAR WILL BE HELD IN A HYBRID MODE