Curriculum Vitae Saitya Brata Das
Associate Professor Email: [email protected] Centre for English Studies [email protected] School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies Tel: 91+11+2670 4246 Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi -110067 Web: www.jnu.ac.in/Faculty/sbdas/cv.pdf
Areas of Interest
- Aesthetic Theories, Tragedy and Philosophy, Political Theology (Jacob Taubes, Carl Schmitt, Erik Peterson), 20th Century French thinking (Emmanuel Lévinas, Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blanchot, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe), German Idealism ( Schelling), Martin Heidegger and Franz Rosenzweig.
Education
- Ph. D in Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2006. “Ecstasy, Death and Disaster: Ethics and Aesthetics at the Limit of Philosophy”.
- M.A in English, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2000.
- B.A in English, Gauhati University, 1997.
Awards
- Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, 2009-2011.
- Post Doc Fellow, UFR Philosophie, Université de Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, 2006-07.
- Junior Research Fellowship, University Grants Commission, 2000.
Academic Employment
- Associate Professor, Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, September 2013 onwards.
- Assistant Professor, Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, from November 2012 to September 2013.
- Assistant Professor, Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, Sept. 2001-Nov. 2012.
Ph. D Research Supervision
- Aatreyee Ghosh, History, Memory and the Immemorial in Amitabh Ghosh’s Fiction ( work in progress), co-guiding with Prof. G.J.V. Prasad.
- Soumana Biswas , Workings of Postmemory: Reading Recent Partition Fiction (work in progress), co-guiding with Prof. G.J.V. Prasad.
- Arunima Sen, “ A Citizen of Law: Sovereignty and its Representations in Colonial Bengal During the 19th Century”, ( work in progress), co-guiding with Prof. G. J.V. Prasad.
- Simon Tabet, La traversée de la postmodernity, de l’Amérique à l’Europe: Histoire intellectuelle et culturelle de la réception de l’idée postmoderne en France, ( work in progress), co-guiding as part of Cultural Studies Literary Interzones Erasmas Mundas Joint Doctorate Programme.
- Jhinuk Sen, Writing an End – Suicide Notes as Alternative Biographies ( work in progress), co- guiding with Prof. Saugata Bhaduri.
M. Phil Research Supervision
- Priyanka Das, Eros, the Male Body and Bollywood in the Age of Consumerism ( work in progress), co-guiding with Dr. Dhananjay Singh.
Publications Books
- The World to Come: Selected Essays on Ethics and Politics ( Delhi: Aakar Books, 2014 forthcoming)
- The Wounded World: Essays on Ethics and Politics ( Delhi: Aakar Books, 2013).
- The Promise of Time: Towards a Phenomenology of Promise ( Shimla: IIAS, 2011).
Edited Books
- The Weight of Violence: Religion, Language, Politics, edited with Soumyabrata Choudhury, (Oxford, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014).
- Politics and Religion ( Delhi: Aakar Books, forthcoming, 2014)
Articles and Essays
- “The Gift of the World: A Note on Political Theology” in Culture and Religion ( London: Taylor& Francis), Vol. 15, issue 3, Autumn 2014 ( forthcoming). ISSN: 1475-5610.
- “Schelling: Metaphysics and Politics” in Analecta Hermeneutica ( International Institute for Hermeneutics ), the forthcoming issue. ISSN 1918-7351
- “Political Eschatology of Schelling” in Politics and Religion, ed. Saitya Brata Das ( Delhi: Aakar Books, 2014, forthcoming)
- “Tears are not Yet Wiped Away from All Faces” to be published in The Weight of Violence: Religion, Language , Politics ( Oxford, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014).
- “Affirmation of Deconstruction: A Yes, and A Yes and A Yes Once Again” in Journal of the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies ( Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi: Pencraft International), Spring 2012, pp. 26-31. ISSN 0972-9682.
- “On Beatitudes: A Critique of Historical Reason” in Kritike (http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_12/das_june2013.pdf), vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 22-35. ISSN 1908- 7330.
- “The Irreducible Remainder: Towards the Idea of a Finite Politics” in Journal for Cultural Research ( London: Routledge, October 2011), vol. 16, issue 4, pp.418-442. ISSN 1479-7585.
