Tales of Transformation: Fictions of the South Asian City

Modul: Cultural Encounters; Modulteil: Cultural Representations in/and Practice

271432-204    Tales of Transformation: Fictions of the South Asian CityM_AA__2, M_GI__2, SGPhilSS

Tuesday 11:30-13:00, 2/NK003 (C10.U03)                     First meeting: 08.04.2025

Content

This seminar explores the role of narrative in shaping urban identities, with a focus on cities undergoing significant transformation. Using South Asian urban poetry and (graphic) fiction as a lens, students will examine how literature engages with historical shifts, socio-political struggles, and processes of reimagination in postcolonial metropolises like Delhi or Kolkata. The seminar, however, is part of a broader academic initiative linked to the special exhibition “Tales of Transformation” at the Industriemuseum Chemnitz (25 April – 16 November 2025). In collaboration with Daniela Zupan’s (Bauhaus University Weimar) seminar on “Tales of Transformation: Post-Socialist Eastern European Cities”, we will investigate urban transformation in a wider geographic context through workshops, lectures, site visits, museum tours, and creative research projects.

Objectives

The seminar will first focus on theoretical approaches to urban studies (e.g. heterotopias, flâneur, “wandersmann”, thirdspace, or city planning), to contribute to urban studies, and in a second step examine the ways literature engages with historical shifts, socio-political struggles, urban reimaginations and literary representations. A key focus will be on the comparison of transformation processes in postcolonial and (in conjunction with the Weimar students) post-socialist urban contexts, allowing for a broader understanding of urban change across different historical and cultural settings. As part of the seminar programme, participants will take part in two workshops, the first one in Weimar and the second one in Chemnitz, where they will attend expert lectures, museum tours, a film presentation and discussions, as well as student presentations. The workshops/excursions are scheduled as follows:

Bauhaus University Weimar: 8 – 9 May 2025

TU Chemnitz: 5 – 6 June 2025 (Industriemuseum Chemnitz)

Final organisational aspects will follow as soon as possible.

Prerequisites

Students must have completed the first part of the module “Cultural Encounters”.

Requirements for credits/Type of module exam

Active participation in every session of the class is expected. Group work is part of the PL assessment. A final group presentation is scheduled for 6 June 2025.

Set Texts/Required Reading

Banerjee, Sarnath: Corridor: A Graphic Novel. New Delhi: Penguin Global, 2004.

Chaudhuri, Amit: A New World: A Novel. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.

Desai, Anita: “The Rooftop Dwellers”. In: Desai, Anita. Diamond and Dust and Other Stories. London: Vintage, 2001 [2000], 160-207.

Seminal material will be made available in the OPAL course.

Registration

Please register for this course on OPAL till 3 April 2025