Tamil Pluralities: Interventions in Sameness in Critical Times || Tamil Studies Symposium 2018

Friday, 16 November 2018 | 140 Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies Building, Keele Campus | 10H to 18H30
Saturday, 17 November 2018 | Founders Assembly Hall, Founders College, Keele Campus | 10H15 to 18H
‘Tamilness’ has been described in turn as an ethnic identity, a linguistic identity, a secular one, a nationalist identity, and as one growing out of a resistance to various forms of oppressive or colonial collectivizations. These pluralities of construction and imaginings of Tamil identity present us with possibilities of intervention in the rigidities and sameness that is normalized in contemporary pardigms of nation-state oriented geopolitics.
Grounded in these notions of intervention, the fourth annual Tamil Studies Symposium poses the questions: Can Tamil identity be imagined outside contemporary culture consumption? How does Tamil consciousness productively exceed the limitations of capital and nation-state models? How do Tamils lay the groundwork for mobilizing collectives, and form stable relationships across communities in systemic transformations? As Tamil identity becomes branded through various forms of social media, what forms do these consumable images, narratives take, and why? How do critical discourses emerging in Tamil Studies in the present engage with solidarities with other marginalized, minoritized identities.
Special presentations by:
S. P. Pushpakanthan (Eastern University Batticaloa, Sri Lanka; Cornell University) on Contemporary Visual Art in the North and East of Sri Lanka (3pm on 16 November)
N. Sriskandarajah (Swedish Agricultural University, Uppsala) || Keynote (1pm on 17 November)
The two-day symposium is supported by the York Centre for Asian Research; Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; James Bennett Financial; Tamil World Initiative; South Asian Legal Clinic Ontario; Council of Agencies Serving South Asians; the Departments of Humanities, English and History; and Tamil community members.
The programme is available in Tamil and English.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2220456578175367/
Where Memory Lives, an exhibition featuring the works of S. P. Pushpakanthan and Sabes Sugunasabesan will take place between 18-24 November 2018 at Artscape Youngplace.