TALKS, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES
“Crossing
Cultural Borders: Hindu-Muslim Relationship in the Works of Rabindranath Tagore
and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain.” Border Crossings conference, organised by
Flinders University, Australia, Kangaroo Island, 10-12 December, 2012
“What
does it take to Publish in a Renowned English Journal?” Plenary address at
International Postgraduate conference, organised by the International Islamic
University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 21 February, 2012 (invited speaker)
“International Criteria for Publication: How to Publish an Article in a
Refereed Journal from a Thesis or a Conference Paper.” Department of Arabic
Language and Literature, IIUM, 28 February 2012
(invited speaker)
“Formulating Research
Design and Data Analysis: Introduction to Qualitative Research.” CERDAS Research Workshop Series,
IIUM, 21 April 2012 (invited speaker)
“Rabindranath
Tagore: An Eagle-sized Lark.” Lecture in Celebration of Tagore’s 150th
Birth Anniversary, organised jointly by the Malaysian Bengali Association, Indian
High Commission and the Indian Cultural Centre, 18 February 2011, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia (guest speaker)
“War,
Violence and Rabindranath Tagore’s Quest for World Peace.” Talk at the
Cross-Cultural Studies Centre, Singapore Management University, 2 March 2011
(invited speaker)
“In
Conversation with Mohammad A. Quayum: A Discussion on Malaysian Fiction.”
Sharing Borders conference, Singapore, 26 October 2009 (Invited Speaker)
“Celebrating
Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.” Public talk organised by the
Bangladesh High Commission, Kuala Lumpur, 1 June 2008 (guest speaker)
“Interrogating
Malaysian Literature in English: Its Glories, Sorrows and Thematic Trends.”
Graduate Seminar at Universiti Sains Malaysia, 6 December 2007 (invited
speaker)
“A
Herald of Religious Unity: Rabindranath Tagore’s Literary Representation of
Muslims.” 17th New Zealand Asian Studies Society International
conference, 22-23 November 2007
“’My Country’/’Our Country’: Race Dynamics and
Contesting Nationalisms in Lloyd Fernando’s Green is the Colour and
Shirley Lim’s Joss and Gold.” International
Symposium of CISLE "Literatures in English: Ethnic, Colonial and Cultural
Encounters,” Barcelona, Spain, 23 - 27 July 2007
“Whence
the Power? Wherefore the Glory?: Accomplishments and Future Possibilities of
Malaysian Literature in English.” Malaysian English Colloquium organised by the
Faculty of Linguistics, University of Malaya, August 2-5, 2006 (Invited
Speaker)
“A
‘Centre’ at the Margin: An Account of Malaysian Literature in English from
(the) In/Out/Side.” 11th Biennial Symposium on the Literatures and
Cultures of the Asia-Pacific Region, Singapore, 7-10 December, 2005 (Invited
Speaker)
“Lloyd
Fernando: A Celebration of his Life and Work.” At the Lloyd Fernando Occasion
at Sutra House, Kuala Lumpur, 25 June 2005 (guest speaker)
“Rabindranath
Tagore: An Introduction.” Talk in Commemoration of Tagore’s Birth Anniversary,
Silverfishbooks, Kuala Lumpur, 7 May 2005 (guest speaker)
“Imagining
‘One World'’ Rabindranath Tagore’s Critique of Nationalism.” Second Visiting
Professor Lecture, State University of New York at Binghamton, 26 March 2004
“Saul
Bellow and American Transcendentalism: Henderson the Rain King to The
Dean's December.” American Literature Association conference, Boca Raton,
USA, October 2003
“Traversing
Borders, Negotiating Identity: Portrayal of the Malaysian-Indian Diaspora in
K.S. Maniam’s The Return.” “Diasporas” conference in Kangaroo Island,
Adelaide, Australia, 8-11 December 2002
“Nation,
Gender, Identity: Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s Joss and Gold.” American
