ULAB hosts int’l conference on refugee issues

University of Liberal Arts (ULAB)’s Department of English and Humanities organised a two day conference titled ‘Refugees in the Public Imagination: Discourse on (Dis)location and (Dis)placement’ on Friday and Saturday.

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Professor Abdul Mannan inaugurated the session, who congratulated ULAB for hosting a conscientious and comprehensive panel and papers on such urgent and pressing issues of our time as the global refugee crises.

ULAB’s Vice-Chancellor Dr Jahirul Haque gave the welcoming speech, while the Head of the Department of English and Humanities Dr Shamsad Mortuza expressed a vote of thanks, says a press release.

The first day of the conference commenced with academic Dr Anjali Gera Roy’s keynote speech titled, ‘Migration, Mobility, Immobility.’ Dr Roy is a Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Her paper was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Professor Imran Rahman, Special Advisor to the Board of Trustees at ULAB, who spoke at length with representatives from UNHCR and Save the Children working with the Rohingya community on site in Cox’s Bazaar.

Other significant sessions were hosted by eminent scholars and academics, Dr Niaz Zaman, Dr Anjali Gera Roy, Dr Fakhrul Alam, Dr Debjani Sengupta, Dr Perween Hasan, Dr Razia Sultana Khan, Dr Firdous Azim, Professor Afsan Chowdhury, and Dr Syed Manzoorul Islam.

The first day’s parallel sessions covered a range of topics including transnational diaspora, public imagination and the migrant ‘Other,’ and racial-cultural hybridity.

The second and final day of the two day International conference began with Dr Debjani Sengupta presenting her keynote paper titled, ‘An Enclave’s Marginal Lives: Selina Hossain’s Bhumi O Kusum (2010).’ Dr Sengupta, an Associate Professor with the Department of English at Indraprastha College, University of Delhi.

The plenary session of the second day of the International conference was conducted by eminent scholar and political analyst, Dr Salimullah Khan, Professor of the Department of General Education at ULAB, titled, ‘One and Only Figure of the Refugee.’

Dean of Humanities at ULAB Professor Dr Kaiser Haq gave the closing speech.