Research Director : Prof. Betsy Paul C.

Director's Message

Research is an arduous task. It requires sustained effort, dedicated time and focussed mental application. It is individual as well as collective or (to apply T.S. Eliot’s metaphor on a creative writer’s contribution to a creative researcher’s) it is individual talent standing tall upon tradition. And, traditions in scholarship are temporal and spatial. Innovative contributions take shape when historically accumulated and contextually engaged discourses interact creatively in individual minds. The Research Centre in English at St. Aloysius College aspires to foster a congenial space for such engagements and interactions. With its aspirational vision to make the Centre into a premier research Centre of the nation, St.Aloysius College Research Centre in English (SACREL) invokes researchers to generate discoveries that improve human life and lived experiences. Our tools and analyses are rooted in the domain of studies in English language and literature, yet our findings can aspire to have
interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary dimensions.The Centre has so far produced 10 PhDs with two thesis submissions awaiting evaluation reports. Our researchers so far have been and are engaged in looking into multiple perspectives of language and literary studies which in itself is commendable for a comparatively new research centre. At the same time, this is a phase and time in our growth when we need to stabilize our focus and build up quality. A similarity in focus from where diversity can take roots will help us learn in a more fruitful manner. For the last few years, our Centre has been organizing Seminars and Workshops on international and national levels based on literary studies in ethics and sustainability. Some of our awarded PhD theses have worked on climate change fiction and on ecological criticism. Moreover, our institute being situated on the ecologically delicate Ramsay site offers a scope for studies based on climate change and sustainable development. Research associations with the Kole Wetland Studies Centre of the college too can be thought of. The world today is aging fast, and studies related to literary gerontology, etc. which are gaining greater significance too are engaged with at the Centre. Back in 2020, as Covid pandemic was gripping and paralyzing normal human mobility and affecting mental well being, the English Department had thought of a national level online performance poetry competition called “Resilience” to inspire and enliven the minds of the students. The department is ever committed towards the idea of bettering human living experience by disseminating insights from literary imaginaries. The National level Best Research Paper Award entitled “Towards a Better Tomorrow,” initiated by the Centre in 2024, too, is envisioned based on this commitment. Most of the research produced by our Centre is around these (or related and relatable) themes.For example, the thesis on Amiri Baraka and racism in his work or another on agency in Malayalam horror films may not look as though they are directly related with the above themes.At the same time, the 5 th and 10 th UN SDGs invoke gender equality and reduced inequalities respectively as essential for sustainable development. SACREL, with its commitment to discover and disseminate sustainable imaginaries from literary creations, aspires to produce deeper insights in these domains. Research is not to be kept bound in books (or locked in ebooks) confined to libraries. SACREL has initiated a talk series, Chrysalis, to disseminate the newest domains of research in literary studies to students, researchers, faculty and the general public. In its third year now, Chrysalis III, has opened its doors to everyone and is a national level program with presenters and participants from all parts of India. It is also a commemorative program remembering the dear departed teaching staff of the department of English and the Research Centre.2024 is bringing in new supervisors and researchers to the Centre and let us all work together for the exciting times ahead keeping steady on our roots and aiming at the stars.