WGST 210.01
(Same as ASIA 210, HMCS 294, and ENGL 342)
20th CENTURY ANGLOPHONE WOMEN WRITERS
Professor Sonita Sarker
T/TH 10:10-11:40 pm
Old Main 002
Syllabus and
Readings
THE COURSE:
India is still described as “exotic” in current cultural vocabularies
used by Indians and others. This course is a direct address to such vocabularies.
We will investigate the material realities on which these cultural vocabularies
rest, through the mirrors held up by Indian women writers who are this nation-state's
citizens, expatriates, and diasporans. These writers’ historico-political
situations, tussles with language, experiences as immigrants and transnationals,
sexualities, and other self-imagings create a compelling force, in both developing
the notion of “India” as well as its relationships to North America
and Western Europe. The course also encourages you to explore aspects other
than literature – issues of history, politics, language, other forms
of cultural production, etc. Texts include writings by Meena Alexander, Arundhati
Roy, Suniti Namjoshi, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Bharati Mukherjee, and
Meena Syal, among others, as well as films and music from India and elsewhere.
