ScoTs - Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies

Revised Submission Dates

Collaborative International Conference on Gandhi & Tagore organised by MAHE and Edinburgh Napier University
Hosted by Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka
22 and 23 February 2019
Concept Note
Samaj and Freedom(s) - The relevance of Gandhi and Tagore’s Ideas Today

In a letter to C.F. Andrews, Rabindranath Tagore said ‘We have no word for nation in our language. When we borrow this term from other people it never fits us’, For Rabindranath, nation with a small ‘n’ signified her samaj, the society which thrives when it embodies a country’s aspirations, is responsible for her progress and has the wellbeing of her citizens at the heart of its collective consciousness. When the samaj deteriorates to a moribund state, crushed by subservience to an outside power, riddled by superstition, marred by discrimination and inequality, a sense of apathy holds it back from realising its full potential. The reliance on samaj, rather than the state (Rabindranath’s Nation with a capital ‘N’), should rest with the people rather than the ruling power, a tradition that is, according to Tagore, intrinsic to India’s sense of collective unity, a unity in diversity which guarantees India’s continuity as a nation. This is the samaj that Gandhi sought to ignite with a sense of its own worth, rousing a nation to unite as one voice to seek swaraj, self-rule, the freedom of the people to rule themselves. As Gandhi said to Tagore, ‘Our national struggle is in reality a struggle for liberty worthy of a self-respecting nation.’ The self-respect and self-reliance that Gandhi wished to arouse in the Indian nation/her samaj, was through implementing social justice by ensuring social inclusion. Tagore reflected the same idea in his essay on ‘Freedom’ where he said, ‘In India the real cause of the weakness that cripples our spirit of freedom arises from the impregnable social walls we raise between the different castes.’ In tune with Gandhi’s concerns, Tagore went on to say, ‘To gain this freedom we need to liberate ourselves from the fetters of self and from all those passions that tend to be exclusive. It is this liberating principle that we must apply to an imprisoning world.’
In a world where conflicts continue, as narrow nationalism sweeps across Nations, driving wedges between social groups and nations, as borders are policed and walls constructed, as majoritarianism marginalises minorities, reinforcing the peripheral positioning of the ‘Other’ in a climate of intolerance and fear, samajic (social) stability is jeopardised and threatened and holistic progress of a community can thus be stalled. Tagore and Gandhi’s concerns about samajic (social) freedom(s) remain more relevant than ever.

To keep the spirit of freedom alive in society, we invite scholars/researchers to join this debate and share their thoughts and ideas on how we can protect and exercise our freedoms in a samaj marked by its sense of social responsibility, relying on the foundational tenets of acceptance, accommodation and creative experiment which can guarantee progress for the nation.
Papers on the following broad themes are welcome :-
• Liberty and Liberation in samaj
• Freedom(s) as basic human rights
• Creativity: the place of art and culture in samaj (society)
• Inter-cultural dialogue and transnationalism
• The Idea of Samaj/Society
• Environment and sustainability
• Education: holistic, creative and interdisciplinary
• Rural reconstruction
• Urban regeneration
• The position of Truth today

Last date for abstract: 30 November 2018
Acceptance of the paper: 15 December 2018
Submission of Complete paper: 12 January 2019
Last date for conference Registration: 22 January 2019

Registration fee:

Indian Foreign Faculty 3000 (INR) 50 (Pounds) / 65 (USD)
Student (Ph.D. Scholars and Graduate Students) 1500(INR)
35 (Pounds) / 45 (USD)

Registration fee is exclusive of accommodation and travel.
Travel: The nearest airport to Manipal is Mangalore. It is connected by flights from Mumbai, Bangaluru and New Delhi.

The Consulate General of India in Edinburgh,

in association with the

Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies, Edinburgh Napier University,
shall be screening a documentary film “Nazrul - His Life…His Journey” by the renowned filmmaker of docu-feature films, Mujibar Rahman at The Chancery premises.

