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The Rural (India) through Literature, Art, Cinema, Folklore and the Indigenous Imagination The aim of the course is to familiarize the students to the Indian rural through literature, art, cinema and folklore and the Indigenous imagination. The course through selected narratives will offer several dimensions of the rural, whether in the form of representing Indian villages or then the diverse Indigenous sensibility existing in India. The range of the selected texts will be broad and will represent the various colours and shades of rural India. The narratives will range from being narratives of oppression and marginalization, to narratives that celebrate the rural and the indigenous imagination, to narratives that problematise the rural and depict the various complexities surrounding and existing within it. The objective of the course is neither to consolidate the rural as a site of marginalization nor is it to eulogize or romanticize it but to depict it through a realistic lens and to bring to the surface its joys and sorrows, its pain and anguish, its orthodox suffocating conventions and its struggles for emancipation, its existence as a 'unified community' and its expelling practices. Thus the course aims to dismantle the binary of the rural and the urban as conventional and modern on the one hand and as idyllic and alien on the other. The course will operate through readings of a few selected narratives, in the form of novels, short stories, poems and cinematic texts. As transmission of stories can also be through visual artistic forms, dance, music, rituals, this course will also look into the various songs, stories, paintings, dance, music, tapestries, folklore and rituals that circulate in tribal cultures and rural India. The course will be transacted mainly through a collaborative process, the students are expected to constantly make presentations and interact. A working knowledge of Hindi is essential for the course. Given the time constraint, it may not be possible to focus equally on all the sections mentioned below. Primary Reading list Novels: Phanishwar Nath Renu, Maila Ancha (Lectures by Dr Satyaketu Sanskrit) Advaita Malla Burman, Titash Ekti Nadir Naam

Poems Jayant Mahapatra, Hunger Pash, The Wound of the Thorn, Bharat, The Withered Flames JP Das, Kalahandi Navakanta Barua, Palestine Hiren Bhattacharjya, The Field of Man, Blood, Sweat Harekrishna Deka, How do I Blame It Cheni Ram Gogai, The Roots of Living, A Rare Bird Short Stories Mahasweta Devi, Shishu Om Prakash Notiyal, Path Ja Panchdhara" Premchand, Thakur Ka Kuan Bama, Selection from Karukku Akhtar Mohi-un-Din, The Houri of Paradise Literature representing the Indegenous and the Folk imagination Munda , Kondh and other tribal songs A.K. Ramanujan, A Flowering Tree A. K. Ramanujan, Three hundred Ramayans Vijay Dandetha, Duvidha A lecture on Oral Epics in India by Dr. Tanuja Kotyal Selections from Fables from the Misty Mountains: Folklore of the Nagas

Paintings and other visual art forms Somnath Hore, Tebhaga Sketches Nandlal Boses idealized paintings of Indian Villages, Madhubani Paintings Films Promod Gupta Development at Gunpoint Biju Toppo and Meghnath Iron Is Hot Song: Gaon Chhodab Nahin Plays: Budhan: A Play by Denotified Chharas Assessment: Students are expected to submit all their assessments in duplicate 1 Novels Each student is expected to write a term paper on any one of the following novels: 25%. A few selected papers will be presented in the course. Premchand, Godan Shrilal Shukla, Raag Darbari Rahi Masoom Raza, Adha Gaon, Neem Ka Pad Intizar Hussain, Basti Buddhadeva Guha, Kojagar (The Bounty of the Goddess) Gurdial Singh, Night of the Half Moon, Marhi da Diva Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, Panch Gaon Omprakash Valmiki, Joothan Baba Nagarjuna, Balchamna Amrita Pritam, Pinjar

Sarat Chander Chhotapadhaya, Devdas, Palli Samaj, Abbangi Ka Swarg Bankim , The Poison Tree, Debi Chaudhurani Fakir Mohan Senapati, Six Acres and a Third Mudgoankar, Bangardwadi (The Village has No Walls) Dilip Kaur Tiwana, Gone Are the Rivers Bhisham Sahni, Mayyadas Hi Marhi (The Mansion) Srikrishna Alanahally , Gendethimma Kashav Prasad Mishr, Kobar Ki shart U.R. Ananthamurthy, Samskara Sant Singh Sekhon, Lahu Mitti David Davidar, The House of Blue Mangoes Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan Raghuvir Chaudhary, Uparvas Kathat Rayee Limbale, Hindu, Narvankar Bhupendra Nath Shukla, Goan Ka Aadmi Baby Kamble, Jeevan Hamara Krishna Sobti, Zindagi Nama Raja Roa Kanthapura Manik Bandhupadhaya Padma Maji Nadir Thakaxhi S. Pillai Chemeen O V. Vijayan, Legends of Kasak Mahasweta Devi Chotti Munda and his Arrow, TItu Mir
Attia Hosain, Sunlight on a Broken Column Kamla Markandaya, Nector in a Sieve, Two Virgins

