I ACLALS, the officially recognized Indian chapter of the international ACLALS (Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies), started in India in 1974, and until January 1993 Professor C.D. Narasimhaiah was the Chairperson of IACLALS and Dr. K.C. Belliappa (Mysore) the Secretary. Many of those who have been connected with this Association have pleasant memories of Dhvanyaloka in Mysore, overlooked by the Chamundi Hills, a peaceful setting that has hosted many intellectual and creative events and lectures organised by IACLALS over eighteen years. For the first time, the IACLALS headquarters moved out of Mysore with this phase.
The objectives of IACLALS are to promote and coordinate Commonwealth Literature Studies in India, organise seminars and workshops, arrange lectures by writers and scholars (including those visiting India), publish a newsletter reporting activities in Commonwealth Literature in India and abroad, and hold one annual conference. The international ACLALS holds a conference once every three years, news and notices of which are also carried in the Newsletter. The international ACLALS was started in 1964 with a conference at the University of Leeds. Since then, its headquarters have moved every three years, and conferences have been held across the world, including in Canada, Australia, Singapore, Jamaica and India.
Although the nomenclature of the Association has remained unchanged, its concerns and emphases have evolved in recent years to include in a significant way what is now known as Postcolonial Literature, Third World Literature, or New Literatures in English. The overlaps and interstices among these terms, and their theoretical and political implications, have generated important debates in this field. At the same time, Commonwealth Literature has increasingly involved, through comparison and co-option, the study of literatures in languages other than English in countries whose cultures are inextricably multilingual. These developments have helped enlarge and revitalise the nature of Commonwealth Literature Studies.
Source: IACLALS Newsletter, June 1993 | Archived copy