South Asian Literature in Translation

Travel writing is among the oldest forms of literature, especially in Asia. This course explores depictions of the Indian sub-continent by travel writers from Buddhist pilgrims to Arab geographers to colonial and post-colonial writers.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Completion of First Writing Requirement.

We will read and critique the fiction and poetry of culturally specific regions while reflecting on the assumption that experiences and identities are fundamentally gendered. We will explore issues associated with women writing in regional languages to writing in mainstream languages like Hindi, Urdu and English. We will also examine how the publication and dissemination of women's texts are related to the women movements in India and Pakistan.

Credits: 3

This upper level course will comprise readings that will cover a broad spectrum of what constitutes the "modern" in Urdu and Hindi Literature. The course will track the historical beginning of Urdu-Hindi as a language, its development as a literary language and the complexities of the divide form one to two distinct languages: modern Hindi and modern Urdu.

Credits: 3

Dalit literature is perhaps the most remarkable literary movement to emerge in post-independence India. It is the voice of the most marginalized section of India's population, those formerly known as untouchables. Until the advent of Dalit literature, the lives of Dalits had seldom been recorded in Indian literature. We will read fictional and non-fictional narratives of Dalit writers, and watch films to visualize and comprehend their lives.

Credits: 3

New course in South Asian Literature in Translation.

Credits: 3