Thoppil Mohammed Meeran, The Story of a Seaside Village Nirmal Verma, Antim Arnay Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance Shanta Rama Rau, Remember the Village M. K. Indira, Phaniyamma Abdul Bismillah Jhini Jhini Bini Chadaria

Satinath Bhaduri, Dhonrai Charit Manas 11 A short paper on any of the following works: 10% (1000 words) Short Stories Mahasweta Devi, Bayen, The Breast Giver, Doluti Premchand, Kafan Somen Chanda Selected Stories Uday Prakash Chapan Tola Ka Kangan Basheer Short Stories Poems: Nagarjuna, Harigan Gatha Dhoomal, Gaon Kajri Musical Art forms Films Bawander, Gairish Karnard, Cheluvi Ritwik Ghatak, Puralia Chhou Naritya/Oran Mani Kaul, Duvidha, Satyajit Ray, Pather Panchali Mehbbob Khan, Mother India, Ritwik Ghatak, Titash Ekti Nadir Naam

Bimal Roy, Do Bigha Zamin, Shekar Kapoor, Bandit Queen Pan Singh Tomar, Paheli, Naya Daur, Madhumati, Pipli life, Thisri Kasam, Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, Welcome to Sajanpur, Lagan, Vir Zara, Nadiya Ke Par,Gaman,Ankur, Bhuvan Shome, Rudali, Rihayee, Mirch Masala, Manthan, Film lyrics Literature representing the Indigenous and the Folk imagination Selections from the Bhilli Mahabharat Selections from the Kunkana Ramayan Selections from Rajasthans Pabu ji ka Phar Selected Baul songs of Bengal Selections from A.K. Ramanujan's Folktales from India Selections from Temsula's The AO Naga Oral Traditions Folk songs, Bhakti folk traditions in India Paintings and other visual art forms Indigenous Art traditions, Rural Indian Art forms Background Reading Balachanra Nemade Nativism, Vandana Shiva, Developmentalist vs Ecological Images of Rural India Mahasweta Devi Dust on the Road V. Geetha, Benefits of Being: The humiliations of Untouchability Rangana padhi, Health in an Ailing Economy Peter Ronald Desouza, Humiliation in a Crematorium

M.N. Srinivas, Village Studies, Participant Observation and Social Science Research in India Suresh Sharma, The Vanquished Tribal World of Shifting Cultivation 111 Group Presentation 20% (Topics for Group Presentation) 1. Champaran and the Kheda Satyagrah, Telengana movement, Tebhaga sharecroppers movement, Ambedkar and the water andolan, Chipku andolan 2. Contemporary peoples struggles and movements to save their land against the development practices of Indian government: Narmada Bachao Andolan, Kashipur, Tehri, Kudan Kulam and anti nuculear movement in India (website Dianuke), Niyamgiri struggle. The formation of Special Economic Zones in rural India and its impact on rural people and their lives and their struggles to save their land. 3. Green revolution and Farmers suicide, its impact on rural economy, the impact of suicides on women. Green revolution and health in rural India. 4. Images of rural India in Indian Cinema, film songs and lyrics representing rural India 5. Rural India and Musical Art forms (folk and Indigenous traditions as well) 6. Rural India and Visual art forms (folk and Indigenous traditions as well) 7. Performance traditions in rural India (folk and Indigenous traditions as well) 8. Production Budhan 9. Primary Health in rural India, Primary Education in rural India 10. Rural India, inter-caste marriages, honour killings 11. Caste and Gender issues in rural India 12.Natural calamities and rural India 13. The rural India and the North-East 1V 25% A long paper/ short story representing the life history of a rural migrant worker living in Delhi. You can also alternatively creatively paint (5), take photographs (photo story 10), shoot a short film at least 10 minutes long, present a monologue, compose songs but with all of these endeavours you are supposed to write a commentary)

V 20% Class Participation