Curriculum Integration Spring 2023: Forum One
The Department of English and Humanities (DEH), at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh organized the first forum of its Spring 2023 Curriculum Integration (CI) program on March 9, 2023. This program enables the students to make real life connections between their course materials and a specified theme based on real-world significance. This semester the theme is “The Production, Representation and Reimagining of Spaces in Language and Literature.” Two forums, with expert speakers on the subject, are organized to help students understand the concept and how it may be related to their courses. The speaker of Forum One was Dr. Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor, DEH, who discussed the concepts of space in literature.
The program began with a welcome note and comments on the CI and the chosen theme by Professor Shamsad Mortuza, Special Advisor to the ULAB Board of Trustees. The Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Professor Kaiser Haq spoke about the term space itself and the history of poetry.
The Speaker of Forum One, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam began by giving students a background history of how space is relevant to literature. He shed light on how space is not just a physical entity, but is also cultural, political, economic, industrial, psychological, emotional, and geographic. He also discussed examples from different writers, philosophers, and even architects to give a clear picture of space and its usage from every sector of life. He reflected on the loss of personal space, and how its definition and idea changes with time and modernization. The relationship between literary geography and topography, postmodern play of places in the era of globalization, national/supranational and border space, space and power, emancipation of space, space vs place, etc., were some of the ideas Prof. Islam shared that the students could relate to their course materials and establish a project on.
Subsequent to Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam’s elaborate discussion, the floor was opened up for a round of questions. The program ended with a vote of thanks by the Head of the Department, Ms. Arifa Ghani Rahman.
The program was organized by Ms. Mehek Chowdhury and Sheikh Nahiyan, Lecturers, DEH. The volunteers and students actively participated and contributed to the event.
Report by Kifayat Jahan Zerin (222013018)
