Homelands and Diasporas: syllabus
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Felicity Hand, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Week 1
Settlement of the first wave of migrants, mostly indentured labourers, during the 19th century in the Caribbean, East and South Africa and Fiji. Settlement of the first wave of migrants, mostly indentured labourers, during the 19th century in the Caribbean, East and South Africa and Fiji.
Settlement of the first wave of migrants, mostly indentured labourers, during the 19th century in the Caribbean, East and South Africa and Fiji. Settlement of the first wave of migrants, mostly indentured labourers, during the 19th century in the Caribbean, East and South Africa and Fiji.
Week 2
The early work of V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad) as an example of this first wave of South Asians. Creation of “imagined homelands” in their new countries through lack of contact with India.
Week 3
Reading and discussion of The Mystic Masseur. Comparison with Ismail Merchant’s film version.
Week 4
Post World War II migration to Britain as a clear response to a demand for labour in the former metropolis.
Discussion of the socioeconomic profile of early arrivals from rural parts of India and Pakistan. Immigration legislation.
Week 5
Issues of multicultualism and hybridity. 2nd and 3rd generation migrants. Discussion of Gurinder Chadha’s film Bhaji on the Beach.
Week 6
Oral Presentations 1
Second and third generation of hyphenated South Asians and their often ambivalent attitudes to the “homeland”. Growth of Islamism in the UK. Reading and discussion of Monica Ali, Brick Lane.
Week 7
Migration of South Asians to the US and Canada since the 1970s. Changing profile: middle class, often highly qualified, persons.
Week 8
Reading and discussion of Arranged Marriage.
Week 9
Discussion of Mira Nair’s film Mississippi Masala.
Week 10
Oral Presentations 2
New diasporas of the border: the era of plane trips, video, films and digital technology.
The importance of Bollywood in the lives of the South Asian communities.
Week 11
Reading and disucssion of The In-Between World of Vikram Lall.
Week 12
Discussion of Deepa Mehta’s films Fire and Earth.
