Institutional Activities

JMI organizes Online Lecture by University of Virginia Professor Rita Felski on “On Resonance”

 

New Delhi. : The Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI), organized the thirteenth lecture of the Distinguished Lecture Series, “On Resonance” by Prof. Rita Felski, John Stewart Bryan Professor of English at the University of Virginia and Niels Bohr Professor at the University of Southern Denmark, on Friday, 10 th December, 2021, 7:30-8:30 PM IST on Zoom.

Prof. Simi Malhotra, H.o.D., Department of English, JMI, Indian PI, delivered the welcome address, greeting the invited speaker, faculty, scholars, and students. She spoke about the talk as a part of the ongoing collaborative project between the Department of English, JMI and the Department of English and American Studies, University of Würzburg, on “New Terrains of Consciousness: Globalization, Sensory Environments and Local Cultures of Knowledge”, supported by the Ministry of Education’s initiative SPARC, “Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration” which aims to facilitate academic and research collaboration between higher education institutes in India and abroad. She then introduced the esteemed speaker, Prof. Rita Felski, who was greeted by a round of applause.

Through her lecture Prof Rita Felski presented the concept of resonance to reassess critique in literary studies. Heeding to the German social theorist, Hartmut Rosa, Prof. Felski described resonance as a resounding vibration. She maintained that resonance is best understood not as an emotion but as a relation or a heightened form of connectivity. Resonance thus allows the experience of the world as relation instead of treating the world as resource.

Prof. Felski undertook an in-depth analysis of two texts about academia namely Stoner by John Williams and Dionne Brand’s Theory to comment on the relevance of resonance for education. She underscored that both these works speak to the existential force of intellectual engagements and express a resonant and non-instrumental imagination of education.

This was followed by an engaging, in-depth Q/A session coordinated by Ms. Sakshi Dogra, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of English, JMI. The event was brought to an end with a Vote of Thanks by Ms. Suman Bhagchandani.

The talk was conducted by, Ms. Zahra Rizvi, Ms. Shraddha A. Singh and Ms. Suman Bhagchandani, Ph.D. scholars, Department of English, JMI, and was enthusiastically attended by a large crowd of scholars, students, and faculty from all over the world and across various time-zones.

To ensure a wide range of viewership and participation, the event was also live streamed on YouTube, and was attended by over a hundred participants.

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