International Kannada Conference on Folk Literature and Culture of Karnataka.

This is an open call for papers, presentations and participation for the first international Kannada conference on Folk Culture and Literature of Karnataka. The conference is organized by E-KAVI.

The conference is titled Janapada Saahitya Mattu SamskRuti SammeLana

The E-KAVI conference is scheduled to be held in 2004 in Southern California with cooperation of Karnataka Cultural Association of Southern California "KCA of SC" and in Washington D.C. in cooperation with BHOOMIKAA.org as well.

The primary theme of the conference is janapada saahitya (folk literature) and samskRuti (culture), to encompass Kannada and a diversity of languages with their roots and healthy expanse in Karnataka.

This international conference is open for participation of:

1. people of Kannada origin
2. people interested in culture of Karnataka and Kannada literature
3. people from the rich diversity of languages with roots and
expanse in Karnataka to include tuLu, konkaNi, koorgi, havyaka,
sanketi, bRuhaccaraNa

Interested scholars, professionals and enthusiasts in folk culture and literature may submit proposals / abstracts for papers,
presentations and participation by close of business October 31, 2003 limiting to 500 words (or less) in Kannada (with an
English / Kanglish version, as optional). Electronic version in Baraha 5.0 format is highly recommended, even though printed
versions are acceptable as an alternate format.

The suggested subtopics are:

Folk music and songs - lyrical and musical aspects of casual songs, love songs, laavaNi, group songs, kOlaata songs, koravanji songs, group competition songs.

Folk poetry - short poetry, stories in poetry, impromptu poetry

Folk stories - stories about cultural and religious heritage and history, stories for group presentations

Folk tradition - dress codes in villages and townships Village and ethnic fairs (jaatre) - huttari habba, karaga, bhootada kola

Religious ceremonies and festivals:- Festivals for god shani, maaramma, gowri / ganesha festival, naagara pancami, deepaavaLi, tulasi habba, bheemana amavaasya

Family ceremonies and festivals - birthday, thread ceremonies, coming of age for boys and girls, marriage, shObaana, bridal shower, marriage anniversaries, 60th birth day (shaShTaabdi), death ceremonies, vaanaprastha

Folk humor: Casual humor, group humor, poetic humor, humorous stories, humorous songs, sarcasm, irony

Cuisine -" origin, evolution, adaptation, fusion and growth of unique cuisines of Karnataka

Dance genres - diversity of dance forms indigenous to Karnataka to include kOlaaTa, suggi kuNita, dombara kuNita

Drama genres - diversity of drama and theatre genres indigenous to Karnataka to include yakshagaana, bayalaaTa. Suggested aspects of this topic are stagecraft, costumes and makeup, dialogues and music, dance dramas, musical dramas, dance and music in dramas.

Children's literature

Keynote Speaker:

Padmashri Dr. Chandrashekhara Kambara, Former Vice Chancellor of Hami University, famous author and dramatist, winner of Kabir award.

Plenary Speakers:

1. Sri. Harikrishna Punarooru, President, Kannada Sahithya Parishath
2. Dr. H.C. Boralingiah, Professor and Expert on Folk Literature and Culture, Hampi Kannada University
3. Many other scholars, reputed authors and dignitaries from Karnataka will be attending.

Please Note: Even though the basic theme of the conference is folk culture and literature, we will reserve some sessions to encompass all fiction and non-fiction, all literary genres and also encourage multimedia presentations. The presentations need not be limited to written or spoken presentations; presenters may creatively employ all type of multimedia to include music, dance, audio, graphics, cartoons, pictures, photos, video, archives and antiques.

Some submissions from participants may be scheduled for poster paper and demonstration presentations, so that all conference attendees will be touring these special poster papers and multimedia presentations.

The two-day conference program will have eight sessions, four sessions per day.

Each session will be for ninety minutes, made up of two or three sessions. Each presentation will be allotted 30 minutes.

The presentations are aimed to provide only an overview of their full paper included in the conference proceedings.

Accepted presenters are required to submit a full paper limiting to four page or 2000 words to be included in the conference proceedings.

However, the presenters are encouraged to bring a longer and more detailed versions of their papers / presentations, if they wish to give them as handouts to attendees.

The papers and presentations will be peer reviewed for originality, quality and standards.

Conference Dates and Locations:

Dec 27 and 28, 2003
Conference Location: Los Angeles area

Jan 10 and 11, 2004
Conference Location: Washington D.C.

Please send your abstracts and proposals to:

Dr. KRS Murthy
Conference Chair
Kannada_maathe@yahoo.com
(408)-464-3333

Dr. L. Ganapathi
Conference Co-Chair
Phone (919) 319-5462
lganapathi@nc.rr.com

Dr. Vijaya Kulakarni
Conference Co-Chair
Phone: 301 - 871 - 2234
manoharvl@hotmail.com

For general and administrative questions about the
conference and International Kannada Vedike, please contact:

Mr. V. M. Kumaraswamy,
Address: 14102 Moore Ct. Irvine, CA 92606
E-mail: novamed@aol.com
Phone: 949-857-8044 and 949-857-8578
Fax: 949-653-1911