- “The Destinal Question of Language” in Kriterion: Revista de Filosofia , vol 52, issue 123, June 2011, pp.121-138. ISSN 0100 -512X.
- “Of Pain: The Gift of Language and the Promise of Time” in Comparative and Continental Philosophy (Sheffield & Oakville: Equinox Publications, May 2011), Vol. 3, issue 1. ISSN: 1757- 0638.
- “F. W. Schelling” in Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (www.iet.utm.edu/schellin/), 2011.
- “The Lightning Flash of Language” in Philosophical Forum (Wiley Blackwell, Fall 2010), vol 41, issue 3, pp. 315-345. ISSN 0031-806X.
- “(Dis)Figures of Death: Taking the Side of Derrida, Taking the Side of Death” in Derrida Today(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, May 2010), Vol 3:1, pp. 1-20. ISSN: 1754-8500.
- “The Abyss of Human Freedom” in Journal for Indian Council of Philosophical Research (Oct 2010), vol.XXVII,No.4, 91-104.ISSN: 0970-7794.
- “Derrida’s Tympan: Mourning, Philosophy, Literature” in Research and Criticism, Banaras Hindu University Journal (Pencraft, 2010), vol 1, pp. 23-34.). ISSN: 2229-3639.
- “The Open” in Kritike (http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_6/das_december2009.pdf. ISSN 1908-7330.
- “Wholly Otherwise” in Journal for Cultural Research ( London : Routledge, Taylor and Francis , 2008),12:2,pp.167-180). ISSN 1479-7585.
- “To Philosophize is to learn how to die?” in Kritike, Vol2,no1, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_3/das_june2008.pdf ( June 2008), pp. 31-49. ISSN 1908-7330.
- “What is Assamese Community: Hospitality, Identity , Difference” in Contemporary Concerns , ed. By Dilip Gogoi ( Guwahati: Anwesha, 2008), pp. 43-48. ISBN: 81-89003-26-7.
- “The Melancholic Name” in Journal for Cultural Research (London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2007), 11:2, pp. 111-123. ISSN 1479-7585.
- “The Experience of the Limit: Nietzsche’s Abyssal Experience of the Eternal Return”, in Franson Manjali, ed. Nietzsche: Philologist, philosopher and Cultural Critic (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 2006) , pp. 71-81. ISBN: 81-8424-021X.
- “Tragic Responsibility and the Limit of Knowledge” in Franson Manjali, ed. Post-structuralism and Critical Theory: Beyond the Linguistic Turn (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 2006), pp. 226-238. ISBN: 81-8424-020-1.
- “Of Force, Of Rhythm, Of Melody”, in Language Forum, vol.30, No.2, July-Dec 2004 , New Delhi, pp. 11-25. ISSN 0253-9071.
Review Essay
- “Melancholy and Philosophy: Benjamin on Language and Truth” , review essay of Ilit Ferber’s Philosophy and Melancholy: Benjamin’s Early Reflections on Theatre and Language (Stanford University Press, 2013), is published in Comparative and Continental Philosophy , vol. 6 no.1 , May, 2014, 90-98, ISSN: 1757-0638.
Book Reviews
- Book Review of Saumybrata Choudhury’s Theatre, Number, Event : Three Studies on the Relationship between Sovereignty, Power and Truth ( Shimla: IIAS, 2013), published Humanities Underground ( http://humanitiesunderground.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/theatre-number-event-an- appraisal/).
Other Published Writings
- “Death, Life and Law” published in issue 5, Café Dissensus (http://cafedissensus.com/2014/01/01/death-life-and-law/).
Conferences/Talks
- “The Political Theology of Schelling” in German Idealism and Indian Thought, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, 20th June 2014.
- Organized “The Divine Names: Linguistic Theories in Theology, Aesthetics and Politics”, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 21 March 2014.
- “Schelling: Metaphysics and Politics”, Centre for Philosophy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 12 March 2014.
- “Death and Immortality in Plato and Lévinas” in an international conference Greek Studies : Asian Perspectives, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 25-28 February 2014.
- “Death – an Intrigue of Philosophy” in Last Minute Exercises, organized by Hannah Hurtzig at New Delhi, 15th February 2014.
