CONCEPT NOTE


“Children may not understand all that's happening below the surface of a story. It doesn't matter. Because even though they may not be able to define or verbalize it, they sense there's something more than meets the eye; on an almost subliminal level, they're aware of a richness of texture, or meaning and emotion -- a richness that, in a great book, is inexhaustible. And the child may well come back to it again and again, perhaps long after he's stopped being a child.”
- Lloyd Alexander.


Writers have never ceased to depict the innocence, magic and wonder of children in words as well as in spirit. Children are regarded as the most innocent form of being. Their presence illuminates hearts and souls of all. From the lovable Winnie-the-Pooh, the curious Alice, the naughty Peter Pan, to the all-time favorite Swami of Malgudi Days, Children’s Literature as a discipline has borne another discourse. Is Children Literature only for children? The debate is multidimensional and has proved to remain evergreen. Since times immemorial, ‘books’ for children are written. Works like Panchatantra (800 BC) by Vishnu Gupta, Aesop’s Fables(600BC) by Aesop, One Thousand and One Nights (08 cen. AD), and the Best Friend in the Worst Times (1670) by James Janeway and writers like Saadi Shirazi, Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, Allama Iqbal have crystallized the existence of the same. In others words, Children’s Literature has never been limited to a few people. No civilization has failed to amalgamate this genre of literary finesse within their culture.
The recent years have fruited out dynamic changes circumscribing the periphery of children and their world owing to the changing landscape of global politics. Experts, scholars and researchers from various other branches and clusters of literature are now coming forward to address the issues around children. Whether its war against nature, or conflict amongst humans, children can be seen everywhere. In order to address issues and challenges posed to children the Kashmiri Section, Department of Modern Indian Languages, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India is pleased to announce the call for papers for the International Conference.
We invite scholars and researchers to send their abstracts not exceeding 300 words to clc2023amu@gmail.com along with a short bio not exceeding 100 words by 10th of September 2023. Potential topics include, but are by no means limited to:

• Historical perspective of Children’s Literature.
• Children’s Literature in Indian Languages.
• Drama/Theatre/ Novels/Poetry in Children’s Literature.
• Moral Education/Ethical Values in Children’s Literature.
• Pluralism in Children’s Literature.
• Culture and Diversity in Children’s Literature.
• Representation of Childhood in Literature.
• Psychological Aspects of Children’s Literature.
• Carnivalesque in Children’s Literature.
• Hauntology in Children’s Literature.
• Didacticism in Children’s Literature.
• Mythological/Supernatural elements in Children’s Literature.
• Colonial/postcolonial/de-colonial/neo-colonial Children’s Literature.
• Eco-critical/ Ecological aspects of Children’s Literature.
• War/Trauma/Conflict/Violence in Children’s Literature.
• Gothic Studies and Children’s Literature.
• Children’s Literature in Popular Culture.
• Fables and Fairy/Folk tales/ in Children’s Literature.
• Humor/Satire/Riddles in Children’s Literature.
• Art/Animation/comics/picture books for Children.
• Journals/monographs in Children’s Literature.
• Literature by Children.
• Biographies/life writings in Children’s Litearture.
• Disability in Children’s Literature.
• Print/Electronic Media and Children’s Literature.
• Science Fiction and Children’s Literature.
• Digital Education and Children’s Literature.
• The Child and Childhood in Children’s Narratives.
• School Curriculum/Textbooks/Material Designing for Children.
• Issues and Challenges in Children’s Literature


Important Dates

Deadline for Submission of Abstracts: September 10, 2023

Notification of acceptance: September 20, 2023

Registration opens: September 25, 2023

Submission of full paper: November 01, 2023



• Once the abstract has been accepted, a Google form will be sent for registration and the mode of payment will also be duly notified.
• Select papers will be considered for publication after the conference.
• Non-presenters/Attendees will be given certificate of participation after fulfilling the registration formalities.
• The delegates may send their abstracts in English/Hindi/Urdu or any other Indian language.
• Abstracts and bio-notes of the author(s) should be mailed as a single MS- Word attachment, with font size: 12 Times New Roman, line spacing 1.5.
• For questions or queries, please write to: clc2023amu@gmail.com


About Aligarh Muslim University/ The Department of Modern Indian Languages: Aligarh Muslim University (accredited by NAAC with A+ grade) was founded in the year 1877 as MAO College by one of the architects of Modern India, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The University has now expanded into 13 Faculties with over 330 departments of studies. Among universities in India, AMU ranked fourth in India Today Ranking, 2021.

The Aligarh Muslim University draws students from all corners of the country, as well as foreign countries, especially Africa, West Asia and Southeast Asia. The University has the Maulana Azad library as its central library, which is one of the largest university libraries in the world, famous for its invaluable collection of manuscripts, rare books and artifacts. It currently holds around 14 lakh volumes of books and periodicals.

The Department of Modern Indian Languages, AMU, is a multi-lingual department consisting of Seven Indian languages namely Bengali, Kashmiri, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu. Article 351 of the Indian Constitution envisages the development of national languages to project the composite culture of our country. With the noble and specific idea of strengthening National Integration through the study of these languages and literatures, teaching of regional languages was introduced in Aligarh Muslim University in the year 1959 as part of the Department of Hindi. Gradually teaching of Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Bengali was started at various levels such as Certificate and Diploma courses, Subsidiary subjects at B.A (Hons) and MA. Later Marathi, Punjabi and Kashmiri languages were introduced.

In 2015, the Kashmiri Section pioneered a course on Children’s Literature, after having passed by the Board of Studies of the department. Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar is taking care of the course which gained popularity amongst the students. He himself is a writer in this genre, with four books to his credit, and has been recognized at various national as well as international platforms. Recently, a few other departments of the varsity like English, Hindi etc have also introduced this course under New Education Policy 2020

The Aligarh Muslim University is situated at a distance of 120 kms from Delhi. It is very well connected by rail and road. The University is about 2 kms from the Aligarh Railway Junction. The nearest airport is Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, which is about three and a half hours by road. Aligarh is well connected by the GT Road as well as The Yamuna Expressway.



Organizing Secretary

Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar
(Chairperson)
Department of Modern Indian Languages
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh


Convener

Mr. Mohd. Shams Uddoha Khan
Department of English
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh