Bridging Imaginations: South Asian Diaspora in Australia - History, Culture, Literature [UPDATE]

full name / name of organization: 
Amit Sarwal, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, India
contact email: 

Bridging Imaginations: South Asian Diaspora in Australia - History, Culture, Literature

Edited by Amit Sarwal

The presence of people from the Indian subcontinent in various parts of the world has given rise, in literary and cultural studies, to the critical reading and understanding of the "borderline figure" of the migrant. Migration of the South Asian people to Australia has resulted in a continually growing and flourishing diaspora, one of the most prosperous communities, with an ever-increasing role and responsibility in all areas of society. This has also resulted in exchange of ideas on large scale through cultural traffic – festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings etc. – as well as academic traffic – exchange of students, research scholars and faculty members through various exchange programmes, seminars, MoU's, academic associations, personal visits, awards and scholarships, writers in residence programmes, joint publications, etc. These two trends – cultural traffic and academic traffic – have also resulted in producing awareness about the postcolonial South Asian-Australian diasporic literature.

This volume focuses on postcolonial South Asian-Australian diaspora, writers and their narratives, and celebrates their achievements and outstanding contribution to the literature of the South Asian diaspora around the world as well as to Australian cultural and literary life. Narratives of South Asian diasporic authors with their multivalent themes and contexts are of special relevance and are not only shared by both the Indian subcontinent and Australia – people with distinctive and sometimes even opposing cultural backgrounds – but also have to be considered as a part of the larger rubric of diasporic literature and the way it imagines the contemporary world, bringing together (bridging) different nationalities and a truly "global" perspective to topical issues. In other words, this literature goes much beyond representing the diasporic dilemmas to tackle matters that will affect the future of human civilization itself.

Articles on a variety of issues, perspectives and themes, analyzing particularly literary and cinematic texts, from diverse theoretical and critical approaches are invited:
• South Asian-Australian diaspora history and literary history,
• South Asian-Australian cultural practices,
• the reflections on migration and migratory societies in literature and other arts,
• interaction between diasporas and "home" communities,
• place of South Asian-Australian diaspora authors (and their works) in the larger postcolonial SA diasporic framework,
• exploration of the otherness in the narratives of postcolonial South Asian-Australian writers,
• contested relationships with dominant cultures and discourses, and
• the effects of multiple cultural inheritances or hyphenated identities

Note:
1. Articles published in refereed journals dealing with theme are also welcome.
2. Please attach a short biographical note (100 words) mentioning your designation, university/institute, area of study, academic interests and relevant publications. Include contact information (your postal and preferred email address, phone and fax numbers).
3. This is a non-grant publication. The editor/publisher will provide each contributor with one complimentary copy of the book.

Important Points: Deadline: 5 August 2009; Word Limit: 3500 to 6000 words (MS Word); Style: MLA (with Works Cited and Endnotes)

Please feel free to send your queries and articles (MS Word File) through email to: sarwal.amit@gmail.com

Amit Sarwal is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, India. From 2006-2007 he was an Honorary Visiting Scholar at NCAS and SPSI, Monash University as an Endeavour Asia Award winner (2006). He has co-edited English Studies, Indian Perspectives (2006) with Makarand Paranjape and Aneeta Rajendran; Australian Studies Now (2007) with Andrew Hassam; Fact & Fiction: Readings in Australian Literature (2008), Creative Nation: Australian Cinema and Cultural Studies Reader (2009) and Reading Down Under: Australian Literary Studies Reader (2009) with Reema Sarwal, and Australian Made: A Multicultural Reader (Sydney UP, forthcoming 2009) with Sonia Mycak.