Shakespeare and the cybernetic post-human
Kolkata, Nov 29 (IBNS):The Department of English, Heritage College, in collaboration with the Shakespeare Society of Eastern India organized a two day international workshop on “401 years after Shakespeare: Shifting Paradigms from the Shakespearean Human to the Post-human”, at the Heritage Campus, recently.
The inaugural session was attended by Vice chancellor of Calcutta University, Sonali Chakrabarti Banerjee, Director of British Council, Debanjan Chakrabarti and the Director of American Center, Jamie Dragon.
Speaking on the concept of the event, Subir Dhar, General Secretary of SSEI and professor of Rabindra Bharati University said, "As we step into the 401st anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we ask ourselves how we might investigate the metamorphosis of the Renaissance human into the cybernetic post human. Shakespearean heroes belong to the new cartography of the radicalized concept of the human, what we conventionally understand as Renaissance humanism.”
“In the past four centuries the being of the human has undergone transformation from being the central, the abstract, the nothing, the peripheral and finally the relational. These representations of the human can be traced back to Renaissance through literature, romanticism down to modernism, even in the field of performing arts as it moves from naturalism to pop art,”he added.
The event also saw the screening of the award winning documentary film ‘Shakespeare Behind Bars’, which according to the organisers, was being screened for the first time in India.
Students, scholars, academicians and professors from various universities and institutions from home and abroad participated in the event, reading seminar papers and holding conversions on Shakespearean adaptations, translations, films and post humanist philosophy.
Danseuse and social worker Alokananda Roy, Film and television actor Jayanth Kriplani and film maker Ashok Viswanathan were also present for several panel discussions.
Amitava Roy, president of SSEI said, "it is a part of the charter of Shakespeare Society to collaborate with various universities and institutions of excellence worldwide to come forward to help and work together by organizing different national and international conferences. And this time, it is a special privilege to come to Heritage College and make the international conference possible.”
“We look forward to discuss and explore Shakespeare and literature in its most possible ways and to make the workshop a grand success,” he said.
(Reporting by Aninnya Sarkar)
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