South Asian Literature in English: South Asian American Literature
Silver 820
MW 2:00-3:15pm
Crystal Parikh
Office: 41 East 11th St. RM 708
Crystal.Parikh@nyu.edu
Office Hours: MW 3:30-4:30pm
Course Objectives: This course explores literature written by South Asian American authors, writers of
South Asian descent living and writing in English in the United States. The course will focus on the
experiences of immigration and diaspora, and the history of European imperialism as it is refracted
through American social formations. We will consider how these writers and a few filmmakers explore
gender, class, religious, and other differences amongst South Asians in the U.S. In addition, we will
examine the position of South Asian Americans in the U.S. in relation to other Asian American
populations, to the black and white dichotomy of racial discourses, and to the global cultures of
transnational capital including those of the homelands. We will focus on themes of identity, memory,
alienation, assimilation, solidarity, and resistance.
Required Texts:
Critical Reader: Lavina Dhingra Shankar and Rajini Srikanth, eds., A Part Yet Apart (APYA)
Literary Texts:
Agha Shahid Ali, The Country Without a Post Office
Indran Amirthanayagam, The Elephants of Reckoning
Amitava Kumar, Bombay, London, New York
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
Ameena Meer, Bombay Talkie
Sameer Parekh, Stealing the Ambassador
Salman Rushdie, Fury
Bapsi Sidwa, American Brat
Readings on Blackboard: Electronic copies of some of the required readings for this class have been
saved on Blackboard. These items are indicated on the schedule of readings below. It is your
responsibility to have printed yourself a copy, to read these pieces, and to bring your copy of the reading
to class on the day for which each is scheduled. All students who are officially enrolled in the course
automatically have access to the Blackboard site for this class.
To access Blackboard, follow these instructions:
Log onto NYUHome (http://www.home.nyu.edu) using your NYU Home NetID and password. Click on
the “ACADEMICS” tab in the upper right hand edge of the home screen. Click on our course number to
get into Blackboard. The readings will be posted under “Course Documents.”
To download the readings, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software on the computer on
which you are working. You can download this at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
For additional information on Blackboard, see http://www.nyu.edu/its/blackboard/ or call the ITS Client
Services Center at (212) 998-3333 (available 24 hours).
Films on Reserve: You are asked to watch four films for our course during this semester.. These have
been placed on reserve at the Avery Fisher Center (2nd Floor, Bobst Library). For your convenience, I
have scheduled group screenings of these films at the Fisher Center on the Friday prior to our discussion
of them in class (marked on the schedule below). If you are unable to attend the group screening, it is
your responsibility to view the film prior to the day we discuss it in class. The films are available on
reserve during regular office hours at the Fisher Center.
Assignments:
Attendance, reading assigned texts, and class participation: The success of the class will depend on class
discussion. I expect everyone to come to class with the appropriate text and to be prepared to discuss the
readings intelligently. Because participation is integral to a student’s performance in this class, regular
attendance is necessary. Tardiness and other types of disruptive behavior will have a negative impact
upon your class participation grade. 5% of final grade.
Quizzes: I will give 6-8 quizzes on the material you have read over the course of the semester. The
quizzes will be unannounced. There are absolutely no make-up assignments for quizzes without a valid
excuse. I will drop the lowest quiz grade at the end of the semester. The average of your quiz grades is
15% of the final grade.
Oral Presentation: Working in groups of two or three, you will be responsible for giving a 15-20 minute
presentation in class. These presentations are meant to relate the critical and theoretical works you have
been assigned to one of the novels we are reading. You will select two to three passages from the novel
for close reading that will generate discussion of the critical work you are considering. Further details on
this assignment will be provided in class. 10% of the final grade.
Short papers: You will write three short (5-7 pages) critical essays on a work and topic of your choice (I
will provide suggested topics). These papers should provide close readings as well as consider the
theoretical issues we have discussed in class. Further details on the papers will be provided in class. Each
paper is 15% of the final grade.
Final exam: You will complete an essay final exam for the course. You will be expected to offer
thoughtful comparisons/contrasts between the various works we’ve read during the semester as well as
provide discussion of key theoretical and thematic issues. 25% of the final grade.
