South Asian Women Writers

South Asian Women Writers

SAS 101 Fall 2014

Monday and Wednesday 3:30 to 4:50 in Shiffman123

Harleen Singh

Office Hours: Mon/Wed 11-12 and by appointment

Office:Mandel 114

781-736-8485

Course Description:

We will read novels, poetry, and short stories written by South Asian Women Writers in this course. Some of these were originally written in English while some were written in other languages and then translated. These include authors from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, and the South Asian Diaspora in England, the Caribbean, and the United States. This course takes as its premise the shared history of British colonialism and the contemporary state of post-colonialism and immigrant politics. We will examine women’s literary writing and criticism, and also interrogate continuing feminist concerns for this region. Through these literary texts, we will approach issues of gender inequality, cultural specificity, and concerns regarding the postcolonial state alongside the history of literary representation for South Asian Women.

Required Texts:

Kamala MarkandayaA Silence of Desire (1960)(photocopy)

Anita Desai Clear Light of Day(1980)

BapsiSidhwaCracking India (1988)

Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things (1997)

ChandiniLokugeIf the Moon Smiled (2000) (photocopy)

KamilaShamsieBurnt Shadows(2009)

Texts on LATTE:

IsmatChugtai “The Quilt” (1941)

Amrita PritamSkeleton(1950)

Mahasweta Devi “Doulati the Bountiful”(Imaginary Maps)

Films:

Pinjar, Earth 1947

Additional Reading:

1. “(Extra)Ordinary Violence: National Literatures, Diasporic Aesthetics, and the Politics of Gender in South Asian Partition Fiction” (Rosemary M. George, 2007)
2. “Border Work, Border Trouble: Postcolonial Feminism and the Ayah in BapsiSidhwa’sCracking India.” (Ambreen Hai, 2000)
3. “New Women, New Nations: Writing the Partition in Desai’s Clear Light of Day and Sidhwa’sCracking India.” En-Gendering India: Woman and Nation in Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives.(Sangeeta Ray, 2000)
4. “Asserting the Local: White Subversions in ArundhatiRoy's The God of SmallThings” (PriyaMenon, 2011)
5. Longing for the Lost (M)other: Postcolonial Ambivalences in Arundhati Roy's The GodofSmallThings (Miriam Nandi, 2011)
6. “Kamala Markandaya’s A Silence of Desire,” (Edwin Thumboo, 1980)
7. “Local Sites/Global Contexts: The Transnational Trajectories of Fire and

“The Quilt” Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (GayatriGopinath, 2005)

1. “Homely Housewives Run Amok: Lesbians in Marital Fixes” (Geeta Patel, 2004)
2. “Eyeless in Guantanamo: Vanishing Horizons in KamilaShamsie’sBurnt Shadows” (Pascal Zinck, 2010)

Class Participation:

Though a series of introductory and explanatory lectures will be provided, the format of this course will privilege group discussion. Therefore, you are expected to have done the required reading before coming to class, and expected to participate in the discussion. The course material is not simple and requires commitment and active learning on the part of the student. I will provide guidance during class and in discussion, but it is your responsibility to come to see me if you find the material daunting, or just plain incomprehensible.

Attendance and participation in class is required and will count towards your grade. There will be a mid-term, and two short 5-page papers, and a final 10-page paper.

Mid-term20%

Paper I20%

Paper II20%

Final Paper25%

Attendance15%

Week One

9/03/14Introduction

Week Two

9/8/14Amrita PritamSkeletonFinish Novella

9/10/14Amrita PritamSkeleton (View Pinjar on LATTE)

“(Extra)Ordinary Violence: National Literatures, Diasporic Aesthetics, and the Politics of Gender in South Asian Partition Fiction” (Rosemary M. George, 2007)

Week Three

9/15/14Cracking India 1-109

9/17/14Cracking India 110-181

Week Four

9/22/14Cracking India 182-289

“Border Work, Border Trouble: Postcolonial Feminism and the Ayah inBapsiSidhwa’sCracking India.” (Ambreen Hai, 2000)

9/24/14 View in class: Earth by Deepa Mehta (based on Cracking India)

Week Five

9/29/14Class Canceled

10/1/14Clear Light of Dayread until 102Paper I due in class

Week Six

10/6/14Clear Light of DayFinish Novel

10/8/14“New Women, New Nations: Writing the Partition in Desai’s Clear Light of Day and Sidhwa’sCracking India.” En-Gendering India: Woman and Nation in Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives (Sangeeta Ray, 2000)

Week Seven

10/13/14No Class Brandeis Thursday

10/15/14A Silence of Desire Read until Chapter 13

Week Eight

10/20/14A Silence of Desire Finish Novel

10/22/14“Kamala Markandaya’s A Silence of Desire,” (Edwin Thumboo, 1980)

Week Nine

10/27/14If the Moon Smiled 1-138Take Home Mid-Term

10/29/14If the Moon Smiled 138 to finish Mid-Term Due

Week Ten

11/3/14The God of Small Things1-90

11/5/14The God of Small Things 90-178

Week Eleven

11/10/14The God of Small Things 178 to finish

11/12/14“Asserting the Local: White Subversions in Arundhati Roy's The GodofSmallThings” (PriyaMenon, 2011)

“Longing for the Lost (M)other: Postcolonial Ambivalences in Arundhati

Roy's The GodofSmallThings” (Miriam Nandi, 2011)

Week Twelve

11/17/14“Doulati the Bountiful” Mahasweta DeviPaper II is Due in Class

11/19/14IsmatChugtai “The Quilt”

“Local Sites/Global Contexts: The Transnational Trajectories of Fire and

“The Quilt” Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures(GayatriGopinath, 2005)

“Homely Housewives Run Amok: Lesbians in Marital Fixes” (Geeta Patel, 2004)

Week Thirteen

11/24/14Burnt Shadowsuntil 157

Thanksgiving Break

Week Fourteen

12/1/14Burnt Shadows262

12/314Burnt ShadowsFinish Novel

Week Fifteen

12/8/14“Eyeless in Guantanamo: Vanishing Horizons in KamilaShamsie’sBurnt Shadows” (Pascal Zinck, 2010)

Final Paper Due: December 15, 2014

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