Punning in Punglish, Sounding ‘Poreign’
This essay explores Daljit Nagra's poetry – Look We Have Coming To Dover! (2007) and Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger-Toy Machine!!! (2011) – in the context of contemporary British language politics. It argues that Nagra's approach to language – combining heteroglot, multivoiced experimentalism with an etymological attention to the historical constructedness of language – offers a riposte to monolingual ideologies, which also resituates English as a product and residue of colonial history. While Nagra's poems sometimes come close to regarding the histories enfolded within English as a linguistic and poetic impasse, they continue to invest in the notion of resistance and individual agency in language; and specifically, they revel in poetic dramatization of the accommodations and convivialities of everyday multilingual language practice.
Loose Can(n)on: Literary tradition in Daljit Nagra’s British Museum
ABSTRACT This paper considers Daljit Nagra’s engagement with concepts of canon and tradition in British Museum (2017). Throughout the collection, Nagra provides readers with a multifaceted insight into the ways in which a plurality of ‘cultures’ and ‘traditions’ — literary, historical, political, religious — inform contemporary notions of Britishness and shape his work as a writer living with the legacies of literary heritage. British Museum, this paper argues, explores how Nagra’s work relates to canons of English Literature, and how he makes sense of his own position. The discussion is framed by a consideration of what happens when we review canons of culture and their place within an increasingly diverse society. Underlying the inevitable conflicts and dislocation involved in (re-)defining traditions and cultural canons, this paper considers the ways in which Nagra identifies, through plurality, a fundamental desire for the meaningful connection of canonical culture with the diverse 21st century world.
China's experience on population control: The elusive model
Abstract After the Cultural Revolution China initiated a very intensive family planning programme. Although statistical data are not available, there is enough information to conclude that the custom of postponing marriage and planning births is gaining momentum. The new socio-economic environment is much more conducive to the acceptance of family planning by the young adults than was the case in previous campaigns. Contraceptives, abortions and sterilizations are free of charge and readily available through the extensive public health system. Most important to the success of the programme are the unique methods of motivation which involve virtually all segments of the society.