Dr. Firdous Azim’s Lecture at DEH CI Forum II: Fall 2020

Second Curriculum Integration Forum on “The Normal, the Abnormal and the New Normal”

The Department of English and Humanities (DEH) at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) held the second session of its third Curriculum Integration (CI) Program on Thursday, 26 November 2020.

Professor Kaiser Haq, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, formally welcomed the speaker whom he has known for a very long time.

Then, the speaker, Professor Firdous Azim, Head of the Department of English and Humanities at BRAC University, addressed the topic using both postcolonialist and feminist lenses. Engaging with theorists like Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud, and Edward Said, she focused on the left out arenas in literature produced from the Enlightenment era to mid twentieth century and went on to show how they struggled to be included in the dominant discourse of their time. Referring to writers as diverse as Emily Bronte, to Wollstonecraft, to Woolf, and to Arundhati Roy, her lecture showed how norms are established and broken, and how the new normal is constructed through many forms of subversions and transgressions.

The talk ended with an interactive Q/A session with the audience comprising both students and faculty members from the department and other universities. Several guests logged in from abroad and many followed along on the live cast on Facebook.

At the end of the program, Professor Shamsad Mortuza, Head of the Department and Pro Vice-Chancellor of ULAB, gave a vote of thanks to the speaker and the audience for their participation.

Dr. Tabassum Zaman is the organizer of the Fall 2020 CI Forum and the event was coordinated by her.

Watch the full video here: https://www.facebook.com/ULABian/videos/721309515427816