Abstracts & Reports of RJAF
Abstracts
ABSTRACT
Maria Campbell and C.K.Janu: Shaping Survival in Half Breed
and Mother Forest
Rajitha Unni
M. Phil Scholar
Marginalised literatures are usually pushed to the backdrop by the main stream literature in almost all the countries of the world. The downtrodden people are portrayed in the written works and other medias by the domineering class as the lot to be discarded and thrown off after their use. They were treated like savages and never treated at par with the rest of the society who considered themselves to be superior and never intended to come down from the ivory tower. Both Maria Campbell and C.K Janu are representatives of the most victimized lot, in their respective countries that is Canada and India. Even though, both, Maria and C.K. Janu are doubly dispossessed in their societies, due to their gender and class, they both stood as odd women out from the rest of the women belonging to their classes as they waged battles against the lustful patriarchal societies boldly. Maria Campbell has brought out the frustrations and pains of a half breed woman through her own experiences in her autobiographical fiction Half Breed. She had to face many difficulties in her life, and these hurdles were easily eradicated by Maria, who was completely influenced by her great grandmother, Cheechum. Cheechum was a pole star in her life, as she guided her at appropriate times, when she was wrong in choosing her path. Her survival was shaped by Cheechum, whose presence is felt through out the pages of the book, even though, she was not with Maria physically. Thus, a strong woman-woman bond is created in Half Breed. The lives of the tribals are completely linked with forests and they are the real custodians of the forests. C.K Janu‘s unfinished story, Mother Forest is full of their cries and lamentations, who became niche less when their habitat was snatched away from them by the ruling authorities in the name of development of the state. Janu strives to assert her identity and she struggles for it, by conducting many strikes and agitations, to get back their shelter that is the forests as her survival is shaped by the forests. A strong woman- nature bond is seen through the pages of Mother Forest, which in other words is termed as Ecofeminism. A comparative reading of both the books is also done in this paper, stressing on the similarities and differences, even though, both belong to the genre of marginalized writings, one the Native Canadian and the other, the tribal literature.
Reports
Report of RJAF 8th session held on 14th September, 2006
The 8th session of RJAF, held on 14-09-2006at 2:30 pm in the seminar hall of English department, was attended by 40 members. The session was chaired by Dr S. Murali, Reader in the department of English. Ms Sujaritha, Ph.D scholar, welcomed all to the session. Ms Nancy, student of 2nd M.A., presented report of the previous session held on 07-09-2006. In the Cultural Session Liss Marie Das, Ph.D scholar in the department, entertained the group with a melodious Malayalam song touching a nostalgic note.
Following this, in the book review session, Mr Jonson, 2nd M.A. English, introduced the gathering to Nietzsche by reading out the Introduction to Ecce Homo, Nietzsche’s autobiography. He said that the book is interesting for it gives a bird’s eye view to Nietzsche’s all other works, his life and philosophy. So often he is hailed as the grandfather of postmodernism. Dr Murali emphasized the importance of Nietzsche for the place he occupies in the history of ideas.
Then, Ms Rajitha Unni presented her paper entitled: “Maria Campbell and C. K. Janu: Shaping Survival in Half Breed and Mother Forest Forest Forest”. In her paper she highlighted the issue of survival as depicted in the Native Canadian autobiographical fiction, Half Breed by Maria Campbell and the Tribal Malayalam Unfinished Story Mother Forest by C. K. Janu.
Rajitha started with looking at the issue of ‘Marginality’; and then proceeded on to the individual cases of Campbell and Janu. The paper said that they have to undergo oppression at two levels, as members of a marginalized community and as women.
One or two issues related to the arguments in the paper were raised by faculty members and students. Dr Murali reflected on how the image projected by the media affects the resistance of these people. Another question posed was that how effectively C. K. Janu, the tribal leader, can function in the existing political structure where the same ideology that relegates them into marginality is dominant. Some Ph.D scholars opined that the use of the image of Sita, the mythical heroine of Ramayana, in the paper was a naïve one.
The session came to an end with the vote of thanks by Sujaritha at 4 pm.
Prepared by Vipin, Ist M.A.
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