Association for Comparative Studies conducts special seminars or other study programmes on relevant themes from time to time.

Seminar on Linguistic Theory and methodology
ACS announces a special seminar on Linguistic Theory and Methodology. This is scheduled for February, 2003.

Post graduate students, teachers, researchers and cultural practitioners attended the seminar. The aim of the seminar was to introduce advertisement as a multi-disciplinary topic. We have made this point very clear in our announcement of the conference:
This is a world of advertisement. The business and media survive and flourish on them, while the consumers are sapped into their scheme of things. Advertisement (Ad) is a discipline in itself, which has a prominent place in the curriculum of the to-be executives.
Contemporary cultural studies, which is devoted to the analysis and interpretation of popular culture, also provides space for ad studies. Technological innovations surface through ad forms, dipped in local and natural culture.
From a hidden persuader, ads have turned into open persuader and they overtly exploit the situation to the fullest with some hidden agenda. In this angle ad has gained a political dimension.
Marginal formations of modern languages are taking place in ads and it serves as an edge for languages. Thus it has made an entry into the curriculum of modern linguistics.
The ads are targeted mainly at two segments of the society - women and children. Moreover they are used as instruments in the making of ad copy. Thus ad finds a place in women studies as well. Ad is also an active area of discussion in critical pedagogy.
We, invited those who are interested in Business Management, Poetics, Politics, Linguistics, Women Studies, Critical Pedagogy, Contemporary Cultural Studies to attend this seminar. The response was averwhelming and 100 delegates participated. Prof. Stephen Mathews, Dept. of Commerce, St. Berchman's College, Changanachery delivered the Key note address. This lecture demonstration with visual aids on video projector was noted for the freshness of ideas, clarity of expression, aesthetic scheme of presentation and flavour of social commitment. Mr. Mathew Paul, well known producer of advertisement presented the producer's point of view. In fact this developed as a dialogue session with the involvement of many enthusiastic participants. In the afternoon Dr. A. P. Andrewskutty, Prof. of Linguistics, University of Kerala presented a scientific analysis of the language of advertisement. His presentation shall be remembered for the unique blending of scientific rigour, representative choice of data and splash of humour. Ms. Suja Susan George, lecturer St. Mary's College, Manarcaudu presented a paper on "Women in Advertisement". Dr. Scaria Zacharia spoke on "The politics of Advertisement". These presentations concentrated on the ideological analysis of advertisement in the light of the contemporary theories of cultural studies. We are extremely gratefully to Prof. Stephen Mathews, Prof. Josy Joseph and the academic community of St. Berchman's College for the successful conduct of this programme

The key speaker of the seminar was Dr. Johnson Puthenpurackal, the author of the book 'Heidegger through Authentic Totality to Total Authenticity, Louvain philosophy studies'. About 30 young scholars actively participated in the seminar and discussed the possibilities of interpreting Heidegger in the context of contemporary knowledge revolution.

Dr. A.P. Andrewskutty lectured on Linguistic Theory with special reference to Malayalam syntax. Dr. Scaria Zacharia spoke on Grammatical Theories of A.R. Raja Raja Varma. Most of the participants were post graduate students.
Dr. M.R Raghava Variar delivered C.L Antony Commemoration Lecture on the origin of Malayalam. He presented a theory co-relating linguistic developments and social foundations of ancient Kerala. The theoretical framework and methodology impressed every body. Some of the technical terms coined by the speaker captured the special attention of the audience.

The inaugural session was chaired by Shri. D. C. Kizhakkemuri. Dr. M. V. Pylee, former Vice-Chancellor of Cochin University and president of the ACS, inaugurated the seminar. Well-known translator Prof. Nileena Abraham and Dr. Sunny P. Orathel, the Vice-President of ACS spoke on the occasion. Over the three days more than fifteen papers were presented. The following were the papers: Modern Theories of Translation (Dr. A. P. Andrewskutty), Translation: Modern linguistic and literary and ancient Indian models. (Dr. Scaria Zacharia), Vedas and Upanishads in Malayalam (Dr. P. V. Viswanathan Namboothiri), Translations of Ramayana (Dr. P. V. Ramankutty), Bible Translations (Cyril Mathew), Grammars in Translation (Dr. T.B.Venugopala Panikkar), Sanskrit Poetics in Translation (P.S.Radhakrishnan), Sanskrit drama in translation (Dr. K.G. Poulose, European drama in translation (Gijy Joseph), The Waste Land in Translation (Josy Joseph), Indian Novels in Translation (Jaya Sukumaran), English Translations of Malayalam short fiction (Dr. C. P. Sivadasan,) Translations of the Bhagavat Gita (Dr. Vijaya Mohanan Pillai), Translations of Meghasandesam (Dr. Ajayakumar), Translations of Gitanjali (Dr. Deviprasad) and Translations of Rubaiyat (Raina Sebastian). Two memorial lectures were the other major items of the seminar. Dr. V. R. Prabodhachandran Nair delivered the Vallathol Memorial Lecture on the "Unforgettable Translators to Malayalam". The Changampuzha Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr. Desamangalam Ramakrishnan who spoke on "the Problems in Poetry Translation". The final session of the seminar included an open conversation with well known poets and translators. D. Vinayachandran and Desamangalam Ramakrishnan spoke on their personal experience in writing poetry as well as translating poetry. The delegates actively took part in the discussions on all three days.

This seminar was attended by 35 postgraduate students, 15 researchers, 10 young teachers and 9 resource persons. Dr. M. V. Vishnu Nampoothiri (Folk Literature, Material Collection), Dr. Raghavan Payyanadu (Theory and Practice in Folkloristics, Approaches to Folk tales and Myths), Dr. A. K. Nambiyar (Folk Arts and Rituals), Mr. P. Antony (Narrative structure of Ballads), Dr. A. P. Andrewskutty (Folkloristics and Linguistics) and Dr. Scaria Zacharia (Folklore and Ideology) presented papers. Many young research scholars enthusiastically took part in discussions that followed the presentation of papers. Dr. Namboothiri in his inaugural lecture pointed out the need to establish Folklore museums which may in turn become store houses for folklore data. Dr. Payyanadu emphasised the importance of field work and micro projects which have a holistic approach. He offered to support such a micro project with technical assistance, if undertaken by the Association for Comparative Studies in a small village of central Kerala. Research scholars who participated in the seminar welcomed the offer