Department of English

This course will trace the formation and contestation of a Hindi 
national public during the colonial and post-colonial periods, 
utilizing the post-colonial critical thought of writers in English 
like Partha Chatterjee, Gayatri Spivak, and Aijaz Ahmed, but also of 
critics writing in Hindi like Namvar Singh, Ashok Vajpeyi, Rajendra 
Yadav, etc.  Attention will be given to the manner in which the 
contours and character of this imagined community have been debated in 
the context of different literary, social, and political movements, 
with particular emphases given to aspects of gender, caste, and 
regional identity.  Central to class discussions will be the question 
of what constitutes a language or literature, and consequently what 
relation those concepts can have to nation in a multilingual state 
such as India.  Readings will be in translation.