Description
Resurrecting Urdu and Hindi’s literary past is an exercise fraught with complexity and intellectual challenge. The complexity arises from the fact that before 1800 the label ‘Hindi’, as a language name, referred to the language we now know as Urdu. The ‘new’ or ‘modern’ Hindi was crafted in the nineteenth century by weeding out Perso-Arabic vocabulary and replacing it with Sanskrit derivatives. In spite of this ‘divide’, Urdu and Hindi do share a common literary past, a past in which Braj, Awadhi as well as other regional languages play an important role. Unfortunately, literary histories of Urdu and Hindi have not reflected this composite heritage.
We wish to open a discussion that challenges the application of literary history, in the western sense, with respect to the origin and development of Urdu, Hindi, Braj and their literatures. The goal of the workshop will be to develop a prospectus and a narrative framework in which it is possible to synchronize the heritage and literary experience of their variegated linguistic milieu, and to formulate next steps for research, publication goals and fund raising. This workshop is the second in an ongoing series. The first was held at the University of Pittsburgh in March, 2009.
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Complete Program |
Brief Program
Session One
9:30 - 9:45, Coffee and bagels
9:45 - 10:00, Welcome remarks by Associate Dean, Bruce Holsinger and settling in
10.00 - 10:30, Two perspectives, Jonathan Arac and Rich Cohen to present an overview/summary of our work so far
10:30 - 11:30, Presentations by workshop core group, Aamir, Rashmi and Mehr
11:30 - 12:30, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, reactions and suggestions
12:30 - 1:45, lunch (Corners)
Session Two
2:00 - 3:30, roundtable discussion, Jonathan Arac, Rita Felski, Geeta Patel and others
3:30 - 4:00, tea break
4:00 - 5:00, planning the next steps
Dinner
7:30 - 9:30, venue to be announced
9:30 - 11:00, breakfast and discussion, concluding remarks/ interview with S. R Faruqi
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