A three-day international conference, titled ‘Entangled Englishes in Translocal Spaces’, virtually began on Thursday.
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni inaugurated the conference as the chief guest, organised by the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.
Chairman of the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) Prof Dr Kazi Shahidullah, and Kazi Nabil Ahmed, an MP and a member of ULAB’s Board of Trustees, joined the event as special guests.
The keynote speaker of the conference is globally renowned socio-linguist Professor Alastair Pennycook, Professor Emeritus at the University of Technology Sydney and Research Professor at the MultiLing Centre of the University of Oslo.
Plenary speakers include Dr Shyam Sharma, Assistant Professor of English, Stony Brook University, New York, Dr Sender Dovchin, Senior Research Fellow, School of Education, Curtin University, Australia, Dr Azfar Hussain, Associate Professor, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, renowned Bangladeshi educator Prof Salimullah Khan, ULAB, and Prof Shamsad Mortuza, acting Vice-Chancellor, ULAB.
Roundtable discussions featuring renowned academics and experts from Bangladesh and abroad on ‘English Studies in the age of World Englishes and World Literature’, ‘Creating humane leaders for English language education in Bangladesh and Beyond: Challenges and future directions’ and ‘Entangled Englishes: Implications for Language-in-Education Policy and Practice’ will be held during this conference.
A panel discussion will also be held on ‘The politics of injustice in translingualism: Linguistic racism’, while a special poetry session will feature Dr Ahmar Mahboob from the University of Sydney, Australia.
This interdisciplinary Conference will showcase papers, panels, and posters on Englishes and their roles in society with reference to sociology, history, political science, anthropology, education, culture and media studies, critical geography, and linguistics and literature.
The conference will also attempt to configure and contest the hegemonic status of English in various domains of life. It will initiate a discursive platform to explore possible ways of “de-elitization” of Englishes for the sustainable development of human resources.
Scholars, researchers and professionals are expected to advance and interchange ideas about critical language awareness for social justice and equality.
The virtual conference will conclude on Saturday.
Source: United News of Bangladesh