DEH EVENT REVIEWS (FALL 2018)
-Fairoz Anika
ENG.LIT MEET: DEH Inter Batch Cultural Contest
For the very first time in ULAB, The Department of English and Humanities held the inter-batch cultural competition on 6th December 2018 where students of DEH from different batches (from senior to junior) portrayed their unique talents based on their co-curricular skills while mesmerizing the audience. They showcased their inherent skills through various forms of art such as- drama, charades, poetry recitations, classical dance performances, multilingual songs, beautiful artworks, and the list goes on. Muntasir Mamun, Assistant Professor of DEH was the convener of the event whereas Professor Kaiser Haq, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Professor Golam Sarwar Chowdhury, and Dr. Sohana Manzoor were the judges of this event. The Winner of this contest was 171 Batch who won the first prize of Tk. 8000. On the other hand, Batch attained the 2nd position in this contest winning Tk. 5000 and Batch 172 acquired the 3rd position getting Tk. 1000 as a reward. The Event was a huge success, making the audience experience a sense of awe and amusement.
Author Reading by Olga Grjasnowa
Collaborating with the Goethe-Institute of Bangladesh, DEH organized an “Author Reading and Question/Answer Session” on November 7 2018, with Olga Grjasnowa regarding her debut novel named All Russians Love Birch Trees which has successfully created quite a sensation among the contemporary readers. Initially, the program started with an introductory speech provided by Goethe-Institute Bangladesh Director, Dr. Kirsten Hackenbroch. Then the session was moderated by Prof. Kaiser Haq, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities where various topics were discussed regarding Ms. Grjasnowa’s writing and some interesting facts about herself and her experience of various cultures. The question/answer session with the audience which consisted of students and faculty members from different departments of ULAB was impressively informative. Attending this session of a graceful and brilliant foreign author, they also get to learn about her personal life along with her writing career. The program ended with a friendly speech from Dr. Hackenbroch who invited students from all departments to learn German and showed an interest regarding further future collaborations of ULAB with the Goethe-Institute of Bangladesh.
Preserving (Hi)stories: A Talk by Dr. Shashanka Sinha at DEH
The Department of English and Humanities invited Dr. Shashanka Sinha, Head of the Routledge India Originals (RIO) on a talk titled, “Preserving (Hi)stories” on 1st November 2018 where a delightful session was held based on the preservation of historical monuments in India. Dr. Sinha emphasized on the gap between popular and academic history where he chose one or two popular myths regarding each of the six monuments and showcased the originality of the tales to exhibit a new scenario for history. This kind of approach can offer newer perceptions to old-time ideas and bring history closer to people. After all, history is not dead but is a continuation through various unique renditions. Various interesting tales were presented about the famous Qutub Minar, Gates of Somnath, Humayun’s Tomb, Jodhabai’s Palace, Fatehpur Sikri and the Taj Mahal by Dr. Sinha. The notion that history has been created through popular tales was indeed, true, and therefore, it is essential to let the outer world know about those monuments of our country which had been scattered throughout the world. Faculty members of DEH and GED were the participants and audiences of this session, which ended after a delightful Q/A session with the audience.
DEH Freshers’ Orientation:
The orientation program of DEH for the freshers’ was held on 29th October at the premises of the auditorium of Campus-A. In order to give a brief overview of the curriculum and systems of the department, the program featured various features regarding a brief introduction of the faculty members, undergrad curriculum and club activities. The Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Prof. Kaiser Haq welcomed the students and introduced them to all the members of the faculty. Head of the Department of General Education Program, Prof. Muhammad Ibrahim also introduced his areas of studies which emphasize the perspectives of liberal arts’ the University promotes. Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of the undergraduate program, Ms. Nadia Rahman gave an elaborate description regarding the requirements of the program and assessment procedures to the students. The program also showcased different amazing and mesmerizing performances by the senior students which consisted of different songs, recitations, dance performances, and so on. It concluded with a striking performance of Anton Chekov’s one-act play, The Proposal.
Celebrating 200 years of Frankenstein with Frankenreads:
For the first time ever, DEH commemorated the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818), making ULAB the only university of Bangladesh to participate in this global celebration of Frankenstein around 50 countries. This program was named “Frankenreads” which is a project of the Keats-Shelley Association of America, funded by a Chairman’s grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Tabassum Zaman was the convener of the event who also brought the Media Club and Paper Canoe together to 
organize this event. This event was held on 31st October to celebrate the Halloween Day, and so a wide range of mysterious and interesting performances based on the theme of Halloween and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein intrigued the audience. It started with an insightful discussion on the background of Mary Shelly and the connection of Feminism in the novel Frankenstein by Prof. Shamsad Mortuza, the Head of DEH and Pro-VC of ULAB. Next, Prof. Kaiser Haq, Dean of DEH showcased a chilling performance of poetry recitation from an excerpt of a book on Frankenstein which left the audience spell-bound. Later on, a spectacular drama performance was shown based on the monstrous creature of Frankenstein by the Literary Society of ULAB, Paper Canoe, and an interesting cosplay was performed by the Media Club as well. Along with a humorous talk on Halloween Day by Prof. Syed Manzoorul Islam and Prof. Imran Rahman; it ended successfully, leaving the audience with an amazing experience followed by a vote of thanks by the convener, Dr. Tabassum Zaman.