EWL 420 Contemporary India Seminar
In this course, we will examine selected works of contemporary Indian and diasporic writers in the context of South Asian literary traditions, as well as recent postcolonial and diasporic theories. In discussing the readings, we will focus on questions of national identity, gender roles, migration, language, and cultural hybridity, with particular emphasis on the encounter between the European novel and the Indian classical epic. In addition to reading literary texts, we will consider the importance of history, cinema, music, dance, and the culinary arts to recent Indian cultural production, and look at colonialism’s continuing influence in the global contemporary world.