WELCOME to SALIDAA’s March newsletter.
Find out
the latest in
SALIDAA News
. Check out an invitation for a new
blog in the
Voicebox
, and see the
Spotlight
on featured artists. Get
In the Picture
about recent book and
film releases and browse the
March Events Listings
. View
information for students, researchers, academics and arts practitioners in
Calls for papers /Opportunities
.
Big Brother: return of the 'racial' real? An invitation to
contribute to darkmatter - a new online blog-journal:
www.darkmatter101.org
What does the recent response to the events in the UK
Celebrity Big Brother say about the state of local/global race, gender and
class relations? Is Reality TV the political unconscious of the everyday? Are
Channel 4 and Endemol responsible for 'race relations'? Does the 'victory' for
the Bombay cinema star Shilpa Shetty indicate the triumph of anti-racism and/or
multicultural neo-liberalism? Is the 'exotic beauty' of the middle-class Indian
femininity the new Orientalist discourse of contemporary geo-politics? Are the
white working class the new pathologised racial underclass?
These and many
other questions are raised by the Big Brother event. You are invited to
contribute towards the first special issue of a new online blog-journal
darkmatter. A project committed to producing incisive post-colonial cultural
critique in a world of information banality and cultural mediocrity.
Contributions of 500-3000 words in whatever genre or form are welcome.
Please send pieces for this first issue to us by 26 March 2007.
If you
would like further information see about the special issue contact us directly
via email at editors@darkmatter101.org
Do you have a review of a recent event, book or film or an idea
or debate that you’d like to share with the SALIDAA community? We invite you to
sound out the Voicebox for yourself. Write in with 200-300 words to
sharanya@salidaa.orgsharanya@salidaa.org and let us hear your voice. Please
write in before the 21st March 2007 for April’s issue.
Kuljit Bhamra teaching young student – Photograph,
mid-1990s
Kuljit Bhamra (1959 - )
Copyright: Tony
Saunders
This black and white photograph was taken during the mid 1990s at
a workshop held at Middlesex University, of which Kuljit Bhamra is an alumnus
of. The photograph depicts Bhamra teaching a young student to play the
tabla.
Click here to see the Kuljit Bhamra Collection
Researcher’s Directory:
We aim to provide a
forum for ongoing engagement with our collections, and invite all those
interested in South Asian Diaspora literature and arts to contribute to a
Researcher’s Directory that will appear on our website. The list may be used as
a point of contact for those interested in debate, discussion and collaboration
with others and it will foster a research community around the SALIDAA digital
archive. If you are interested in being included in the directory, please send
your name, affiliation, areas of research/interest, and email address to
sharanya@salidaa.org.uk.
Forthcoming Events:
If you would like the
SALIDAA Newsletter to list your forthcoming events please email
sharanya@salidaa.org with all details including Event Title, Dates and Times,
Location, Description (max. 200 words), Admission Fees. Please notify us about
your forthcoming event by the 25th of each preceding month, i.e. to have your
event listed in April’s newsletter, please send information by 25 March.
Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance
& the Politics of Place by Minoli
Salgado (Routledge, December
2006)
Focusing on ways in which cultural nationalism has
influenced both the production and critical reception of texts, Minoli Salgado
presents a detailed analysis of eight leading Sri Lankan writers - Michael
Ondaatje, Romesh Gunesekera, Shyam Selvadurai, A. Sivanandan, Jean
Arasanayagam, Carl Muller, James Goonewardene and Punyakante Wijenaike - to
rigorously challenge the theoretical, cultural and political assumptions that
pit 'insider' against 'outsider', 'resident' against 'migrant' and the
'authentic' against the 'alien'. By interrogating the discourses of
territoriality and boundary-making that have come into prominence sine the
start of the civil war, Salgado works to define a more nuanced and sensitive
critical framework, that actively reclaims marginalized voices and draws upon
recent studies in immigration and the diaspora, to reconfigure the Sri Lankan
critical terrain.
Mosquito by Roma
Tearne (Harper Press Fiction, March 2007)
Mosquito is the first novel by Roma Tearne who came to England
at the age of 10. Tearne is also a visual artist currently based in Oxford who
will be exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford this month. The
exhibition will include the paintings seen in the endpapers of Mosquito. The
novel is story of love, loss and war, set in Sri Lanka, London and Venice. When
author Theo Samarajeeva returns to his native Sri Lanka after his wife's death,
he hopes to escape his gnawing loss amidst the lush landscape of his
increasingly war-torn country. But as he gives himself up to life in his
beautiful, tortured land, he also finds himself slipping into friendship with
an artistic young girl, Nulani - a friendship that gradually blossoms into
love. Under the threat of civil war, as the quiet coastal town fills with
whispers and suspicions, their affair offers a glimmer of hope to a country on
the brink of destruction.
Auditions for Indian/Bollywood dancers, Dancing Nikita
Company
, Featherstone Sports Centre, 11 Montague Waye, Southall,
Middlesex
The Dancing Nikita Company are holding auditions for advanced
level dancers of ANY ethnic origin to join their Bollywood dance troupe.
Previous Indian/Bollywood dance experience is ideal but not necessary for the
audition as we will train successful participants. Details of the audition are
as follows: Date: Sunday 11th March 2007. Venue: Downstairs studio,
Featherstone Sports Centre (next to high school), 11 Montague Waye, Off Western
Road, Southall, Middlesex (near Southall train station). The audition process
will consist of: Between 2-2.30pm, each dancer will individually present their
own dance piece for 2mins of their strongest technique. In this piece we will
be looking for rhythm, timing of the candidate, projection of movement, clarity
of movement, energy, stage presence and expression. Successful dancers will be
asked to stay for the workshop. Workshop will be a 15min session from 3pm where
you will learn Kathak, Bollywood & Modern dance movements. We will be
testing your pick up skills according to the pace that we teach our
choreography. You will be asked to then leave the room and wait in the
reception area for 15-20mins whilst the judge(s) decide. You will be brought
back in small groups to be told the verdict. Dancing Nikita Company Tel: 07904
075144. E-mail: admin@dancingnikitacompany.com
www.dancingnikitacompany.com
Auditions: 11 March 2007, 14:00-15:00
Indicorps Fellowship Programme, 2007-2008
Are you a changemaker? Are you committed to improving the lives
of others? Do you believe in leading with integrity? Do you have the passion
and motivation to inspire an entire community?
Can you be the change you
wish to see in the world?
Indicorps is a programme designed to allow
talented young people of Indian origin the opportunity to dedicate a year of
their lives to empowering communities in India. Successful applicants will be
partnered with grassroots NGO’s to find sustainable solutions to some of
India’s most pressing problems such as education, public health and civic
engagement.
There is no such thing as a typical project, just as there is
no such thing as a typical Fellow. Indicorps team members come from all
religions, backgrounds and experiences. They are united by their commitment to
working towards a common vision of a better India, and are motivated to do
everything they can to create sustainable change in the communities that they
serve.
For more information, including how to apply, please visit
www.connectindia.org.uk/indicorps
and
http://apply.indicorps.org/
Or write to info@indicorps.org.uk
Deadline:
01 April 2007
Please note: This archived version of the SALIDAA
newsletter does not contain the monthly events listings. If you would like to
be signed up to receive the full newsletter please email
sharanya@salidaa.org.uk.
