Samvad – A Faculty Forum
Report on a Presentation in Research Pursuit
Date: 19rd March, 2016 | Venue: Board Room, MC301
Organized by Department of Communication Skills,
Marwadi Education Foundation's Group of Institutions - Rajkot
Samvad – A Faculty Forum, Department of Communication Skills, MEFGI organized A Presentation in Research Pursuit on Dr. Vishal Bhadani’s Ph.D.: “Violence’ and ‘Space’: Perspectives on Post 1970 Indian
Novels on Communal Riots”. ‘A Presentation in Research
Pursuit’ is a
platform provided to the faculties for discussion of the research they are
pursuing. In today’s era, research is the most vital requirement and valued achievement.
Higher education institutes are expected to be the platform for engaging
oneself into research. Keeping in mind the need of the time and objectives of
higher education, such platform has been formed to delve in to the research
being pursued.
The above said session has been
organized as per the below details.
Theme:
PhD Topic
‘Violence’ and ‘Space’: Perspectives on Post 1970 Indian
Novels on Communal Riots
Speaker:
Dr.
Vishal Bhadani
Department
of Communication Skills, MEFGI
The presentation session is
structured into two parts. In the first part, the research gives detailed
presentation while Q&A and discussion takes place between the presenter and
the audience in the later part. In the first part of this presentation, Dr.
Vishal Bhadani made his presentation defining the title of his research and introducing
the select literary works he has studied as a part of his research. He then defined
the terms ‘violence’ and ‘space’ and located these ideas into the select five novels:
1) Tamas (1972) by Bhishm Sahani, 2) Curfew in the City (1988) by
Vibhuti Narayan Rai, 3) Lajja (1993) by Taslima Nasreen, 4) Riot (2001)
by Shashi Tharoor, 5) Partition (2004) by Kamleshwar.
He explained the term talked about
‘communal violence’, its history, nature and its sudden eruptions at times. Then,
explaining the term ‘space’, he talked about ‘Physical Space’, ‘Sacred Space’, ‘Historical
Space’, ‘Heterotopia’, ‘Political Space’, ‘Socio-Psychological Space’, and
‘Curfew as Controlling Space’. He contextualized these terms/themes in the
select novels set and written after 1970. Further, sharing his observations, he
illustrated the way communal violence in India, specifically after 1970, has
been depicted in the literary works.
After his presentation, the session was
left open for Q&A and discussion. In the latter part, few questions were asked
by the audience and answered by the speaker. Then, Dr. Sunil Sagar, Head of the
Department, gave his prominent remarks on the presentation. He also questioned
the research and asked questions about the condition of research in English
Studies now. His questions and doubts have also instigated another session
specifically on the quality of research in English Studies which may be panned
soon.
The session
was completed with some important take-home points for research.
