'Writers from elsewhere' III: Reading Sulaiman Addonia

Dozent/in:

Touhid Chowdhury

Angaben:

Übung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 4, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität, Erweiterungsbereich

Termine:

Mi, 12:00 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:
all modules including an obligatory/optional reading tutorial (Übung) for literature in
LA GS/HS/MS/RS/GY
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik
MA English and American Studies
MA WiPäd
Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies

open for Consolidation Module Literature (Übung)
NOT open for Ergänzungsmodul Literature

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 01.03.2021, 10:00 - 25.04.2021, 23:59
guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

In his essay “‘Commonwealth Literature’ Does Not Exist,” Salman Rushdie devises the idea of ‘writers from elsewhere’ referring to those contemporary novelists, poets and playwrights who, although often not born into the English language, have chosen it as the medium of their expression. This new definition, in general, is a reaction to the idea of ‘Commonwealth Literature’ as formal and at times flattering appreciation of a diverse group of writers writing in English.

Sulaiman Addonia is one of the new millennial immigrant writers who is not only known for his transnational outlook and alternative uses of English but also for him writing about the backwards attitude to immigration and refugees, and the systemic racism that runs through our society to this day. He has so far published two novels and a few essays that extensively deal with memory, racism, discrimination, and displacement.

This course will offer an in-depth look at Sulaiman Addonia’s writing from linguistic, historical and cultural perspectives. We will analyse both his novels and essays in the light of Salman Rushdie’s idea of ‘writers from elsewhere.’ However, the primary objective of this course is to introduce Sulaiman Addonia and his writings to students.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Obligatory Reading:
Novels:
The Consequences of Love (2009)
Silence is My Mother Tongue (2018)

Essays:
“In Search of Beauty: Blackness as a Poem in Saudi Arabia” (2019)
“The Wound of Multilingualism: On Surrendering the Languages of Home” (2020)

Just Write

Dozent/in:

Touhid Chowdhury

Angaben:

Sonstige Lehrveranstaltung, This course is an extracurricular course and does not offer any ECTS credits.

Termine:

Zeit/Ort n.V.

Inhalt:

Just Write! is a literary magazine publishing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry with a focus on writers who produce creative texts in English. Not only is Just Write! a publication, but it also acts as a platform where the University of Bamberg’s students with creative minds can come together and share their works with fellow students.

Interested to know more, then get in touch by simply writing an email to justwrite.bamberg(at)gmail.com

Key Texts in Literary Theory

Dozent/in:

Touhid Chowdhury

Angaben:

Übung, 1 SWS, ECTS: 1, Studium Generale

Termine:

jede 2. Woche Mi, 20:00 - 22:00, Raum n.V.
First Session: April 21st!

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (ab Studienbeginn zum WS 14/15): Ergänzungsmodul Methoden und Theorien der Englischen und Amerikanischen Literaturwissenschaft (alle Haupt- und Nebenfächer) (1 ECTS)

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (ab Studienbeginn zum SoSe 2009): Ergänzungsmodul Methoden und Theorien (1 ECTS, ab Studienbeginn zum SoSe 2012 unbenotet)

• alle alten Studiengänge: Übung (1 ECTS)

NOT open for Consolidation Module

2. (De)Registration:

in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 01.03.2021, 10:00 - 25.04.2021, 23:59

guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

In this seminar we will study trends and schools in literary theory since the 1950s. We may discuss key texts by thinkers identified with formalism and structuralism, deconstruction and poststructuralism, gender studies and queer theory, psychoanalytical criticism, (Neo)Marxism and Cultural Materialism, New Historicism, postcolonial criticism and reader-response theory.

Depending on the participants personal interests, we may also consider more recent approaches like ecocriticism and possible-worlds theory or less "canonized" theories (e.g. systems theory).

The course is intended to assist students in both finding own approaches towards primary texts and in identifying mind-sets and methods applied in the secondary sources they read in their other seminars: "What theory demonstrates [...] is that there is no position free of theory, not even the one called common sense" (V. B. Leitch).

Empfohlene Literatur:

A course reader will be made available for download at our VC group once the schedule has been agreed upon.

Refugees and Forced Migration: Introduction to Refugee Studies

Dozent/in:

Touhid Chowdhury

Angaben:

Seminar/Proseminar/Übung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 6, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität

Termine:

Di, 18:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Module Allocation:
1.1 Seminar
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft / Aufbaumodul Kulturwissenschaft / freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS
Ergänzungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar max. 6 ECTS
BA Berufliche Bildung: Basis/Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
LA GS/HS/MS/RS: Basis/Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft (b): Seminar 6 ECTS
LY GY: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft / Kulturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS

1.2 Übung
all modules including an obligatory/optional reading tutorial (Übung) for literature and culture in
LA GS/HS/MS/RS/GY
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik
MA English and American Studies
MA WiPäd
Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies

Open for Consolidation Module (Übung)
Open for Ergänzungsmodul Literature (NOT culture)

(De)Registration in FlexNow: 01.03.2021, 10:00 - 25.04.2021, 23:59

Inhalt:

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, around 80 million people – one in 100 people on the planet – have been forced to leave their homes because of the violent conflict, persecution, famine, or natural disaster. A majority of them are refugees, which is almost 26 million (UNHCR, 2020). These high numbers tell us that the conflict and disaster driven displacement and forced movement of millions of people across the globe is one of the most pressing humanitarian issues of the current century.

Furthermore, this high number of refugees or forced migrants result from a combination of intertwined factors including but not limited to civil war, risk of genocide, internal violence perpetrated by religious extremism, natural disaster due to climate change, and an uneven social and economic development. However, specifically in Europe and the USA, the current political discourse over refugees or forced migration revolves around topics like legal bans, border security, state policies and victimisation of the people, which ignores the humanitarian and human right side of the debate. In our study, we will attempt to analyse these political dimensions as well as the lexicon that differentiates between refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and aliens.

This class will offer a survey of different intellectual, analytical and research tools to study the complexities of forced migration and refugeehood. To do so, this class will be incorporating theories and literature from different academic disciplines. The class will begin by mapping the political and theoretical field of refugee studies, which then leads to exploring how refugees have portrayed themselves and have been portrayed in literature, film, and art. Finally, this class will inquire how different formal qualities of each piece of literature or film or art dictate our understanding of the refugees.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Obligatory Reading:
Texts:
Refugee Tales (2016)
Refugee Tales II (2017)
Refugee Tales III (2019)
Viet Thanh Nguyen. The Refugees (2017)
Viet Thanh Nguyen. The Displaced (2018)

Films:
Mathew Cassel. The Journey (2016)
Ai Weiwei. Human Flow (2017)
Hassan Fazili. Midnight Traveller (2019)

A more detailed syllabus will be announced in the first session of the class.