Writing South Asia
| Module title | Writing South Asia |
|---|---|
| Module code | EAS3419 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Amina Yaqin (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
This module introduces you to the rich heritage of South Asian narratives in literature and film. You will examine a diverse range of forms including short stories, poetry, memoir and film from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Through these texts you will explore how writers address the geography of borders, space, caste/class, sexualities and migration. Particular emphasis will be placed on how narratives engage with local and global contexts. The module is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module will introduce you to South Asian literature and film and is structured around a wide variety of literary aesthetic practices. While you will not be expected to develop linguistic proficiency in a South Asian language, course materials will incorporate texts in translation. Seminars will require close reading and discussion of key texts as well as contextualisation in terms of broader literary, historical and cultural trends. You will consider texts deploying a wide range of theoretical approaches including, postcolonialism, gender, nationalism, culture, migration and diaspora. The creative critical assessment for the module is designed to help students interested in a career in culture, creative or media industries.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. An advanced knowledge of distinctive literary strategies and devices deployed in South Asian writing
- 2. A critical understanding of South Asian creative texts in their appropriate historical and cultural contexts
- 3. The ability to produce critical and creative accounts of literary and film texts from South Asia, paying appropriate attention to both formal and contextual issues
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Apply developed close reading skills and make connections between different texts across the module
- 5. Demonstrate advanced skills in the research and evaluation of relevant critical, historical and theoretical materials for the study of film and literature
- 6. Relate texts and discourses to familiar and new conceptual and theoretical frameworks
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographical skills, a capacity to construct a coherent, substantial argument, a capacity to write clear and correct prose and develop planning, organisational and problem solving skills.
- 8. Through research for seminars, presentations and essays, demonstrate advanced proficiency in identifying appropriate primary and secondary materials, information analysis and work on your own initiative.
- 9. Through group-work and discussion, demonstrate the ability to think laterally and demonstrate originality in problem solving and lines of questioning, express and communicate creative ideas, and initiate and sustain creative projects.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Partition and its legacies
- Nation and community
- Caste and class
- The Politics of Culture in ‘South Asia’
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | Seminars (11 x 2 hour) |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 11 | Workshops (11 x 1 hour) |
| Guided Independent Study | 267 | Module prep, reading, research, essay, presentation, film screenings |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reaction Paper | 35 | 2,000 words | 1-6 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Creative Critical Essay | 65 | 4,000 words | 1-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutor follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reaction Paper (1,500 words) | Reaction Paper (1,500 words) | 1-6 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Creative Critical Essay (4,000 words) | Creative Critical Essay (4,000 words) | 1-9 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
Ahmad, Aijaz. ‘“Indian Literature”: Notes towards the Definition of a Category’ in Aijaz Ahmad In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures (Verso, 1992)
Ali, Agha Shahid. The Country Without a Post Office (Norton, 1998)
Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin. The Settlers Cookbook: a memoir of love, migration and food (Portobello Books, 2012)
Anand, Mulk Raj. Untouchable (Penguin, 1935)
Anjaria, Ulka (ed) A History of the Indian Novel in English (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
Desai, Anita. In Custody (Penguin, 1984)
Earth, dir. Deepa Mehta (1998)
Gopal, Priyamvada. The Indian English Novel in English (Oxford University Press, 2009)
Hosseini, Khalid.The Kite Runner Bloomsbury, 2004)
Kandasamy, Meena. When I Hit You (Atlantic Books, 2017)
Manto, dir. Nandita Das (2018)
Manto, Saadat Hasan. ‘Toba Tek Singh’ in Salman Rushdie and Elizabeth West (eds) The Vintage Book of Indian Writing (Vintage, 1997)
Muhafiz, dir, Ismail Merchant (1993)
Ramanujan, A K. ‘Is there an Indian way of thinking? An informal essay’ in Vinay Dharwadker (ed) The Collected Essays of A K Ramanujan (Oxford University Press).
Rao, Raja. Kanthapura (Oxford University Press, 1990)
Selvadurai, Shyam. Funny Boy (Vintage, 1995)
Shamsie, Kamila Home Fire (Bloomsbury, 2009)
Sidhwa, Bapsi. Ice-Candy Man (Daunt Books, 2016). Also published as Cracking India in the United States.
Silva, Arunava and Pushpita Alam (eds). The Book of Dhaka: a city in short fiction (Comma Press, 2016)
Viswanathan, G. Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India (Faber, 1990)
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
ELE site will include week-by-week supplementary reading, recommended further reading, and internet resources. Additional slides and handouts will be uploaded weekly.
ELE – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
Web based and electronic resources:
Chandra, Vikram, ‘The cult of authenticity’, Boston Review February-March 2000. http://www.bostonreview.net/BR25.1/chandra.html
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/02/2022 |
| Last revision date | 15/02/2024 |
