English Language and Literature OR English Studies

 The 21st century is a whirlwind of rapid changes, where the pace of technological and societal evolution is reshaping the world faster than ever before. One of the greatest challenges in this scenario is to ensure that our educational system continues to be relevant in this world of AI and Space Technologies. Preparing each generation to navigate the unexpected shifts in technology and culture that lie ahead requires a blend of creativity and foresight. The courses we design play a pivotal role in shaping this future. The English Language and Literature course stands at the crossroads of this critical juncture. 

Twenty years back, when I pursued English Language and Literature for my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, the course was at the peak of its academic and professional rigour. Therefore it is all the more disheartening to witness the course struggling to stay relevant in the new curricular framework implemented across the country. 

There are many distorted perspectives that have led to the current predicament of the course. First and foremost, courses in English have been reduced to the stature of language studies where the entire focus is on enhancing the communicative skills of students in English. Furthermore, the naming of the main course in English offered by many universities continue to be English Language and Literature. This is in an age when papers like Kerala Studies and Indigenous Studies are redefining the entire course. 

Hence the discussions towards the sustainability of English departments  in this age of STEM subjects ought to be a larger project starting from the naming of the course. 

We’ve long moved past that era in English Language and Literature Studies when Shakespeare was held up as the unquestioned pinnacle of literary greatness. The intellectual dominance imposed by colonial narratives has been contested in the 21st century, as the reimagining of prescribed texts reshapes how we approach the discipline (for want of a better word as 'disciplines' are always reductive). 

Thus English departments have opened its doors to the ever widening world of literary and cultural narratives, beyond specificities of language, culture and type of text. For example, when an indigenous poem for which no translation into English exists right now becomes a part of the syllabus, the fixation with texts in English Language stands contested. The term 'Literature' usually refers to written or printed materials. Nevertheless, as Cultural Studies has risen to prominence within English departments, even the very act of protest has become a critical 'text' ripe for analysis and debate in the classroom. Here the idea of Literature in the title becomes frivolous.

Thus English Language and Literature departments have transformed themselves into critical spaces to examine diverse expressions and experiences of human beings that are broadly conceptualised as Humanities. Thus English Studies seems a more appropriate term to refer to the "non- hierarchical and creative culture-language negotiation with English as the negotiating language."