A conversation with Prof. Nirmal Selvamony on the idea of the tiṇai in Tamil Sangam literature, or the identification of five habitable regions, mountain, pastoral, desert, riverine and littoral, each sustaining a particular human society. Prof. Selvamony has been at the helm of the tiṇai social movement for four decades. The conversation will bring out how he revived the philosophy of tiṇai society, pioneered the theory of ‘neo-tiṇai poiesis’ and the field of ‘tiṇai musicology, and initiated teaching and research in ecocriticism in India.
Details of the Speakers –
Panelist 1 – Prof. Nirmal Selvamony
Bio – Nirmal Selvamony is a former Professor and Head of the Department of English Studies, and Dean, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Central University of Tamil Nadu. He also taught English at Madras Christian College for 28 years. He has published nine books, and over 50 book chapters and as many journal articles. A discussion group called ‘tiṇai’ that he founded in the early 1980s launched the tiṇai social movement. He introduced an ecocriticism course in India, and founded a forum named ‘tiṇai’, and the Indian Journal of Ecocriticism to promote it. He formulated the theory of neo-tiṇai poiesis, revived the philosophy of tiṇai society, which had been in a state of limbo for more than a thousand years, and developed a new area of study called “tiṇai musicology.” He has scripted and directed plays and also played the guitar in professional bands.
Panelist 2 – Prof. S. Shankar
Bio – S. Shankar is a novelist and critic. He is Professor and Chair of the English Department at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa. His most recent book is the novel Ghost in the Tamarind, an intercaste love story set against the background of the anticaste movements in South India. He can be found at sshankar.net.