The two-Day International conference on
"Mapping Violence and Social Exclusion" (ICMVSE-24)

Concept Note

Urban Space is always seen as an abode of hope, promises, vibrancy of life and opportunities. It proclaims a space with civic sense and rational order, diversity and multiculturalism. Urban space in popular imagination is no less than a utopia. Towering buildings, roads, metros and ever-moving resplendent cities -the ‘iconic and verbal images’ of urban experience produced through various media project social and cultural inclusiveness as its innate nature, attracting people from different spheres of society to the cities. However, the recent studies on city structures validates that this spectacle of a city belies the embedded violence and exclusion in the structuring and functioning of the city itself. The discussions around the exclusionary nature of the cities has recently also been amplified by the influx of migrants in modern metropolis. The studies on these spaces in the past few years took a cultural approach and Urban Studies as a discipline has developed from the reading of city spaces from an architectural point of view to the understanding of social interactions men have with their physical environment.

Rapid urbanization, urban expansion and gentrification focusing on the formation of megacities generates the marginal population. Urban marginalization, in fact, makes the cities fragile, limiting the capacities of city dwellers in margin. The narratives of urban spaces portray the constant negotiation with different ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups, histories, memories and identities. They recount narratives of subjugation, exclusion and surveillance. Therefore, the cityscapes portrayed in the literary narratives cannot be merely considered as a backdrop to the text, but are to be mapped and excavated multiple times as sites of violence, constant struggle and tireless resistance. Art, aesthetics and politics of cityscapes, violent and artistic protests that filled the urban streets, inclusive and exclusive nature of its inhabitants, challenges and opportunities are represented, created and recreated in the various genres of literature. The urban spatial markers and locations represented and reconstituted in literary narratives are always in the academic discourses.

The aim of this conference is to bring together international and national scholars of various disciplines to investigate multifaceted perspectives of social movements, cultural concerns, rebellions, protests, and crime activities representing social inequality and violence through different artistic and literary narratives of urban spaces. We invite research papers for the conference covering the themes as listed below. However, it is also open to any related topics.