Cosmopolitan London: Communities and Their Stories Professor: Kalpana R
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Cosmopolitan London: Communities and their Stories Professor: Kalpana R. Seshadri Department of English, Stokes Hall 477 S [email protected] A city of stupendous contradictions, London is home to both punk and the proper, to the order of tradition and the most unruly of youth and global cultures. It is also one of the most diverse cities in the world where migrants from former colonies of the empire have put down deep roots thereby redefining the meaning of being British in relation to being English. Taking up the living history of its grand imperial past, this course samples contemporary London’s vibrant cosmopolitanism through art, literature, food, neighborhoods, and communities. We shall discover a globalized London that holds unusual secrets and overlooked treasures in places off the beaten track or sometimes hidden in plain sight. We shall meet for four weeks Monday through Thursday possibly from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. Please be prepared for changes to our schedule to accommodate excursions and other scheduled activities around the city. Requirements: Regular class attendance, participation in discussion, and all course activities. There will be short written work assigned every week, due each Monday, and one longer essay of about 15 pages due upon your return in August. Students wishing to pursue a longer research project should submit a proposal by the end of the second week. Required Texts (Additional readings will be available electronically by@) Granta: The Best of Young British Novelists Richard Marsh: The Beetle Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four; “The Man with the Twisted Lip” Sax Rohmer The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu Salman Rushdie: Satanic Verses Hanif Kureishi: Love in a Blue Time Zadie Smith: NW Emmanuel Litvinoff Journey Through a Small Planet Week I: London Now Monday: @ A People’s History of London Introduction 1-12; Chp 10 “Migrant City” 232-252; Chp 11 “Welcome to the Modern World” 253-283; Chp 12 “Neoliberal London” 284-298 Film: Julien Temple’s London: The Modern Babylon Tuesday: Selected Short Stories from Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 4: Adam Thirlwell “Slow Motion”; Joanna Kavenna “Tomorrow”; Sanjeev Sahota “Arrivals” *Tour of Central London Wednesday: Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses Film: My Beautiful Laundrette Thursday: Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses *Tour Victorian &Albert Museum Week II: London Then (Victorian Empire) Monday (Two Page reflection due) Richard Marsh The Beetle Ailise Bulfin @ “The Fiction of Gothic Egypt and British Imperial Paranoia: The Curse of the Suez Canal” Tuesday@ Arthur Conan Doyle The Sign of Four *Tour of Kew Gardens Wednesday Sax Rohmer The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu; Freda Harcourt @“From India to China: The P&O and the Opium Trade” from Flagships of Imperialism *Tour to the Museum of London Docklands Thursday @Henry Mayhew excerpts from London Labour and the London Poor; The London Underworld in the Victorian Period; @Excerpts from Steven Marcus The Other Victorians Film: Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist *Tour to The Ragged School Museum Week III: Living Suburbs Monday (Two Page reflection due) Zadie Smith NW Tuesday Zadie Smith NW Film: Dirty Pretty Things Wednesday @R.Visram Ayahs, Lascars, and Princes; Avtar Brah Cartographies of Diaspora Film: Bend it Like Beckham Thursday Hanif Kureishi: Love in Blue Time *Tour Southall, Ealing Week IV: London’s other others Monday Emmanuel Litvinoff Journey Through a Small Planet Tuesday Emmanuel Litvinoff Journey Through a Small Planet Film: The Infidel Wednesday Xiaolu Guo A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers *Tour of Chinatown Friday @Anthony Appiah On Cosmopolitanism; Review Addendum Relevant Films: Belle My Beautiful Laundrette Sammy and Rosie Get Laid Dirty Pretty Things The Infidel It’s a Free World Eastern Promises Ill Manors Bhaji on the Beach Bend it like Beckham East is East My Son the Fanatic Bride and Prejudice My Brother the Devil Welcome to London Secrets and Lies Places to Visit: British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections National Gallery Ragged School Museum, North London Victoria and Albert Museum Museum of London, Docklands Kew Gardens Southall, West London Chinatown, Westminister .