Grading breakdown:
Attendance and Participation
Quizzes
Oral Presentation:
Short Papers
Final Exam
Total
5%
15%
10%
45% (15% each)
25%
100%
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
W
9/7
Introduction to Course
Naming Names: Mapping South Asia, Asian American, America
M
9/12
Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni, from Leaving Yuba City (on Blackboard)
W
9/14
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, from Leaving Yuba City (on Blackboard)
Lavina Dhingra Shankar and Rajini Srikanth, “Closing the Gap?” (APYA 1-22)
M
9/19
Indran Amirthanayagam, The Elephants of Reckoning (Part I)
W
9/21
Indran Amirthanayagam, The Elephants of Reckoning, (Part II)
Deepika Bhari, “With Kaleidoscope Eyes” (APYA 25-48)
M
9/26
Agha Shahid Ali, The Country Without a Post Office (Parts I-III)
W
9/28
Agha Shahid Ali, The Country Without a Post Office (Parts IV-V)
Lavina Dhingra Shankar, “The Limits of (South Asian) Names and Labels”
(APYA 49-66)
M
10/3
Sameer Parekh, Stealing the Ambassador (Parts One to Four)
W
10/5
Sameer Parekh, Stealing the Ambassador (Part Five to End)
M
10/10 Fall Break: No Class
Chastened Love: Imagining Race, Gender, and Class in South Asian America
W
10/12 Bharati Mukherjee, from The Middleman and Other Stories (on Blackboard)
Nazli Kibria, “The Racial Gap” (APYA 69-78)
Essay One Due
M
10/17 Bapsi Sidwa, American Brat (Chapters 1-9)
W
10/19 Bapsi Sidwa, American Brat (Chapters 10-19)
Sucheta J. Doshi, “Divided Consciousness” (on Blackboard)
[F
[F
10/21 Group screening of Miss India Georgia at Fisher Center, 2-3:00pm]
10/21 Group screening of Junky Punky Girlz at Fisher Center, 3:30-3:45pm]
M
10/24 Bapsi Sidwa, American Brat (Chapters 20-end)
Min Song, “Pahkar Singh’s Argument with Asian America” (APYA 79-102)
W
10/26 Films: Miss India Georgia and Junky-Punky Girlz
Sunaina Maira, “Henna and Hip Hop” (on Blackboard)
Sayantani DasGupta and Shamita Das Dasgupta, “Women in Exile” (on
Blackboard)
M
10/31 Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake (Chapters 1-7)
W
11/2
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake (Chapters 8-end)
[F
[F
11/4
11/4
Group screening of Taxi-Vala/Auto-Biography at Fisher Center 11am-12pm]
Group screening of Mississippi Masala at Fisher Center 2-4pm]
M
11/7
Film: Taxi-Vala/Auto-Biography
Vivek Bald, “Taxi Meters and Plexiglass Partitions” (on Blackboard)
Sumantra Tito Sinha, “From Campus to Community Politics in Asian America”
(APYA 146-167)
In Class Discussion with Vivek Bald (filmmaker)
W
11/9
Film: Mississippi Masala
Vijay Prashad, “Crafting Solidarities” (APYA 105-126)
Essay Two Due
Fatal Loves: Unruly Desires and Transnational Imaginaries
M
11/14 Ameena Meer, Bombay Talkie (pp. 1-92)
W
11/16 Ameena Meer, Bombay Talkie (pp. 93-187)
Sandip Roy, “The Call of Rice” (APYA 168-185)
M
11/21 Ameena Meer, Bombay Talkie (pp. 188-end)
View “Fatal Love” Images
W
11/23 Thanksgiving Break: No Class
M
11/28 Amitava Kumar, Bombay, London, New York (Part I-II)
W
11/30 Amitava Kumar, Bombay, London, New York (Part III-Epilogue)
Samir Dayal, “Min(d)ing the Gap” (APYA 235-265)
M
12/5
Salman Rushdie, Fury (Part One)
W
12/7
Salman Rushdie, Fury (Part Two)
Vijay Prashad, “Desh: The Contradictions of ‘Homeland’” (on Blackboard)
M
12/12 Salman Rushdie, Fury (Part Three)
W
12/14
[M
12/19 Final Exam 2:00-3:15pm]
Conclusion
Essay Three Due