Studies Reading Circle conference, Calcutta, India, 26-29 August, 2002 (invited
speaker)
“Whence
the Power? Wherefore the Glory?: The Future of Malaysian Literature in
English.” Lecture at the Cross-cultural Studies Centre, Singapore Management
University, 6 November 2002 (invited speaker)
“Paradisiacal
Imagination: Rabindranath Tagore’s Visvovod or Non-national
Neo-universalism.” Lecture at the Cross-cultural Studies Centre, Singapore
Management University, 8 November 2002 (invited speaker)
“Imagining
‘Bangsa Malaysia’: Race, Religion and Gender in Lloyd Fernando’s Green is
the Colour.” “Encounters 2001” conference in Adelaide, Australia, December
2001
“Malaysian
Literature in English: Challenges and Prospects in the New Millennium.” Plenary
paper at the 2nd MICOLLAC, Kuala Lumpur, April 2001 (invited speaker)
“Bangladesh
and the History of Linguistic Nationalism of the Bengali People.” An address in
Bengali on the occasion of the second International Mother Language Day,
organised by the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February
2001 (guest speaker)
“Common
Skies, Divided Horizons: Triumphs of Twentieth Century Literature in the East
and West.” Address at the opening of the Literature Exhibition, UPM, August
2000
“Who
Would not Sing for the Mother Tongue? Glories and Sorrows of the Bengali
Language.” Keynote address at the celebration of the first International Mother
Language Day, UPM, 21 February 2000 (guest speaker)
“Existentialism
in the Fiction of K.S. Maniam: The Return and In a Far Country.”
“Malaysia and Globalisation” conference at the Australian National
University, Canberra, 22‑24 December 1999 (joint paper with Krishnaweni)
“In
Search of a Spiritual Commonwealth: Tagore’s The Home and the World.”
ACLALS conference, Kuala Lumpur, 1-6 December 1998
“Five
Hundred Years of English Literature.” Opening address at the Literature
Exhibition, organised by the students of English, UPM, 27 August 1998
“Touched
by a Divine Afflatus: The Life, Works and Ideology of Rabindranath Tagore.”
Keynote address at the opening of the Tagore Exhibition, organised by the
Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, UPM, 13 August 1998
“Poets
Made by their Circumstances: Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam.” An address
on the occasion of Rabindra Joyanti, organised by the Malaysian Bengali
Association, Kuala Lumpur, May 1997 (guest speaker)
“R.K.
Narayan as a Short Story Writer: Malgudi Days.” Anglo Chinese Girls’ School, Singapore, March 1996
(invited speaker)
“Bellow
and Gardner as Imagination Instructors: Henderson the Rain King and Grendel.”
American Literature Association conference, Baltimore, USA, May 1995
“Emerson
and India.” American Studies Research Centre, Hyderabad, India, December 1995
(invited speaker)
“Whitman
and Tagore: Two Forms of Mysticism.” Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, January 1994
“July’s People: Gordimer’s Radical
Critique of White ‘Liberal’ Attitude.” CRNLE New Literatures conference on
“Factions and Frictions: Literatures, History and Other Contra‑dictions,”
Adelaide, Australia, September 1994
“Bellow
and the Counter Culture Movement of the ‘60s: Herzog and Mr.
Sammler’s Planet." Bangladesh Association for American Studies
(BAAS) conference, Dhaka, December 1992
“Finding
the Middle Ground: A Study of Bellow's Philosophical Affinity with Emerson in Humboldt's
Gift.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA)
conference, Toronto, Canada, April 1990
“Bellow as an
Imagination Instructor: Henderson the Rain King and Humboldt's Gift.” Flinders University of South
Australia, May 1990
“Finding
the Middle Landscape: A Study of Bellow’s Philosophical Affinity with Emerson
in Mr. Sammler’s Planet.” Australasian Universities
Language and Literature Association (AULLA) conference, Sydney, Australia,
February 1989
