Over the course of its rich hundred and six year long history the English Department has held pride of place among the departments of Ramjas College. Among its distinguished faculty can be counted such luminaries as the poet Jibananando Das who taught at Ramjas in 1929-30.
In Ramjas English, both traditional and contemporary approaches to the study of English literature converge in meaningful ways rather than cancel each other out. Our department includes scholars whose teaching experience spans several decades as well as younger faculty who bring to the department a wealth of new ideas and innovative approaches to teaching. While our faculty consists of several distinguished scholars whose work straddles different branches of English studies, our varied research interests create a dynamic and exciting intellectual atmosphere. What unites us is our common passion for teaching and learning.
There is never a dull moment in a typical Ramjas English classroom because we see the classroom space not merely as one that provides a venue for the transfer of information but as a forum for debate, dialogue, and critical thinking.
Our students and their achievements have been a source of immense pride to Ramjas English and it is very gratifying to see our students excel in diverse fields both academic and otherwise. Many of our former students now occupy faculty positions in universities both in India and abroad and several of our alumni have made a mark for themselves in a wide range of professions.
At Ramjas English we believe that every student matters and that every shade of opinion needs to be heard in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. We are proud of our Student Faculty Committee, an independent and democratic forum, that allows faculty and students to meet and collectively reflect on ways to improve the teaching-learning process.
The Department of English offers undergraduate as well as post-graduate courses, with an intermingling of Core and Elective papers. This is besides a host of other optional papers offered to all the other departments. We teach language and literature and enable it to work upon the functional elements of core communication. We also enable more complex and abstract forms of thinking. Our emphasis on language and literature skills enables students to engage with the complex world of social, cultural, professional and political engagements.
The department offers a variety of compulsory
and elective courses such as:
Discipline-Specific Core Course (DSC)
Discipline-Specific Elective Course (DSE)
Value Addition Course (VAC)
Skill Enhancement Course (SEC
Generic Elective Course (GE)
BA (Hons) English
offers a number of opportunities to students. Students can pursue a
career in academics (many of our students enrolled for PhDs at various
prestigious universities), or even choose from a wide array of opportunities
available to them.
The future will present an entire array of academic opportunities brought up by newer areas of study and inquiry that will fall within the purview of literary study and analysis. We as a department look forward to these opportunities.
The Department of English faculty expertise is wide-ranging, with specialization ranging from Women’s Writing, Gender Studies, Childhood Studies, Indian Writing in English, Contemporary Literary Theory, to Colonial and Postcolonial Studies. This adds to the strength of the Department. We focus on numerous aspects of holistic development.
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY & ENVIRONMENT CONSCIOUSNESS
•
Experts
from the department with international experience regularly organise gender
sensitization programs both within the college and in other colleges.
•
We
also regularly screen films and participate in field trips to art galleries and
museums, as part of our effort to enrich the over all experience of our
students
CONTINUOUS REVIEW
The English Department follows a rigorous methodology
adopted for Internal Assessment. Assignments and Class tests are structured by
an indigenously adopted mechanism.
We follow a four-part structure for our
students.
Each assignment is developed over four tutorials.
TEACHER-STUDENT COMMUNITY
The Department holds monthly
Student-Faculty meetings to address grievances and celebrate shared victories.
The SFC meetings are an important feedback channel for students to freely
express their grievances, and also place on record their other needs
We also regularly screen films and
documentaries, and participate in annual educational Department trips.
INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS
•
Interactive method using
presentations
•
Writing workshops
•
Group discussions
•
Use of audio-visual aids
•
Classroom group
presentations
•
Power point presentations
•
Tutorials for writing
practice
•
Workshops for pedagogic
purposes
•
Student seminars
•
Innovative teaching methods
to be developed in keeping with the altering exigencies of scholarship and
pedagogy
•
Emphasis on archiving with
meticulous record keeping
•
Production and collation and use of
audio-visual aides
•
Design and implement
‘REMEDIAL ENGAGEMENT’ for students who need assistance beyond the curriculum
The Department has the RED Seminar Committee that is convened every year and looks into specifically the organisation of the Department's Annual Conference which sees scholars of repute, from national and international forums, convene to engage in discussions and academic lectures with the students and faculty. For instance, in the year 2023, the Seminar Committee had three guest lectures by eminent scholars Prof. Maaz Bin Bilal (Jindal Global University), Prof. Ashwin Rajeev (SGTB Khalsa College), and Prof. Paromita Chakravarti (Jadavpur University) on various current and canonical literary topics including translation studies, European studies to Shakespeare studies.
The Annual Conference of the Department was organised in the month of February on the theme: "Remembering Architecture, Excavating Memory" – an amalgamation of architectural humanities and memory studies — consisting of keynote lectures by conservation architect Anisha Shekhar Mukherji (Visiting Faculty, School of Architecture and Planning), Prof. Priya Kumar (Professor, University of Delhi) and moderated lectures by Dr. Parul Munjal (Director, INTACH), Prof. Harshit Nigam (Assistant Professor, Miranda House), Dr. Abhijha Ghosh (Visiting Faculty, Ambedkar University). 16 original research papers were presented by students from across the country. The session culminated with the famous international webinar on "Gender Backlash" by Joan W. Scott (Professor Emerita, School of Social Science, Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey). In 2022, the Seminar Committe had actor Adil Hussain for its lecture series discussing about the cinematic medium, and a two-day online conference on "Cultures of Love: Literature, Cinema and Society" with keynote addresses by Rahul Sen (Tufts University, Boston), and Dr. Saikat Majumdar (Ashoka University), and 10 original student research papers from across the country. While in 2021, the Committee organised a three day–seminar on "Traversing Texts: Literature and Art of our times" with eminent speakers presiding over the various sessions.
ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2023