Winter Term 2013/2014

VL "Whose Salad Bowl? The African and South Asian Diasporas of North America"

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Mi 14:15-15:45, Geb. B3.2, HS 0.03

This introductory lecture series provides an overview of migration processes by focussing on two major groups in North America: the African (/-American) and South Asian. What are their histories, what the conditions of their diasporic existence? How does the US "melting pot" policy compare with Canada's "cultural mosaic"? Taking Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes (2007) alongside Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine (1989) as examples of diasporic texts, we will also focus on visual representation, in particular on Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) and Deepa Mehta's Hollywood Bollywood (2002). The question finally is: what features do these two different ethnic groups share, and what distinguishes them from another?

Participtaion

Please familiarize yourselves with the primary texts for this lecture series; regular attendance of the full lecture series; end of term written test.
Please check the TAS website under "Your Studies" for guidelines, especially on note-taking during a lecture series.

NB: The lecture series this term is open to both NamLitCult and TAS students.

HS "TAS goes Virtual: Re-Constructing Government House Calcutta"

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Do 14:15-15:45, Geb. C5.3., Raum 120

Tutorial: Claudia Kilian

Recently, there has been a strong focus in TAS seminars on memorialization and museal practices; this term we will be taking another step forward in this direction. In collaboration with the DFKI (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz/German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence at UdS), TAS was enabled to create 3-D models of the unique architectonic features of the buildings the British believed were best suited to both demonstrating their power as rulers, and creating a home away from home as residency of the highest representatives of Britain. In taking the example of India, where the first Government House was erected, we will use the virtual model of this building and its gardens as the basis for further investigations, both virtual and real.

Since Government House Calcutta was designed as an improved version of architect Robert Adam's Kedleston Hall, we will set off for Derbyshire after having familiarized ourselves with the 3-D model. From Kedleston Hall our trip will bring us to the Clive Museum in 700-year old Powis Castle, Welshpool. Named after Robert Clive (1725-77) of the East India Company, the man popularly regarded as mainly responsible for establishing British control in India, the museum houses his unique collection of 'booty'-cum-gifts to England, to which his son, the Earl of Powis, contributed, too. Returning via London will allow us to first visit Geffrye Museum to learn more about the history of English home interiors, before we start working on the records relevant to Govt. House in the British Library.

On the basis of our on-site research, we will continue to add more content to the website dedicated to this project by combing available private correspondence and diaries (see CLIX) concerning further aspects of Govt. House and Calcutta. Contributions made by visiting experts will round off the seminar's activities.

TEXTS:

Letters from India with reference to Govt. House and life there, written in particular, by:
The wives/sisters of Governor-Generals/Viceroys, e.g. Emily Eden, Charlotte Canning, Edith Lytton, Mary Curzon
The Governor-Generals/Viceroys, e.g. Wellesley and Curzon.

Participation

Regular attendance and active participation in all sessions and activities; individual research on a relevant topic of your choice for short oral presentations / group work, followed by a term paper (7500 words, in MLA format) on a larger research topic. Please check the TAS website under "Your Studies" for further details about oral presentation and essay writing modalities.

HS "'A Local Habitation...': Films in Conversation about the South Asian Diaspora"

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Do 16:15-17:45, Geb. C5.3, Raum 120

What does home – whether in India or Pakistan – mean for those who live in what is generally termed the West? Do mainstream Indian films claim the status of cultural 'centre' for its wide-spread overseas 'family' of Non-Resident Indians in Britain and North America? How might this claim be visualized?  Relatedly, how have filmmakers 'at home' in these diasporas dealt with their 'imaginary homeland'? We will be looking closely at this contest for centrality over a period of by now 40 years in the course of this seminar.

FILMS:

Purab aur Paschim (East and West 1970)

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

DDLJ (Braveheart Wins the Bride 1995)

East is East (1999)

My Name is Khan (2010)

Participation

Regular attendance and active participation in all sessions and activities; thorough acquaintance with all the films listed above; individual research on a relevant topic of your choice for short oral presentations / group work, followed by a term paper (7500 words, in MLA format) on a larger research topic. Please check the TAS website under "Your Studies" for further details about oral presentation and essay writing modalities.

Kolloquium Studying TAS

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Mi 16-18:30, Geb. C5.3, Raum 1.19

All TAS students in the semi-final stages of their studies are encouraged to attend.

Those intending to take any part of their final examinations in TAS are strongly advised to participate in this colloquium a semester prior to their exams. This also applies to students starting out / meanwhile engaging with their written academic work, i.e. those doing an M.A. or a B.A. thesis, or any course of L.A. Study, i.e. the Staatsexamensarbeit and/or the final oral exam.

The colloquium's focus is on developing study skills while providing on-going guidance during exam preparation. Further, it provides a supportive forum for presenting theses-in-progress and practising for oral exams, all within the frame of engaging with the application of TAS theory parameters to selected texts.

Information für Bachelor (Optionalbereich):

Participation

Regular attendance and active participation in all sessions and activities; active role in continuing the project Colonial Self-Representation: Exhibiting Slavery (thorough acquaintance with the field of inquiry, contact claudia.kilian@uni-saarland.de for details or questions); thorough acquaintance with one primary source of the material listed above before the first session. Documentation of your contribution to the project mentioned above.

Proseminar / Cultural Studies II (Übung)

Introduction to TAS: The Carribean

Swantje Kaiser

Mo 10:15-11:45, Raum 4.08, Geb. C5.3

Whereas to holidaymakers from the West the Caribbean has always appeared to be a paradise on earth – beaches, carnival and reggae – news coverage of this region has, in contrast, presented it as a hell-hole of political and natural disasters. Caribbean writers have consistently challenged both of these types of representation in their texts. Using current literary/cultural theory to read some key texts, we will explore the potential of Caribbean literature as anti-colonial resistance and as an attempt to create a pan-Caribbean identity.

Texts: 

Perry Henzel: The Harder They Come (1972)

Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place to Be (1988)

Jean Rhys: “Let Them Call it Jazz” (1962)

Participation

Regular attendance, active participation, reading and writing assignments.

For those who want to take the course as a "Proseminar", requirements include a short oral presentation and a term paper.

For those who want to take the course as a "Cultural Studies Übung", an oral presentation or a written test at the end of term will suffice.

If you have any questions, please contact me at swantje.kaiser@uni-saarland.de