ASIAN 6602 - Topics in South Asian Culture and Literature

Spring. 2 credits. Student option grading.

Co-meets with ASIAN 4414. This course does not require a prior knowledge of languages of South-Asia as all the text are available in English and English translation.

A. Zahoor.

Topics will address South Asian culture and literature and change in relation to curricular needs within the Department of Asian Studies.

Spring topic: “Poetry & Narrative, From Ghazals to Film”

This course is designed for the undergraduate students who may have little or no familiarity with South-Asian literature or cinema but are interested in knowing it’s diverse cultures, social structures, and politics. This course covers the major literary movements in the literary landscape of the region such as the Progressive Writer’s movement and regional modernisms. It also explores the impact of British colonialism on the culture and the politics of South-Asia. The course encourages thinking across boundaries of literatures, cultures, and histories. This course covers a range of topics and diverse genres: from Ghazal, a prominent poetic expression, to fictional representation of the two partitions (1947 and 1971) and its aftermaths to theatrical retelling of the Indian mythology. The course also encourages students to critically engage with South-Asian Cinema.The course looks at the intersectionality of Caste and Class and Gender in the South-Asian in contemporary South-Asian. Course has literature from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that best represent the region. (SC)