Kumkum Hirani

  Rewriting Empire: A Comparative and Critical Analysis of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe   Introduction            Literature has always reflected the spirit of its age. Every story that survives across centuries often carries not only its author’s imagination but also the ideologies, values, and conflicts of its time. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986) are two such texts that speak to each other across history. Defoe’s novel, written during the height of European colonial expansion, celebrates the ideals of adventure, individualism, and empire. Coetzee’s Foe , written centuries later, deconstructs these same ideals to expose the silences, exclusions, and moral contradictions hidden within colonial narratives.        By rewriting Robinson Crusoe , Coetzee engages in a dialogue between tradition and transformation . His novel not only retells the story but also ques...

 This blog, assigned by Megha Ma’am, explores Frantz Fanon’s revolutionary masterpiece The Wretched of the Earth, a book that still speaks to the struggles and hopes of the oppressed. Frantz Fanon :        Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) was a Martinican psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary writer whose works remain central to postcolonial studies, critical theory, and anti-colonial movements. He is best known for his analysis of colonialism, race, violence, and liberation. Early Life and Education    Born in Martinique, a French colony in the Caribbean.  Studied medicine and psychiatry in France.      Experienced firsthand the racism and alienation faced by Black people in Europe, which shaped his understanding of racial oppression. Career and Activism Worked as a psychiatrist in Algeria during the Algerian struggle for independence from France.      Witnessed the psychological and physical effects of colonialism on...

Lab Session: DH s- AI Bias NotebookLM Activity The source provides excerpts from a faculty development program presentation focusing on bias in Artificial Intelligence (AI) models and its implications for literary interpretation , hosted by SRM University - Sikkim. The speaker, Professor Dillip P Barad, is introduced as an accomplished academic professional with extensive experience in English language, literature, and education, setting the context for a discussion that bridges literary theory and technology. The main body of the text explores how AI, trained on human-created and often Eurocentric/dominant cultural datasets , can reproduce existing biases, examining this through the lenses of gender, racial, and political biases . The presentation includes interactive segments where participants test prompts in generative AI tools to observe these biases, such as confirming male bias in creative stories or revealing political censorship in certain AI models , with the ultimate goal o...

Digital Humanities This blog is assigned by Dr. Dilip Sir Barad as part of the Lab Activities in Digital Humanities . In this blog, I describe my experience of the Moral Machine activity and also reflect on the topic “A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Teaching Language & Literature to Digital Natives.” For background reading, I referred to the given materials and video lecture. Click here. Moral Activity : In this activity, I was given a situation where an autonomous machine (like a robot or self-driving car) had to make a difficult choice. The scenario showed a robot with its eyes blocked and a character called “goodgeek.” The machine had to decide between different outcomes, and I had to choose what I thought was the right action. This activity made me think about how machines should act when both options involve some kind of harm or loss. Importance of the Moral Machine Thinking about technology and ethics – The activity shows that machines are not j...