ENG4400HS L0101
Modern South Asia in Literature and Media
Mehta, R.
Course Description:
Throughout the twentieth century, territorial re-mappings, independence struggles, and ethnonationalist state violence have made modern South Asia a radically shifting cultural construct that coincides and collides with lived experience. This course tackles urgent questions of anti-colonialism, feminism, queerness, technology, spirituality, stardom, caste apartheid, and ecology, through a close reading of literature and media spanning the mid-twentieth century to present times. It brings cultural critique to a range of materials, including Anglophone literary classics, fiction and film in translation, and poetic and avant-garde experimentation.
Course Reading List: (tentative)
[Reading and viewing list—subject to change]
Agha Shahid Ali, The Country Without A Post Office
Amrita Pritam, The Revenue Stamp
Anand Patwardhan, Waves of Revolution
Bapsi Sidhwa, Ice Candy Man
Dayanita Singh, Myself Mona Ahmed
Ismat Chughtai, The Quilt & Other Stories
Janice Pariat, Boats on Land
Mira Nair, Mississippi Masala
Raja Rao, Kanthapura
R.K. Narayan, The Guide
Saadat Hasan Manto, Mottled Dawn
Satyajit Ray, Pather Panchali
Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children
Method of Evaluation and Course Requirements [NB: SGS requires that participation grade must not exceed 20% of total grade]
TBA
Term: S-TERM (January 2025 to April 2025)
Date/Time: Friday, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm,
Location: TBA
Delivery: In-Person