International Webinar Series on Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Digital Humanities
International Webinar series on Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Digital Humanities was held on 20th February 2021. The Inaugural Ceremony was graced by Prof. Kalyani Samantaray, Professor & Head, Faculty of Arts, Communication & Indic Studies, Sri Sri University; Prof. Hrushikesha Mohanty, VC, KIIT; Prof. Sudarshan Nanda, Head CIR; and Prof. A. K. Sen, Chairman, UG Progamme and Dean-in-Charge, School of Humanities.
Speaking at the inaugural session, Prof. Kalyani Samantaray talked about the future of Digital Humanities in an explicit way. Prof. Hrushikesha Mohanty expressed happiness that the School of Humanities has been conducting a number of webinars and wished the trend to continue in the near future. Prof. Sudarshan Nanda emphasized on the need of organizing more webinars on the subject for the benefit of the research scholars. Prof. A. K. Sen talked about the technical aspects of the Digital Humanities. Dr. Deepanjali Mishra, Convenor and Dr. Sukanta Chandra Swain, Associate Dean, School of Humanities also spoke on the occasion.
At the first technical session, Dr. Nandini C. Sen, Associate Professor, Delhi University spoke on the topic, ‘Post colonialism, Gender and Digital Humanities’. She explained the meaning, scope, tool and techniques of Digital Humanities, while pointing out the existing digital divide and gender divide in today’s era. She also raised her concern about fake information and cyber crimes and suggested all the participants read ‘Things Fall Apart’. Ms. Sugyanta Priyadarshini, Faculty, School of Humanities moderated the session.
At the second technical session, Dr. Liang Lao, Associate Professor Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Literature and Cultures, University of Kentucky, USA began her talk with the legendary Chinese story, ‘The white Snake’. She made a comparison to the snake that takes the form of a lady and tries to live as a human (but fails). She then spoke about ‘Alice in the Pandemic’ where the female protagonist playing the role of a nurse poignantly portrays about her mental and physical constraints. Dr. Lao concluded her talk with a short 8 minute video of Indrani Pal titled ‘Lady White Snake’, which is an amalgamation of eastern concept of snake spirit with western version of vampire.
The webinar ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Dr. Ananya Mitra, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities. It was attended by faculties, research scholars and researchers from all over the country like West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Odisha and across the globe like South Korea, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Egypt, etc.