The objective of this course is to acquire an understanding of the diverse manifestations of South Asian culture in history and the present day through the medium of literature. Cultural images develop historically and undergo constant change. We will explore how South Asian culture is imagined and how cultural traditions are embedded in vernacular literature and the popular media. We will also investigate how mainstream cultural manifestations are transmitted, contested or reified in literature and film. A number of encounters (colonial, global, East-West) have concomitantly influenced South Asian cultural expressions and it will be one of our goals to analyze such processes. On a theoretical level, we will discuss questions of ideology, representation and cultural memory.
The course materials are drawn from fiction, film, autobiography and the Internet. Along with secondary sources, we will read the literary sources from various South Asian vernaculars against the background of analytical concepts such as gender, class and caste.
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Course structure and requirements
The class meets once a week for three hours. The sessions will introduce students to South Asian writers and different literary genres (drama, short story, novel), mainstream and art movies of South Asian filmmakers, Internet representations of South Asian and diaspora communities, as well as cultural and literary theories developed in the discipline of South Asian Studies.
Readings: It is absolutely necessary that all students engage with the weekly reading assignments in order to participate in the class discussions. The reading load is reasonable and I expect every student to explore each text by means of close reading and write-ups of your thoughts before and after class. Per semester, 6 write-ups are mandatory and will result in a journal that counts 25% towards the final grade.
Presentations: There will be one group presentation, in which a selected topic will be introduced in 10-15 minutes (see list of topics and dates). Every presentation has to include an overview of the available (and unavailable) sources and briefly discuss the politics of selection, authorship and the own positioning within the topic as well as questions of methodology. The presentation shall not simply be read out from your notes; try to involve your classmates. Please make use of PowerPoint, the blackboard, an overhead projector or handouts to introduce the core information on the topic. Most important is a critical engagement with the source materials in the light of the “production of knowledge”. You will constantly be asked to question and historicize so-called facts. All presentations shall conclude with a few questions to launch the discussion. You have to discuss your outline of the presentation with me five days prior to the class meeting so that I can provide feedback and suggestions (without this discussion, you will not be able to present).
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
Attendance and Participation
(including the presentation): 25%
2 tests (fall), 1 test (winter): 30%
Journal (biweekly responses): 25%
Essay (research paper): 20%
Required Texts
Course Kit (available at the York University bookstore)
Jhumpa Lahiri, Namesake (Fall)
Urvashi Butalia, The Other Side of Silence. Voices of the Partition of India(Winter)
Note: All readings are in English.
Weekly Schedule
Fall Term
Week 1: “Fascinating South Asia”
The Discovery of India’s Past: Colonialism, Orientalism and Indian Histories
Assignment: Thapar A History of India I (pp. 15-49), Nehru The Discovery of India (table of contents), Basham The Wonder that was India (table of contents)
Week 2: “Imagining India”
Mapping South Asia
An Introduction to South Asian Literatures: The emergence of vernacular public spheres in the wake of nationalism
Assignment (check the handout for further reading instructions): Rassundari Devi My Life (Bengali) (in Tharu and Lalita [T&L Vol.1], pp. 192-202
Tarabai Shinde A Comparison of Men and Women (Marathi) (T&L Vol.1, pp. 223-235)
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain Sultana’s Dream (English) (T&L Vol.1, pp. 342-352)
Week 3: “Mother India”
Literature and Nationalism: Gender and the Depiction of Women
Assignment: Sumita Bhave Pan on Fire. Eight Dalit Women tell their Story (Marathi)
Ismat Chugtai The Quilt (Urdu) (in Tharu and Lalita [T&L], pp. 129-138)
Jaya Mehta In a Democracy (Gujarati) (T&L, p. 366)
Indira Sant Kanav(Marathi) (T&L, pp. 123-124)
Rasheed Jahan That One (Urdu) (T&L, p. 119-121)
K. Saraswathi Amma Marriages are made in Heaven (Malayalam) (T&L, pp. 165-169) Anupama Niranjana The Incident – and After (Kannada) (T&L, pp. 384-391)
Week 4: “Mothers of South Asia”
Women Writing Culture
Emerging from Seclusion: Love and Sexuality
Assignment: Karnad Hayavadana(Kannada)
Kalidasa Shakuntala(Sanskrit)
Week 5: “Staging South Asia”
Sanskrit Drama: Probing Shakuntala
The vision of Vasavadatta (by Bhasa, director M. Sarabhai)
Hayavadana
Assignment: Rakesh Neither Half nor Whole- Adhe Adhure (Hindi)
Week 6: “Staging South Asia” ctnd.
