Indian Diasporic Writing

 

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                                 INDIAN DIASPORIC WRITING

Course Description

This interdisciplinary course provides an overview of the writings of Indians living/settled abroad, unravelling the profound and difficult terrains of not so well explored trajectories, sensibilities and insinuations that are experienced with the movement of people, their cultures, practices, beliefs and ideas across the world. It also presents the experiences of the people in migration, the traumas, tribulations and difficulties faced by their ancestors or themselves and their offspring in the ‘new lands’.

 

     Course Objectives:

1. Critically engage with issues of global migration and diaspora from multi-disciplinary perspectives through study and analysis of select texts.

2. Explore emerging areas of study such as location and relocation, alienation and assimilation, hybridization and transnationalism

3.  Acquaint students with historical, political, economic, sociological, literary, ethnic and other related aspects of diaspora.

4.   Enable students to understand the historical background of international migration

5. Establish how immigration diaspora and transnationalism studies in the context of Indian diaspora

  Unit I: Diaspora-key concepts

A Brief Overview of:

Notion of Diaspora, Various types of Diaspora, Homeland and Hostland, Cultural Identity and Diaspora, Longing and Belonging, Nostalgia, Exile, Ethnicity, Assimilation, Acculturation, Alienation, Creole and Creolization, Hybridity, Multiculturalism, Globalization and Culture, Transnationalism.

Essential Readings:

●      William Safran : “Diasporas in Modern societies: Myths of Homeland and Return”

Unit II: Indian Diaspora Across The World:

A Brief Overview of:

History of Indian Migration (Pre-colonial, Colonial andPostcolonial) - Indian Diaspora in Asia (South Asia, South East Asia and Gulf countries) - Indian Diaspora in Caribbean (Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Suriname) - Indian Diaspora in Africa (Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania) - Indian Diaspora in Pacific Countries (Fiji and Australia) - Indian Diaspora in Europe and America (UK and USA)

 Essential Readings:

●      Salman Rushdie: Imaginary Homelands (from Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991).

 UNIT III: POETRY: Essential Readings:

 ·       Sujata Bhatt: Search for my Tongue

         Meena Alexander:  Lychees

●      R. Parthasarathy : “Exile”; “Exile from Homecoming”

  UNIT IV: NOVELS: Essential Readings:

  ·       V.S. Naipaul : The Mimic Men

  ·   KiranDesai: The Inheritance of Loss

  UNIT V: SHORT STORIES: Essential Readings:

 ·       Jhumpa Lahiri:  The Unaccustomed Earth (from The Unaccustomed Earth) 

 ·       ChitraBanerjee Divakaruni: Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs (from Arranged Marriage).

Course Outcomes

Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

2.  think through the intricate issues of literary text and its socio-historical and cultural contexts (L2)

3.  gain insights into the complexities such as location, dislocation, home, memory, and identity(L4)

4.   understand the contemporary global and local relevance of the concerns expressed in Indian diasporic literature. (L2)

5.   discuss various issues of identities of Indians in the diaspora and how they negotiate that identity in their everyday life.

6.   Identify the sources of literature on Indian diaspora, review them and apply to their research topics.

Suggested Readings/Reference Readings:

1. Safran, William. “Diasporas in Modern Societies: Myths of Homeland and Return.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 1.1 (1991): 83-99. Web. 13 June 2014.

2. Nelson,Emmanuel(ed.), Reworlding :the literature of the Indian Diaspora ,Green Wood, NewYork,1992

3. Said, Edward W. (2001). Reflections on Exile and Other Literary and Cultural Essays. Penguin, New Delhi.

4. Ashcroft, Bill (2005). The Empire Writes Back. Routledge, Chennai.

5.   Das, Nigamananda. (2008). Jhumpa Lahiri: Critical Perspectives, New orientations. Pencraft International

6.   Dhawan, R.K. (2006). Contemporary Commonwealth Literature: Critical Studies on Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, Raja Rao, Roopa Bajwa et al. Prestige Books.

7.   Dhingra, Lavina. Floyd Cheung. (2011). Naming Jhumpa Lahiri: Canons and Controversies. Lexington Books.

8.   Dooley, Gillian. (2006). V.S. Naipaul, Man and Writer. University of South Carolina Press.

9.   Duncan, Erika. "A Portrait of Meena Alexander. " World Literature Today 73 (1999):23-28.

10.   Kavita A. Sharma, Adesh Pal, Tapas Chakrabarti “Interpreting Indian Diasporic Experience” Creative Books, 2004.

11.   Kavita A. Sharma, Adesh Pal, Tapas Chakrabarti “Contextualizing Nationalism, Transnationalism and Indian Diaspora” Creative Books, 2005.

12. Kavita A. Sharma, Adesh Pal, Tapas Chakrabarti “Critiquing Nationalism, Transnationalism and Indian Diaspora” Creative Books, 2004.

13.    Safran, William, Ajaya Kumar Sahoo and Brij V. Lal Transnational Migration: The Indian Diaspora. New Delhi: Routledge. 2009

14.   Saha, P Emigration of Indian Labour, 1838-1900. Delhi: Peoples Publishing House. 1970

15.   Kavita A.Sharma, Adesh Pal, Tapas Chakrabarti “Theorizing and Critiquing Indian Diaspora” Creative Books, 2004.

16.   Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference.

Ed.John Rutherford. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1990. (222-237)

 

 

 



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