The Department of English and Humanities of Brac University (BracU) organised an international conference titled “Redrawing Gender Boundaries in Literary Terrains.”
The opening ceremony took place on Thursday at the Mohakhali campus auditorium.
BracU Vice Chancellor Professor Syed Saad Andaleeb inaugurated the conference, announcing that Brac Onnesha, the first nano-satellite developed by a Bangladeshi university, was going to be launched into space on June 2.
Saad said: “While the architecture department has been working on cyclone-resilient coastal housing, the pharmacy department is working on developing a new bacteria that can clean rivers and the electrical engineering department is focused on solar-powered ambulances for the poor.”
The vice chancellor presented uttariyas to Professor Ruth Evans, English Professor Dorothy McBride Orthwein from St Loius University, professor and writer Niaz Zaman and Department of Cultural Studies Professor Susie Tharu, English and Foreign Languages University of Hyderabad, India.
Other international guests included Sowmya Dechamma, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad and Deepa Sreenivas, associate professor and head of the Centre for Women’s Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad.
Ruth Evans presented a keynote paper titled “Unrelatable: Revisiting Literary Instrumentalism and Feminist Critique” afterwards, while Niaz presented another titled “The Accidental Feminist”.
“S/heis S/he!!!: Queering Gender Performativity and Transformativity in Indian Myths and Literature”, a special session moderated by Saad Adnan Khan was organised as well.
The day’s programme ended with a reading session titled “Women Carving Literary Spaces” by Gantha, a creative writers’ group.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
