St. Agnes College, Mangalore organised a lecture on ‘Do We Need a Room of our Own’ on 9th December 2022. Dr Melissa Goveas, HOD of Post Graduate Studies and Research at St. Aloysius College delivered the lecture based on Virginia Woolf’s, ‘A Room of One’s Own’.
Ms Asha Albuquerque, Head of the UG English Department, welcomed the gathering. Dr. Zubaida H., Head of the PG English Department was present.
The epigraph, “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind” by Virginia Woolf set the tone of the session. Dr Melissa chose a quote from each chapter as a takeaway to understand why it is necessary to have a room of one’s own. She said that we should be grateful to all the women who have come before us and fought for their rights since it is because of them that we can get an education and have the freedom that we have now.
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Further, she spoke of Judith Shakespeare, the fictional sister of William Shakespeare, who questions whether she would have been as famous as her brother if she existed and wrote like him. Dr. Melissa also talks of Aphra Behn in the novel, a spy who became one of the most popular writers in England. Following her death, her works were destroyed and people of that time tried to forget her contributions but Woolf uncovered her in her writings.
The session concluded with the question of whether things have changed since the publishing of the book in 1929 and today, which left the audience to ponder- ‘Do We Still Need a Room of One’s Own?’
Mr. Royan Crasta, Ms. Simron Saldanha, Ms. Vedika, Ms. Naomi and Ms. Amanda, students of III B.A. English, School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya participated in this session under the guidance of Assistant Professor Vineetha Pereira, Department of English.
