New Delhi,The Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia organised a One-Day International Conference on “Semiotics of Love: Between the Anthropological and the Cosmological Aspects of Being”. The conference began with a welcome address by the HOD Professor Mukesh Ranjan. The guests of honour included Harjeet Singh Gill, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Jonah Raskin, Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies Department, Sonoma State University California, USA; and Rashmi Doraiswamy, Professor MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Special guests, Ishwar Dayal Gaur, Professor of History, Multidisciplinary Research Centre, Department of Evening Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh; Rosy Singh, Professor Centre of German Studies, School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India; Nishat Zaidi, Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; Saroj Kumar Mahananda, Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; and Nishat Haider, Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Vote of Thanks was delivered by Dr. Roomy F. Naqvy, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, where he thanked the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, the Registrar, the Dean, the Head, the esteemed guests and Prof. Anuradha Ghosh for her initiative.
The first plenary panel consisted of Harjeet Singh Gill, Jonah Raskin, and Rashmi Doraiswamy who discussed “Semiotics of Love, “What’s Love Got to Do with It? Thoughts on Love and Semiotics”, and “Transgressing Species Boundaries: Love, Its Sacrifices, Its Epiphanies”. The second plenary panel comprising of Ishwar Dayal Gaur, Rosy Singh, Nishat Haider and Anuradha Ghosh shared their intellectual thoughts on “Semiotics of Love and the Qissa Art: The Legend of Heer Ranjha”, “He loves me, he loves me not . . . Some Reflections on ‘love’ in literature”, Conceptualizing Love: A Critical Analysis of Harjeet Singh Gill’s Dialogue With A Girl Friend, and Semiotics of Love/ Love for Semiotics (Somewhere in between…). This was followed by nine paper presentations by students of Jamia Millia Islamia and other universities.
The valedictory address was given by Professor Harish C. Narang, where he spoke about significant interventions regarding love and this session was chaired by the HOD.
