Srečko Kosovel and Rabindranath Tagore: Points of Departure and Identification

In this paper I explore some of the connections the Slovene poet Srečko Kosovel (1904–1926) surmised between himself and the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). I argue that what linked the two poets into a joint framework across the vastly different cultural and politico-geographic space was not just the fact that Kosovel read Tagore and took inspiration from the Bengali poet at the height of Tagore’s reputation in continental Europe, but that they shared a number of preoccupations, informed by their respective historical positioning. Both wrote from a profound awareness of their region’s subjugated status and endorsed an anti-imperialist stance that rejected nationalism as a viable means of liberation, embracing instead a creative universalist ideal

Research Perspectives on the Public Domain: Digital Conference Proceedings

The public domain is a subject of vital interest to legal scholars, but its implications are far reaching – indeed, the public domain concept is germane to subjects as diverse as film and media studies, economics, political science and organisational theory. It was a central purpose of the workshop to arrive at a workable definition of the public domain suitable for empirical investigation. The traditional definition (1) takes the copyright term as the starting point, and defines the public domain as “out of copyright”, i.e. all uses of a copyright work are possible. A second, more fine-grained definition (2) still relies on the statutory provisions of copyright law, and asks what activities are possible with respect to a copyright work without asking for permission (e.g. because use is related to “underlying ideas” not appropriating substantial expressions, or because use is covered by specific copyright exceptions). A third definition (3) includes as part of the public domain all uses that are possible under permissive private ordering schemes (such as creative commons licences). A forth definition (4) moves into a space that includes use that would formally be copyright infringement but is endorsed, or at least tolerated by certain communities of practice (e.g. machinima or fan fiction)

Songs of Action, Songs of Calm: Rabindranath Tagore and the Aural Fabric of Bengali Life in America

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is often considered the most important literary figure in modern Bengali history. He lived through the transformation of Bengali culture and society from colonial to anticolonial to post-colonial times. Tagore was a playwright, novelist, philosopher, and songwriter. He wrote and composed nearly 2,500 songs, called Rabindrasangeet. My interlocutors ascribe Tagore’s songs with a particular affective strength that has become a medium for the construction of diasporic identity. In this dissertation, I explore the lives of three generations of women – from precolonial Bengal, post-independence Bengal, and the modern diaspora – and the types of movement they have experienced. I identify a rupture between the familiar and the immediate that accompanies their movement, and characterize this rupture as creating space for multiple identities, reflections, and intimacies, and the continuous building, dismantling, and rebuilding of culture. I argue that the genre of Rabindrasangeet forms and reforms in the diaspora through embodied processes of micro-level performance. Through friendships, kinships, inter-generational relationships, and technologically mediated connections, Rabindrasangeet remains present. It is a tool for self-making, and used to convey unspoken feelings in a gendered world