Kolkata, Sept. 13 -- St Xavier's University, Kolkata, hosted a two-day national conference titled "Narratives of the Mind: Media, Literature and Culture in the Indian Context" on September 10 and 11, bringing together students, scholars and educators from across the country.
Organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Studies, the conference explored how literature, media and culture shape society's understanding of the human mind. The sessions covered diverse areas including literature, psychology, media and cultural studies.
Vice-Chancellor Rev. Fr. Dr John Felix Raj, SJ, inaugurated the conference in the presence of Registrar Rev. Fr. Dr Xavier Jeyaraj, SJ, and other dignitaries. Dr Arka Chattopadhyay of IIT Gandhinagar delivered the keynote address, while Dr Nilanjana Bagchi of Bethune College and journalist and Press Club Kolkata president Dr Snehasis Sur delivered plenary addresses.
The conference received 325 abstracts, with 88 papers presented offline and 106 online across parallel sessions. Participants included faculty members, PhD scholars and students from institutions such as BHU, Jadavpur University, NIT Srinagar, University of Hyderabad, IISER Bhopal, Christ University, IIT Madras and St Xavier's College, Mumbai. Discussions covered trauma narratives, mental health in film and digital media, selfhood on social media, disability studies, neurodiversity and indigenous understandings of the mind.
The valedictory address was delivered by Prof Debashis Bandhopadhyay, Pro Vice-Chancellor of KIIT, Bhubaneswar. The conference concluded with a call for sustained interdisciplinary research and academic collaboration.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.