Introduction:

A Writing Pedagogy of Failure

Authors

  • Souradeep Roy
  • Senjuti Chakraborti

Keywords:

academic writing, India Higher Education, multilingualism, NEP, English education, affirmative action

Abstract

The Introduction begins with the consensus that writing pedagogy in India is grappling with its own identity within university ecosystems. It is currently at a stage in Indian higher education that is marked by failures and relentless trials. The Introduction argues that this failure could be productive of forging new pathways best suited for the multilingual nature of the Indian classroom. It emphasizes on writing as a process and not just as a product, and how such process-oriented approach towards writing can make use of lived or peripheral languages in the process of producing the final product in Standard English prose. It pays close attention to some of recent proposals of the National Education Policy 2020 in this regard. The Introduction is also consistent with the existing literature on writing pedagogy based on care. However, it is cautious in treading this path of care as it notes that care must move beyond the discourse of ‘sickness’ and ‘remedy’ for those who lack proficiency in English. Instead, it proposes that these centres could emerge as an emancipatory antidote to a collective sickness of putting pen to paper: a struggle shared by all, regardless of socio-economic statuses. In the final section, the Introduction proposes a pedagogy that can be built through a commitment to affirmative action policies in private universities. Through references to Ambedkar’s statements during the debates on linguistic states and Hany Babu M.T. 's proposal on bilingual education, it contends that English could be an equidistant language from all the other languages in the classroom and live a life of objective reasoning in that space. It also contends that we must imagine the multidisciplinary writing centre as a space that is equidistant from specific disciplinary regimes of writing and knowledge production to make the project of the writing centre truly emancipatory.

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Author Biographies

Souradeep Roy

Souradeep Roy is currently a doctoral scholar in Drama at the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary, University of London. He has submitted an M Phil dissertation, “Material Modernisms in Indian English Poetry: A Study of Adil Jussawalla” to the Department of English, University of Delhi ; and another M Phil dissertation, “The Life (Not Death) of Keya Chakraborty: Towards a Feminist Historiography of the Progressive Amateur Theatre Movement” to the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has an essay on Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay forthcoming in South Asian Review and has previously worked at the Centre for Writing and Communication, Ashoka University. In another life he is a poet, translator, playwright and occasional actor.

Senjuti Chakraborti

Senjuti Chakraborti is a doctoral scholar in Cultural Studies at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC). Her PhD dissertation explores the intersections between neo-liberal governmental practices and literary fiction, with a focus on the works of Toni Morrison. Parts of her research have been published in Seminar and Law, Culture, and the Humanities. Currently, she works as a Senior Writing Tutor at the Centre for Writing and Communication (CWC), Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana.

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Published

2021-11-15

How to Cite

Roy, S., & Chakraborti , S. (2021). Introduction: : A Writing Pedagogy of Failure. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 7(1), 1–27. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/137