THE study of Scottish literature is to be expanded in India following its successful introduction to the MA syllabus at Bankura University in West Bengal.
The university is now planning to include the subject at undergraduate level.
“My major concern is the promotion of Scottish literature at Bankura University,” said vice-chancellor Deb Narayan Bandyopadhyay. “Very recently 24 colleges have been affiliated to Bankura University, thereby bringing around 30,000 students under the governance of Bankura University. I therefore plan to include Scottish Literature/Studies at the undergrad levels as well.”
The plans were described as a “welcome innovation” by Glasgow University’s Professor of Scottish Literature, Alan Riach.
“I’m particularly struck by the fact that within the Indian system – where Bankura is a post-graduate institution served by colleges which deliver undergraduate degrees – that the reach of Bankura is around 30,000 undergraduates,” he said.
The news comes as Scottish academics prepare to attend a two day conference at Bankura later this month on Re-imagining the Nation: Space and Boundary in Scotland and India.
Among those presenting papers will be Neil Fraser, honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh's School of Social and Political Science; and Bashabi Fraser, professor of English and creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University and director of the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies. Professor Carla Sassi of the University of Verona will give the keynote address.
Professor Fraser said yesterday that the links between India and Scotland had been strengthened by the recent gift of the late Jim Alison’s library to Bankura University.
The extensive library collected by the former inspector of Scottish schools was donated by his family after his death last year and its shipment was organised by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) with the help of funding from the Scottish Government.
“The generous gift of Jim Alison’s library of 8,000 books in Scottish Studies to Bankura University will enable it to become India’s hub for Scottish Studies,” said Professor Fraser.
“Visits by leading scholars of Scottish Literature from Scotland to Bankura in Professor Ian Brown, Professor Alan Riach and now by Professor Carla Sassi, who leads the international committee of ASLS, have strengthened the intellectual exchange between Scotland and India. A team from Bankura University including Professor Debnarayan Bandyopadhyay has come to Scotland, and will be going again later on in 2017, keeping up the momentum.”
Scottish language and literature have also recently been promoted in Japan.
Dr Simon W Hall, a specialist in Orkney literature, recently lectured on Scottish and Orcadian language and literature to undergraduates in Shizuoka and Kyoto as well as the Tokyo Caledonian and Scottish Societies. The visit followed the translation of his History of Orkney Literature into Japanese. The book won the Saltire Prize for Scottish First Book of the Year in 2010, and was translated into Japanese by Osamu Yamada and his team of translators at the Tokyo publishers Alba Shobu, who specialise in translating Scottish books into Japanese.
Hall, principal teacher of English at Kirkwall Grammar School in Orkney, has now been invited to visit Bankura to talk to postgraduates, undergraduates and researchers.
Professor Riach said: “The international reach of Scottish literature as demonstrated in India and Japan should truly destroy any idea of our nation’s parochial limitations. While so much media is taken up with the febrile antics of America’s worst aspects, India and Asia more widely are clearly rising all the time.
"And here’s the point: literature and the arts are the only hard diplomacy in the real world, and the student numbers you’re talking about here are serious, so this is an investment made in generations to come. It isn’t bombs and warplanes and state visits and bullying executive commands that make the difference. It’s this.”
The forthcoming conference will take place on February 25 and 26.
Professor Fraser said it would “reflect on the significance/meaning of political borders and place/space and what they mean to those in Scotland and India who have crossed and re-crossed nation-state boundaries, enabling an exchange which has persisted in spite of changing times”.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here