- “Political Theology: Messianism, Eschatology and the Political” in Politics and /of Religion, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 31st October & 1st November, 2013.
- “Affirmation of Deconstruction – Yes and a Yes and a Yes Once Again”, in Traditions of Intellectual Inquiry: Histories, Politics, Responses, Lady Shree Ram College, Delhi University, 22- 23 March, 2013.
- “The Labor in the Heart – The Prayer of Franz Rosenzweig”, in Hebrew Language and Culture: Reception, Self-Conception and Intercultural Relation, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 28-30 January, 2013.
- Contributed to the discussion on Saumyabrata Choudhury’s recently published book , Theatre, Number, Event: Three Studies on the Relationship between Sovereignty, Power and Truth, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, 26th April, 2013.
- Organized an international workshop on Political Theology , Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, 13th April, 2012.
- Organized an international conference on Religion, Violence and Language, held at Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 9th to 11th April 2012. My presentation is entitled “Franz Rosenzweig: The Messianic Critique of Violence”.
- “Heidegger: Language, Death and Time” in a workshop, After Heidegger: Language, Negativity and Time organized at Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University on 14th January 2012
- “ On Beatitudes: Towards a Critique of Historical Reason” , presented in a national conference on Singularities: Literature, Language, Philosophy, held at School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University on 9th and 10th January 2012.
- “The Gift of Beatitudes” at the Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, on 29th November 2011
- “Walter Benjamin: Between Theology and History” at the Centre for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, on 29th November 2011
- “The Abyss of Human Freedom”, at the Centre of Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, on 27th August 2011.
- “The Commandment of Love: Messianicity and Exemplarity in Franz Rosenzweig” in The History of Philosophy, Athens Institute of Educations and Research, Athens, Greece , 30th May to 2nd June 2011
- “The Promise of Time: Towards a Phenomenology of Promise” , Indian Institute of Advanced Study, on 30th March 2011.
- “Erotic and Philosophy: A Note on Love, Life and Thought”, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, on 6th May, 2010.
- “The Infinite Contestation “ in Society and Literature, organized by ICSSR and North East Hill University, Shillong , 16-18th March 2010.
- “(Dis)Figures of Death: Taking the Side of Death, Taking the Side of Derrida” in Symposium on Derrida, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU, 9th Oct 2009.
- “The Open “, Indian Institute of Advanced Study,10th Sept 2009.
- “Is Freedom the First Right?”, in Moral Dilemmas in the Globalized World, the Center for Philosophy, School of Social Sciences, I, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 27-29 Feb. 2008
- “Of Fatigue, Of Patience – Finitude, Writing, Mourning” in Levinas – Blanchot: Penser La Difference , organized at UNESCO, Paris , 13-16 Nov. 2006.
- “The Wounded Negativity: Reflections on Tragedy, Community and The Ethical Order” in Public Sphere: The Fate of a Philosophical Concept, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India on 21st March 2006.
- “Tears of Reading: Responding to Heidegger-Sartre Debate (Once More)”, in Philosophy and History of Philosophy , Delhi University, India on 19th, 20th, and 21st Jan. 2006.
- Aesthetics, Politics, Philosophy , School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, Monsoon Semester, 2005.
- “Of the Limit: Death, Philosophy, Literature” in Deconstruction Icon Jacques Derrida ,the Group of Philosophy, J.N.U, 23rd March 2005.
- “The Experience of the Limit: Nietzsche’s Abyssal Experience of the Eternal Return” in Nietzsche: Philologist, philosopher and the Cultural Critic, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2nd to 4th Nov. 2004.
- “The Impossible Other: A Postcolonial Critique of Identity” in Postcolonial Literature: Politics, Poetics, Praxis, JNU by IACLALS, 23-25 Jan. 2003.
- “Reason and History: The Question of Being and Historicity in Western Thought “ in Problems of Social History, History Association, Center of Historical Study, School of Social Studies, JNU on 23rd Feb 2002.
- “Tragic Responsibility and the Limits of Knowledge” in Beyond the Linguistics Turn: Literature, Culture, Philosophy, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), 22nd to 26th Jan. 2002.