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SUMMARY: No Heaven for Gunga Din (1965): From Speculative Fiction to Decolo
 nial Option
DESCRIPTION: Studies of Anglophone literature\, or postcolonial writing in 
 English\, are often limited to literatures of the Commonwealth and the form
 er colonies of the British Empire. Yet Ali Mirdrekvandi’s No Heaven for Gun
 ga Din (1965)\, one of the few cases of Anglophone writing in Iran\, a nati
 on which – though never under formal colonial rule – has been deeply shaped
  by the discourse of colonial modernity.
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html: <div class="_63eu _63ev" style="text-align: c
 enter\;">[caption id="attachment_54835" width="620"]<a href="https://asia.c
 ms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/07/Gunga-Din-Event.jpg"><im
 g class="size-large wp-image-54835" src="https://asia.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-co
 ntent/uploads/sites/18/2020/09/Gunga-Din-Event-e1601328462932.jpg" alt="" w
 idth="620" height="329" /></a> Poster design by Razman Goudarzi[/caption]</
 div><div style="background-color: aliceblue\; padding: 25px 25px 15px\; dir
 ection: rtl\;"><center><a href="https://asia.ubc.ca/lecture-series/alireza-
 ahmadian-lectures-fa/">سلسله سخنرانی‌های ایران‌شناسی و فارسی‌پژوهی علیرضا ا
 حمدیان</a></center></p><div style="background-color: #002145\; padding: 0px
 \;"><center></p><h4 style="color: white\;">بهشتی برای گونگادین نیست (۱۹۶۵) 
 از ادبیات گمانه‌زن تا گزینهٔ استعمارزدایی</h4><p></center></div><p><strong>
 سخنران:</strong> دکتر امیرحسین وفا، استادیار ادبیات انگلیسی و ادبیات تطبیقی
 ، دانشگاه شیراز</p><p>مطالعات ادبیات انگلیسی‌زبان، یا نوشته‌های پسااستعماری
  به زبان انگلیسی، اغلب به ادبیات کشورهای مشترک‌المنافع و مستعمرات سابق امپر
 اتوری بریتانیا محدود می‌شود. در این سخنرانی کتاب «بهشتی برای گونگادین نیست»
  (۱۹۶۵) اثر علی میردریکوندی معرفی می‌شود. این کتاب یکی از معدود کتاب‌های دا
 ستانی ایران است که به زبان انگلیسی نوشته شده است. ایران اگرچه هرگز تحت حکوم
 ت استعماری رسمی نبوده است، عمیقاً تحت تأثیر گفتمان مدرنیتهٔ استعماری بوده ا
 ست. </p></div><p> <br />The event recording is now available:<br />https://
 youtu.be/Aj8bBpo3eyk<br /><em>Presented in English with subtitles.</em><br 
 /> <br />Studies of Anglophone literature\, or postcolonial writing in Engl
 ish\, are often limited to literatures of the Commonwealth and the former c
 olonies of the British Empire. Yet in this talk\, our presenter seeks to in
 troduce Ali Mirdrekvandi’s <em>No Heaven for Gunga Din </em>(1965)\, one of
  the few cases of Anglophone writing in Iran\, a nation which – though neve
 r under formal colonial rule – has been deeply shaped by the discourse of c
 olonial modernity.</p><p>Ali Mirdrekvandi (1916–1964) was a rural labourer 
 from the western region of Lorestan\, who escaped the famine that struck ru
 ral Iran in the aftermath of the First World War\, and arrived in Tehran du
 ring the Allied occupation of the city in WWII. Finding a job as a servant 
 to a regiment of British and American troops\, Mirdrekvandi grew an interes
 t in English\, and finished the manuscript of a novel which was posthumousl
 y published in London: No Heaven for Gunga Din is an allegorical speculatio
 n over the imagined aftermath of World War III in the distant future. The p
 rotagonist\, an Iranian servant named after Rudyard Kipling’s famed Gunga D
 in\, accompanies a regiment of Anglo-American soldiers towards Heaven acros
 s the Milky Way Galaxy! Mirdrekvandi’s cosmic journey\, in search of “an-ot
 her order of thinking” (a concept borrowed from Walter D. Mignolo) does pro
 vide a decolonial option to recast contemporary Iranian history\, and its p
 roblematic sense of worldliness since the advent of colonial modernity.</p>
 <p><strong>Amirhossein Vafa</strong> is an Assistant Professor of English a
 nd Comparative Literature at Shiraz University\, and the author of Recastin
 g American and Persian Literatures (Palgrave\, 2016). Amirhossein’s recent 
 research has been twofold\, but intertwined: To read English Literature as 
 a non-European participant in Anglophone literary studies\, and to decoloni
 ze the Canon of modern Persian/Iranian literature to unlearn & recast the m
 odern/colonial history of the Middle East region.</p><p> </p><div><strong>A
 bout the Alireza Ahmadian Lectures in Iranian and Persianate Studies: </str
 ong>Alireza Ahmadian (1981 – 2019) was an enthusiastic researcher\, a consu
 mmate socio-political analyst\, and an opinion leader on foreign policy who
  nurtured the virtues of diplomatic dialogue and liberal democracy. Alireza
  was a proud and devoted UBC alumnus\, supporter of UBC’s Department of Asi
 an Studies\, and beloved member of Canadian-Iranian Community. The departme
 nt renamed this lecture series in his honour in 2019. Alireza’s friends in 
 the community have provided funding to support this series\, and this gener
 ous gift will see these important academic and community engagement events 
 supported through to the end of the 2025/2026 academic year. <a href="https
 ://asia.ubc.ca/lecture-series/alireza-ahmadian-lectures/">Read More ...</a>
 <br /> <br />Should you have any questions\, please contact the Department 
 of Asian Studies at <a href="mailto:Asian.Studies@ubc.ca">Asian.Studies@ubc
 .ca</a>.</div>
CATEGORIES:Featured Homepage,Featured Persian
LOCATION:Online Event
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