Resilience and the Wandering Subject

What are the different contours of defining a subject? How does a subject form in the act of resilience?

This multi-author book explores the concept of a wandering subject, especially in the context of resilience. The wandering subject can be understood as an ever-forming subject through different mobilities. This movement is not just the physical movement compelled by a certain agency but also the various mobilities of the selves of the subject, mobilities through spaces, the interconnections formed with other subjects, and the fluidity between the subject/object/spaces at most times compelled by the spirit of resilience.

Each chapter of the book delves into the myriad modalities of movement in spaces that are imagined or real. The space is always one of contestation, be it emerging from gender conflict, or that of a nation or a trauma inflicted by war. In this mode of displacement, either physical, emotional or spiritual (and at times, a seepage of all), the subject evolves and defines itself beyond the boundaries of binaries. It questions available definitions of self, subjecthood and identity and prompts one to imagine ways of comprehending and elucidating the concept of subject. In this sense, the book not only illuminates multiple perspectives on the subject but also compels the reader to formulate their own mode of grappling with this complex idea of the subject. It renders itself as an aid to current and future scholars to re-imagine and re-configure the subject.

Supriya Daniel obtained her PhD from IIT Bombay, India, and thereafter has held various positions in University and school. Her areas of research include African Literature, postcolonial studies and gender studies. She has presented papers at African Literature Association conferences held at Bayreuth University, Yale University and other international conferences in Cairo, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

Anu Kuriakose is an Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. She holds a PhD from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, India. She received the Chief Ministers Nava Kerala Post Doctoral Fellowship in 2022. Her research interests include gender studies, cultural studies and film studies and she has extensively published research articles in the stated areas. Furthermore, she serves as a reviewer of 'Contemporary South Asia' and 'Quarterly Review of Film and Video'. She also holds a PG Diploma in Editing and Publishing from the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India.