West Bengal, IndiaSubject FieldsCultural History / Studies, Digital Humanities, Literature, Women's & Gender History / Studies

Beginning with the two World Wars, the twentieth century has remained an unfortunate witness to some of the major conflicts in history. The current international political climate is perhaps a reminder of how war continues to be a major threat to humane society and natural environment. The impact is prominent in twentieth Century literature, with its significant contribution in grappling with the ideologies of war. Texts with allied themes have turned battlefield horrors into narratives. From Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, which has remained in print since its first publication in 1895, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, a book that dramatizes (if not romanticizes) the author’s youthful experience during World War I, to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the Vietnam War novel that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1990, war has inspired some of the iconic works in the literary canon. The corpus of work in the ambit of war themed literature isa vast. In the 1980s and 1990s, numerous scholars began writing in earnest about war and literature, perpetuating it into the 21st century. The conflict zones they discuss are mostly familiar to the general populace; whether the American Civil War, or the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The literature takes a wide variety of approaches to comprehend the experience through different genres, drama, short stories, novels, journals, diaries, oral histories, memoirs, and letters. While early scholarship focused most fully on white male soldiers, it has gradually evolved to include myriad gender and minority identities. For instance, in the era of Modernism, Woolf regarded herself as one of the only people offering a female perspective on war, power, and conflict. The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City, as well as other acts of terrorism around the globe have resulted in a new body of literature that considers combatting terror on a global scale. Noam Chomsky in an interview with Jeremy Scahill in The Intercept says that “this was an act of aggression, state-sponsored act of aggression that belongs to the history books alongside the 2003 US invasion of Iraq as well as the 1939 invasion of Poland by Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.” On the other hand, in the year 2021, the current President of the USA, Joe Biden had declared the end of 20-year war in Afghanistan. With the withdrawing of troops of American soldiers, the entire country had been plunged into another state of confusion. The Afghans were not sure whether to be happy about the withdrawal be haunted by the oppressive prospects that the Taliban regime promised. With the involvement of the electronic and digital media, the exposition of war is more frequently captured. Individuals in war zones also write blogs about their experiences, such as Colby Buzzell’s My War, in which a soldier documents his life in Iraq. This conference intends to concentrate on a study of war from myriad perspectives, in reference to the 20th and 21st century.

Topics may include but are not limited to the following:
● The production of war
● Psychological and physical impacts of war
● War and the body
● Impact of war on race, ethnicity, color, caste, and class.
● War and migration
● War and gender
● War, memory, and Post memory
●War in the digital age

Submission Guidelines-
Faculty members, research scholars and post-graduate students are invited to submit their abstracts within 25th November, 2023. The conference is completely an offline event hence there is no scope for online presentation. Abstracts should be within 350 words. Abstracts need to be formatted as per the MLA 8th edition guidelines. Kindly provide a brief bio-note along with abstract, mentioning your email ID and contact details.

Important Dates-
Abstract Submission last date- 25th November 2023

Notification of acceptance- 10th December 2023
Last date of Registration - 15th December
Conference Dates- 17-18 January 2024
Conference Fee:
INR Rs 1500/- (inclusive of GST) for Faculty Members
INR Rs 1200/- (inclusive of GST) for Research Scholars
INR Rs 950/- (inclusive of GST) for Post-Graduate students

No travel allowance will be provided to the presenters.
BANK DETAILS
Bank Name- Canara Bank
Account Name - St. Xavier's University Kolkata Alumni Association
Account Number - 97212010001155
Account Type - Savings
IFSC Code - CNRB0019721

All abstracts should be sent at warlitcon@gmail.comContact Email: warlitcon@gmail.com