Dynamics of Subaltern Consciousness: Critical Perspectives ,Edited by Professor(Dr) Bishnu Charan Dash

 Dr. Bishnu Charan Dash (b. 1960-) is a Professor of English , Assam (Central) University, Silchar at Diphu Campus, Assam. He did his Ph.D in Comparative Literature as J.R.F and S.R.F (1984-86) at Sambalpur UniversityOdisha. After having served as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in English for more than two decades in Assam since 1986, he joined the Diphu Campus of Assam University as its founder teacher in October 2007. He has guided twentytwo M.Phil Scholars, and eleven Ph.D Scholars and four Ph.D  Scholars  are under his active supervision . He has attended several International and National Seminars and has published more than fifty research papers in International and National journals like Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, Transactions (Journal of the Institute of Indian Geographers), Annual Research Journal of Foll Assam, Rock Pebbles and Transcript (Journal of Literature and Cultural Studies), IOSR, Transcript, Literary Endeavour. Besides being associated with Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics as its Editorial Associate, he is also in the Editorial board of Rock Pebbles and Transcript. His book Mystic Eros: Troubadours and Vaishnava Poets of Medieval India (ISBN: 978-81-8390-061-4) has been published by Abhishek Prakashan, New Delhi in 2010, Dynamics of Subaltern Consciousness Critical Perspectives(2015), Negotiating Subaltern Consciousness: A North-East Perspective (2015),  he has also edited a book titled "A.C.Shukla As We Know Him" which was published by Coole Grove Publishers New York in 2019 and three other books titled (i)  (ii) Troubadours and the Philosophy of Tantricism and Sahajiya Vaishnavism, (ii) Tryst with Essays in Comparative Literature and Culture, (iv) Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa and Sambalpuri: A Study in Ethos and . His area of research interest encompasses American Literature, Comparative Literature, Religion and Philosophy, Medieval Studies, Oriental Studies, Shakespeare Studies, Cultural Studies, Diaspora and Subaltern Studies.

Subaltern Studies is fore-grounded upon the Hegelian idea of master-slave dialectics concretizing the relationship between 'self and the other -a theory conceptualized by such other philosophers as Husserl, Sartre, Levinas, Derrida, Foucault, Said and Homi K. Bhabha as well. It was Antonio Gramsci who used the term subaltern to signify a subjugated social category and people of inferior rank, dominated by the hegemonic power-structure of the colonial set-up. As in Postcolonial studies, subaltern historiography also interrogates cultural hegemony and grand narratives in favour of marginalized narratives and the voices from the fringes- orphans, widows, beggars, peasants, labour forces in slums and exploited factory workers, humiliated and marginalized sexual minorities like eunuchs and lesbians. The present anthology highlights the many- sided nuances concerning subaltern consciousness ranging from the powerful plea for a persistent protest through discontent and appropriation of the subaltern (B.K.Danta and R.K Rath) to the depiction of marginalization of Dalits and their 'pain' as facts and their search for identity through autobiographical outpouring (A Patil, P. Nair and S. Bhattacharjee); from the subalternity of the elite and of sexually harassed minorities (A Parhi, S Goswami and D. Doley) to resistance of the tribals against state hegemony and exploration of subaltern space through collaborative community and reclaiming of their past (M. Pati and J. Kakati); from the voices of women subalterns choked by the colonial masters to their relocation in African American condition (A. Chaudhury and P. Upadhyay); from appropriating subaltern consciousness in Indian English poetry and novels (K. Balachandran, S. Chelliah, J. Sarangi) to situating widows as subalterns (B. C. Dash)- thereby exhaustively covering a wide range of issues pertaining to the dynamics of subaltern consciousness.