LITERARY CULTURES IN PAKISTAN AND POST-COLONIAL INDIA

This course continues and further develop the discourse set by previous course in the context of the bachelor (B.A. Licsaam) study program concerning Indian studies. It aims at deepening students' knowledge of the South Asian cultural and literary environment shortly before, during and immediately after the Partition that took place in 1947 sanctioning the end of the colonial period. Particular attention will be given to modern developments and the consequences in the contemporary world of those aspects of the Subcontinents' cultural life that has decisively contributed to shaping the mentality and culture of the people in the two major nations emerging from the post-colonial order in South Asia, namely India and Pakistan.

The knowledge and notions acquired in the context of this course want to offer students a more complete vision of the cultural and literary context that determined the political and social developments of South Asia during the XX and XXI centuries, in the aftermath of the prolonged and determining impact of European colonial rule over South Asia. This should provide students with major autonomy in analyzing and assessing the cultural history of those years and enable them ultimately to sharpen their opinion and judgement of the historical period concerned through direct access to literary and other source in the languages of the Subcontinent.

A good working knowledge of English and a basic understanding of the historical, social and cultural context of South Asia. Some notions of the Hindi language are desired and basic notions of Urdu language are desirable though not essential.

-Analysis of the political and social situation in the Indian subcontinent in the years immediately following the Partition (1947-1956): the literature of Partition in India and in Pakistan;
-the years of the progressive movement, in particular the Progressive Writers Movement: poets and novelists;
-the process of Islamization of Pakistan in the 70s and 80s of the 19th century and the relations with Sufi movements;
-national and official languages in the constitution of India and Pakistan and the relations with 'minor' state/provincial languages, i.e. gujarati, kashmiri, sindhi and panjabi;
-the case of Bangladesh and the urdu-speaking minority there;
-the hindi novel in the 60s and 70s: the anchalik novel and its linguistic implications, the nai kahani and the social classes in the urban environment.

-Bodh, Prakash (2009): Writing Partition: Aesthetics and Ideology in Hindi and Urdu Literature, New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley.

-Iftikhar Arif (a cura di, 2010): Modern Poetry of Pakistan, London: Dalkey Archive Press.

-Nazir M. Gill (2013): Development of Urdu Language and Literature Under the Shadow of the British in India, XLibris.

-Muhammad Qasim Zaman (2018): Islam in Pakistan: A History, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Written and oral. The written exam consists of two parts: the first one will ask students to answer a series of open questions pertaining to the topics dealt with in class (50%), the second consists of a translation from either hindi or urdu into italian of a passage extracted from a literary text. (duration: 3 hrs and a half).
The oral exam, which complements the written one, will consist in a discussion on a topic chosen by the student and agreed upon by the teacher, which will be discussed in hindi-urdu with the mother tongue language collaborator. Duration: 1/2 h approx.

Frontal classes, complemented by regular common reading and translation sessions, offered in a seminarial context

English

Students are strongly advised to attend classes regularly. Classes pertaining to this course are possibly held in English language if the presence of non-Italian speaking students requires so.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development