Theatre as cultural mirror: Theatre forms of South Asia
Borrowed Fire: The Shadow Puppets of Kerala (Video)
Assignment: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge (Hindi/Urdu with English subtitles 189 min, the screening will be arranged outside class), Mankekar (Brides who travel)
Take-home exam (due next week in class)
Week 7: Bollywood Cinema
Student presentations on: 1. The beginnings of Indian cinema 2. The 1950s (RK studios, Navketan productions) 3. Topic of Bollywood cinema 4. Alternative Indian cinema
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge: Male control over female sexuality
Assignment: start reading Lahiri
Week 8: Traveling Culture”
Traveling Sounds: There'll always be stars in the sky (Video)
Nationalists on fire: Fire by Deepa Mehta
Assignment: John and Niranjana, continue reading Lahiri
Week 9: Traveling Culture” ctnd.
Sacred soaps: Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Indian diaspora
Music “between two worlds”: Ravi Shankar and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Assignment: Finish reading Lahiri, Mistry Swimming Lesson (English)
Week 10: Writings from “Abroad”
Migration and Anglo-Indian literature
Assignment: K. Singh We Indians (English)
Abburi Chaya Devi Wife-Working Woman (Telugu)
Week 11: Writings from “Abroad” ctnd.
Topics in Anglo-Indian literature
Assignment: Prepare for the final discussion (handout) and test
Week 12
In-class test (1 hour)
Wrap up and final discussion
Winter Term
Week 1: Nationalism and the construction of History
Assignment: S.H. Manto (Toba Tek Singh), U. Butalia (The Other Side of Silence. Voices from the Partition of India, Chapters 1, 2)
Week 2: Writing about Partition
Remembering and silencing Partition
Assignment: S.H. Manto (Khol Do), R.S. Bedi (Lajwanti), U. Butalia (Chapter 4 [mandatory], 5 [recommended])
Week 3: Writing about Partition (ctnd.)
Religion in secular nation-states
Selections from Bollywood movies depicting communal tensions
Assignment: Varadarajan (Gujarat. The Making of a Tragedy), D. Mehta & R. Chatterji (Boundaries, Names, Alterities: A Case Study of a “Communal Riot” in Dharavi, Bombay)
Assignment: Journal entry (due for everybody): Write a response to the movie selections titled Communal violence and Bollywood cinema (to be turned in Jan 25 before class)
Week 4: Literature, religion and communal violence
Post-Godrah violence: Documentary Gujarat: A laboratory of Hindu Rashtra
Ram ke nam/In the name of God (documentary by Anand Patwardhan)
Assignment: Arundhati Roy Power Politics (English)
Mahashweta Devi Dust on the Road: The Activist Writings of Mahasweta Devi: SamitisChange through Participation (Bengali)
Mahashweta Devi Shishu(Bengali) (in Tharu and Lalita, pp. 236-250)
Week 5: Globalization and Literary Activism
Activists and Academics: Writing against violence and social injustice
Drowned out: We can’t wish them away (Video)
Assigment: U.R. Anantha Murthy (Samskara), D. Quigley (The Interpretation of Caste)
Week 6: Caste, Brahmanism and Literature
Understanding the concept of caste
Assignment: Premchand (Thakur’s Well), Kancha Ilaiah(Why I am Not a Hindu: a Sudra critique of Hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy)
Week 7: Caste – Outcaste and Literature (ctnd.)
Caste, Religion, Humanism
Assignment: start thinking about the topic of your research paper, review for the test (review questions will be handed out in class)
Week 8: Reading Week – no class
Week 9:
In-class test (1,5 hours)
Workshop on how to write a research paper (charting topics for the essay)
http://www.library.yorku.ca/cms-resolver/?item_id=6094846
Assignment: Choose a paper topic for the essay and e-mail it to me by March 7 (no late e-mails accepted), comic “Vir Savarkar”
Week 10: Teaching South Asian Culture and Literature
Hindi cartoons
Amarchitra Katha: Guest speaker Sailaja Krishnamurti
Assignment: Submit a hard copy of your annotated bibliography for your essay (this work in progress should contain at least 3 titles, 70% of the final bibliography need to be books or articles) (to be submitted next week in class)
Week 11: Teaching South Asian Culture and Literature (ctnd.)
Wither mainstream ideologies
Assignment: E-mail your working thesis by March 21 (no late e-mails accepted)
Week 12: Queering South Asia
Movie: Portrait of a Hijra
Assignment: Prepare for the final discussion (topics will be handed out in class)
Week 13:
Wrap-up and final discussion
The essay is due April 17 at 1 p.m. (Ross S570)
Note: in order to receive a grade for the final paper, all three steps (e-mailing a topic, compiling an annotated bibliography, e-mailing the working thesis) need to be completed at their respective due dates. If these steps are not fulfilled, the essay will be graded as an incomplete.