english 291: special topics
imagining india: 20th century literature and film
wagner college
spring 2004
pranav jani
www.wagner.edu/faculty/users/pjani
imagining india: 20th century literature and
film
(course description as in course listings)
required texts:
gandhi, mohandas. the
story of my experiments with truth: an autobiography
hossain, rokeya. sultana’s dream
prashad, vijay. the karma of brown folk
rushdie, salman. midnight’s children
(amitav ghosh, the calcutta chromosome – not in bookstore yet)
recommended texts:
alexander, meena. fault
lines: a memoir.
roy, arundhati. war
talk
participation: 20%
4 response papers (1-2 pages): 40%
bibliography for final project: 10%
final project (10-12 pages) 30%
check for updates on my webpage
w 1/28 clips from indiana jones: the temple of doom and bend it like bekham
wes cecil, pranav jani, stacey takacs, “india is(n’t): (mis)representations of india in the u.s. media”
w 2/4 rudyard kipling, “gunga din”:
http://www.bartleby.com/103/48.html
prashad, karma of brown folk (1-49)
films: satyajit ray, charulata and gunga din
week 3: feminist visions
w 2/11 rokeya
hossain, sultana’s dream
film: ketan mehta, spices
research: caste and class in india
week 4: mythologies of gandhi
w 2/18 gandhi, the story of my experiments with truth
film: richard attenborough, gandhi (see over the week)
pranav jani and mytheli sreenivas, “anticolonial struggle in south asia” (draft)
research: gandhi and the u.s. civil rights movement
*salman rushdie, “attenborough’s gandhi”
*meneejeh moradian, “gandhi and the politics of non-violence”:
http://www.isreview.org/issues/14/Gandhi.shtml
weeks 5-6: india from above, india from below
w 2/25 film: mother india
jawaharlal nehru, “tryst with destiny”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/parliament/Tryst with Destiny.pdf
faiz ahmad faiz, “dawn of freedom”
http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/11/06dawn.pdf
research: bollywood
w 3/3 film:
meera nair, salaam bombay
mahasweta devi, “dopdi”
gayatri c. spivak, introduction to “dopdi”
chandra t. mohanty, “under western eyes”
week 7: “never the twain shall meet”
w 3/10 ruth prawer jhabvala, “an experience of india”
r.k. narayan, “a horse and two goats”
prashad, “of gurus”
film:
the guru
*film:
the buddha of suburbia
weeks 8-9: the nation and the novel i
w 3/24 salman
rushdie, midnight’s children
w 3/31 salman
rushdie, midnight’s children
research: the indian emergency
weeks 10-11: hindutva and culture
w 4/7 prashad, “of yankee hindutva”
arundhati roy,
from war talk
film: bombay and anand patwardhan, ram ke nam
research: hindutva online
w 4/14 film: deepa mehta, fire
research: shiv sena’s culture cops
final
project bibliography due
week 12: intersections
w 4/21 amitav
ghosh, the calcutta chromosome
weeks 13-14: india in the diaspora
w 4/28 film:
bhaji on the beach
meena alexander, from fault lines
prashad, “of anti-black racism” and “of solidarity”
*films of note: chutney popcorn, monsoon wedding, mississippi masala
w 5/5 films: chutney popcorn
versus american desi
panjabi mc and jay-z, “beware of the boys” (cd)
desi
zines on panjabi mc and american desi
research: drum, 9/11, and south asian detainees
final project due: may 12, 12 noon by email (ms word attachment to pjani@wagner.edu)