Punjab Newspaper

200 delegates from across the world including UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Germany< Australia, Japan, Pakistan and India are expected to participated in the second World Punjabi Conference being organized by Panjab University, Chandigarh. The conference wil be held on February 24-25, 2009. The university today said it is committed to the multifaceted development of Punjabi language, literature, culture and scholastic tradition of Punjab.

In this context it is holding the Panjab University Second World Punjabi Conference, on February 24-25, 2009, under the Chief Patronage of our worthy Vice-Chancellor Prof. R.C. Sobti. Today Prof. Bhupinder Brar, Dean University Instruction, Prof. S.S. Bari, Registrar, and Prof. Mahindra Kumar, Chairman, Indian Theatre, P.U. released broucher of the conference in the Senate Hall of University.
Large number of teachers, Deans of the various Faculties, head of the departments were present in this occasion. During the programme president and organize secretary of the conference Prof. Jaspal Kaur Kaang and Prof. Gurpal Singh Sandhu respectively explained the theme and detail programme of the conference. The proposed Panjab University World Punjabi Conference-2009, second in the series, will be organized on 24-25th of February on the theme: The Making of Punjabi Culture: Region, Diaspora and Global Challenges. It will cover a whole range of issues and concerns confronting the contemporary Punjabi society, especially the practices that have led to the construction of Punjabi cultural space in the newly developed global order.
Two hundred delegates from across the world, including England, USA, Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, Japan, Pakistan and different parts of India, are expected to attend the conference. Another five hundred local delegates from among the faculty of P.U., other universities of the region, affiliated colleges as well as Punjabi writers and artists are also likely to participate in it. Punjabi society is global in character. Punjabis are settled in a number of countries, bearing different nationalities and maintaining a close relationship with the culture of the land of five rivers. Though the physical geography of Punjab stands divided between India and Pakistan, Punjabis have extended their cultural geography to different regions, nations and countries.
Punjabi cultural identity operates at two levels. One, the discourse of the Punjabis is repeatedly articulated in terms of their respective region and nation; two, it is re-articulated in terms of social and cultural expression of their common link with Punjabiat. So, the cultural constructions of contemporary Punjabi society negotiate the complex boundaries of region, diaspora and the global economic order. In the present situation, it is not possible to access and understand Punjabi culture from the vantage point of conventional views, using analytical methods. Its boundaries are widening from the spiritual to the material, and the scientific culture. As a result, its representations have become co-extensive with art, literature, social organizations and scientific/technological institutions.
Punjabi culture can only be mediated through interdisciplinary methods. The objective of this conference is to develop holistic methods based upon the critical systems available in sciences, social-sciences, humanities and literary theory, and also scrutinize the issues, contexts and concerns of contemporary Punjabi culture. Our effort shall be to make it a truly collaborative enterprise for scholars drawn from different disciplines and faculties. Apart from serving as a common platform for the scholars, researchers and students of various disciplines, the conference also proposes to promote an interdisciplinary approach to Punjabi Studies in the region. Six academic session related with the issues such as; Punjabi Sensibility & Literary Discourse; Development & Cultural Transformation; Invasion, Dispersions and Diaspora; Cultural Anthropology of Punjab; Punjabi Culture in Electronic Media, Print Media & Cinema. Will be discussed in the conference and the well-known scholars from India and abroad are coming to present the papers.