The film documents the life and legacy of the revolutionary poet and composer, Kazi Nazrul Islam who was an important national figure in India and known for his secular ideas and liberal humanism. Nazrul was highly regarded by Shri Rabindranath Tagore and his other contemporaries. His songs form a whole repertoire, known as Nazrulgeeti, which are powerful, moving and melodious. Nazrul was born, lived and wrote in India and died in Bangladesh on a state visit there”. He is one of the best example of the composite culture of India.


on Thursday, 14th September 2017

We have an exciting seminar coming up next Wednesday. Hope you can attend. The details are given below:-

Wednesday September 20, 2017 3.30-5.00 pm, Merchiston Campus, B2

Dr. Howard Booth (University of Manchester)

'Rabindranath Tagore and modernism: translations of The Home and the World'

This paper looks at Rabindranath Tagore and modernism through two translations of his 1916 novel The Home and the World and a number of scenes from Santyajit Ray’s 1984 film adaptation of the novel. It examines the ways in which The Home and the World’s remarkable response to the Swadeshi movement, the British partition of Bengal, and political violence have been re-seen and revisited in the hundred years since the book first appeared.

Dr. Howard J. Booth is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Manchester. He is the co-editor of Modernism and Empire, the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Rudyard Kipling, and the general editor of the proposed Cambridge Edition of the Fiction of E.M. Forster in nine volumes.

This research paper will be chaired by Dr. Andrew Frayn, Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature and Culture at Edinburgh Napier University.

It will be good to see you there!

A date for your diary!

This is a 9 minutes edited version of a 45 minutes recorded interview for Witness by Bashabi Fraser. Some answers were placed against questions asked elsewhere in the interview.

Rabindranath Tagore, Witness - BBC World Service The "Bard of Bengal" died on August the 7th 1941.

Ahimsa Yatra has arrived in Santiniketan, which aims to share the message of ahimsa (nonviolence). His Holiness Acharya Mahashraman's gave a sermon at Visva Bharti University. His message is incredibly important for our times: It is fear that stands in the way of peace. The most felicitous person is the one who overcomes fear. Only when the feeling of fear decreases will we be able to move towards World Peace.

2017.05.22 Ahimsa Yatra Video Message Bolpur 22.05.2017 Ahimsa Yatra reached Bolpur today. A huge number of lay followers accompanied the Vihar and engrossed in the Prime Sermon. Here is a magnif...

The peer-reviewed online journal Gitanjali & Beyond is soliciting manuscripts, creative writing and art to be featured in its next issue on ‘Tagore and the Environment’. This special issue will be edited by Bashabi Fraser, Christine Kupfer and guest-editor Chris Marsh.
Please submit your abstract to [email protected] until 15 June 2017.
Your full article (MLA format), creative writings (previously unpublished), artworks and book reviews will need to be submitted directly through our journal website at http://gitanjaliandbeyond.napier.ac.uk/index.php/gitanjali/about/submissions .

Call for Papers, Creative Writings and Artworks: Tagore and the Environment Gitanjali and Beyond

Happy Holi!

Santiniketan Basanta Utsav 2017 || West Bengal Best Holi 2017 || today Live History of Basanta Utsav (Vasant Utsav) Rabindranath Tagore was the founder of the Vishwabharati University in Shantiniketan, a serene and tranquil town in t...

Roundtable on 'Building understanding across religious and cultural differences: The legacies of Martin Buber' at Edinburgh University, 21 Feb, 4-5.30. Christine Kupfer will be contributing on Tagore and Buber's meetings and a comparison of their philosophical approaches. All welcome.

Roundtable on ‘Building understanding across religious and cultural differences: The legacies of Martin Buber’, Senate Room, New College, 4-5.30pm, 21 February. All welcome. Questions about the event should be addressed to Dr George R. Wilkes, Director of the Project on Religion and Ethics in the Making of War and Peace, at [email protected]. Speakers…

Upcoming Conference: The Poet, Nation and Narration: Geo-Political Poetics - Scotland and the East-West Dimension
Conference co-convened by ScoTs and the Edinburgh International Centre of Peace and Spirituality.
Date: 26 November 2016
Venue: St Augustine's Church
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
Time: Registrartion 9.30 am,Conference sessions: 10 am-5.15 pm
Tickets: £10/5 Conc.

Conference: The Poet, Nation and Narration: Geo-Political Poetics - Scotland and the East-West Dimension | The Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies (ScoTs) - Rabindranath Tagore Conference co-convened by ScoTs and the Edinburgh International Centre of Peace and Spirituality. Date: 26 November 2016 Venue: St Augustine's Church George IV...

Some memorable moments from the afternoon of the launch of our peer reviewed academic and creative e-journal, 'Gitanjali and Beyond' published by the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies.

Gitanjali & Beyond Gitanjali and Beyond is a peer-reviewed open-access international journal, promoting creative writing, artistic expression and research on Rabindranath Tagore’s work and life, his circle and his impact.