Two Day International Conference

On

Re-engaging with the Post Colonial: Contexts and Claims

Jointly organized by

The Department of Human Rights and Human Development,

Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata

Calcutta Research Group

16 December 2009

1.00 – 1.30 p.m. Registration

Inaugural Session

Chair: Professor Sanat Kumar Ghosh [Dean, Faculty

of Arts, and Department of Education, Rabindra

Bharati University]

1.30 – 1.40 p.m. Welcome Remarks: Dr. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury [Head,

Department of Human Rights and Human Development,

and Department of Political Science, Rabindra Bharati

University]

1.40 - 2.00 p.m. Inaugural Address: Professor Karuna Sindhu Das [Vice Chancellor,

Rabindra Bharati University]

2.00 - 2.20 p.m. Address of the

Guest in Chief: Professor Oren Yiftachel [Department of Geography

and Environmental Development, Ben Gurion University of

the Negev]

2.20 - 2.40 p.m. Special Address: Professor Tapati Mukherjee [Registrar, Rabindra

Bharati University]

2.40 - 3.10 p.m. Key Note Address: Professor Ranabir Samaddar [Director, Calcutta

Research Group]

3.10 - 3.15 p.m. Vote of Thanks: Professor Kaushik Gupta [Director, Centre for

Human Development and Human Rights, and

Head, Department of Economics, Rabindra

Bharati University]

3.15 – 3.30 p.m. Tea/Coffee Break

3.30 – 5.00 p.m. Roundtable Discussion on ‘Literature, Post Colonial Studies and

the Issue of Citizenship’

Moderator: Dr.Paula Banerjee [Department of South and

Southeast Asian Studies, University of Calcutta, and

Secretary, Calcutta Research Group]

Participants: Professor Chidananda Bhattacharya

[Department of English, Rabindra Bharati University] –

Amitav Ghosh’s ‘The Shadow Lines’

Professor Yossi Yonah

[Department of Education, Ben Gurion University of the

Negev] –

The Scope and Limits of Current Post-

Colonial Studies in Israel

Professor Ayman K. Agbaria

[Department of Leadership and Policy in Education and

Sciences, University of Haifa] –

Teaching Islam in Israel: The Politics of the

Divine

17 December 2008

10.45 a.m. – 12.15 p.m. Session I The Politics of Settlements

Chair: Professor Prasanta Ray [Institute of

Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), and

Member, Calcutta Research Group]

  • Paper on The Urbanization of the Colonial: 'Gray Space'

and the Global South-East

Speaker: Professor Oren Yiftachel [Ben Gurion University

of the Negev]

  • Paper on The Penal Islands of the Andamans and the

Aftermath

Speaker: Dr. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury

[Rabindra Bharati University]

  • Paper on Partitioned Lives: Camps in Nadia

Speaker: Ishita Dey [Research Associate, Calcutta Research

Group]

Discussant: Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi [Department of

Political Science, and Centre for Geopolitics, Punjab

University, Chandigarh]

12.15 – 12.30 p.m. Tea/Coffee Break

12.30 – 1.30 p.m. Session II Post-coloniality, Landlessness, and Citizenship

Chair: Professor Kaushik Gupta [Director, Centre for

Human Development and Human Rights, and Head,

Department of Economics, Rabindra Bharati University]

  • Paper on Predatory States and Mobile Subjects:

Landlessness, Citizenship and Discourses of

Identity in India - with a Special Reference to

the Banjara Community in Rajasthan

Speaker: Dr. Pnina Motzafi-Haller [The Blaustein

Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University

of the Negev]

  • Paper on Neoliberalization as Colonization of Agriculture

Lands and Dispossession of Farmers and

Landless Labourers

Speaker: Professor Ashok Kumar [Head, Department of

Physical Planning, School of Planning and

Architecture, New Delhi]

Discussant: Dr. Swati Ghosh [Department of Economics, Rabindra

Bharati University]

1.30 – 2.30 p.m Lunch Break

2.30 – 3.30 p.m. Session III Terror in the Postcolonial Time

Chair: Profesor Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty

[Formerly of Department of History, Presidency College,

Kolkata]

  • Paper on Globalization, Terrorism and the Post-colonial

State

Speaker: Dr. Shibashis Chatterjee [Department of

International Relations, Jadavpur University, Kolkata]

  • Paper on Iran and the Jewish State’s Repertoires of

Violence in the Post-9/11 World

Speaker: Professor Haggai Ram [Professor, Middle East

Studies, Ben Gurion University of the Negev]

Discussant: Dr. Sibaji Pratim Basu [Department of Political

Science, Sree Chaitanya College, Habra]

3.30 p.m. Vote of Thanks: Dr. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury [Rabindra

Bharati University]