UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:_May 11,2007 I, _Anuradha Chatterjee, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctorate of Philosophy in: Dept. of English & Comparative Literature It is entitled: TEACHER, BUT NOT QUITE: TEACHING POST-COLONIAL TEXTS AS A MINORITY This work and its defense approved by: Chair: WAYNE HALL JONATHAN KAMHOLTZ YASHDIP BAINS Teacher, But Not Quite: Teaching Post-Colonial Texts as a Minority A dissertation submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies Of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY In the Department of English and Comparative literature of the College of Arts and Sciences 2007 by Anuradha Chatterjee B.A., Nagpur University, 1994 M.A., Nagpur Univeristy, 1996 Committee Chairs: Wayne Hall and Jonathan Kamholtz ABSTRACT My dissertation examines the close connection between classroom interaction and the colonial encounter. My field work re-affirms my belief in persisting with a pedagogy that self- consciously engages with issues of difference. My experience underscores the need to continue to engage with issues of diversity, but such an effort must persistently engage questions such as, who has the power to define whom, and when, and how? My students’ responses provided numerous learning opportunities for me and highlighted the need to continually question the validity of some of the pedagogic decisions that we make as practitioners of critical pedagogy. As a post-colonialist and a compositionist, I view the quest for subjectivity as one of the central predicaments for a teacher of color. My personal classroom encounters echo Jacqueline Jones Royster’s claim that, “‘subject’ position really is everything” (29). At the same time I recognize that even though identity politics is an inevitable character of a contemporary politics of difference, it can also become a form of cultural narcissism which distracts from the real struggles over class and power. My pedagogical experience recorded in my dissertation demonstrates the uneasy position of the minority pedagogue in Western academia. It highlights the slippages between subverting the traditional colonizing role of a teacher and ensuring the goals of critical pedagogy which aims to create collaborative learning environments. The minority teacher of literature has to balance the additional burden of resisting the mantle of the native informant, especially if the literature being taught identifies with her ethnicity. There is a vital need to construct a critical, self-reflexive, multicultural pedagogy that makes space for emotional/personal aspects of living as a minority, and at the same time does not regard personal experience as the exclusive site of knowledge. - iii - - iv - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is with a heavy heart that I write this final document, which signals the end of my doctoral dissertation experience. I’m happy and relieved that my doctoral thesis has finally achieved its final form, but there is also sadness. I feel I’m letting go of a trusting, faithful and dear friend – my thesis. Seven years is a fairly long time. And in these seven years, this doctoral project has gone through nine revisions. With each revision I matured a little more as a writer; but more importantly I grew as a person. In my writing courses I strive to convince my first year composition students that writing in a dialogic activity: it is hard, exhausting, even torturous. But that struggle between our thoughts and the words on the page yields a sharper, keener more incisive mind. Writing reflects our thoughts, but it also pushes us to think even further. Writing this thesis exemplifies this fact. Those nine revisions also point to the extremely patient, painstaking efforts and mentoring of my advisor, Wayne Hall. Wayne is always there to provide guidance, support, comfort, enthusiasm, and above all confidence. He is an excellent teacher and mentor and his greatest quality is his ability to inspire and propel his students to take responsibility of their own learning; yet he is ever ready to provide direction if they get distracted and unfocused. Jon entered into this project at a much later stage but his extremely intelligent, sharp, thought-provoking questions and comments have always made me reflect and question myself, which prompted me to work harder and think more clearly. Yashdip, my third committee member has been my greatest support and comfort in all these years. His office door is always open for a friendly chat, a serious theoretical discussion, or to reminiscence about life in India. He has helped me to stay focused on the writing, and not get - v - distracted with new ideas and theories. Above all, he taught me to take joy in small victories whenever I despaired and worried about my ability to complete this degree. Although she is far away in Boston now, it was Maggy Lindgren, my composition advisor who was gave me the courage and inspiration to first visualize this project. I grew up in a very close-knit and caring family environment, and when I left home to fly 10,000 miles away to complete a doctoral degree in America, I was devastated and distraught. At first, it was impossible to focus on academics, leave alone generate ideas for a doctoral project. I could not function. I had to replicate the closeness and comfort of home. In this too I was extremely lucky. I have managed to form a most supportive and caring friend circle. Some have come to mean so much to me that I cannot visualize a future without their company. I will take this opportunity to thank them individually. A weekend without meeting Rohit and Chris is unfathomable. I thank them for their unending support, for those reprimands and jibes at me for taking so long to complete my degree. Ultimately your criticisms inspired me to finish. Ritesh, my dear friend, I thank for his patience and understanding. And, for those long, nightly debates and discussions, which exasperated me at the time, for I had still not formulated my ideas of the thesis. It was out of those frustrated chatting sessions that I strengthened my belief in my work. My close friend and colleague Madhu, I thank for her highly intelligent comments on my work. You are a constant source of inspiration and hope. Niruj and Sathish are two people who have not been physically present, but their views and comments over long, though infrequent, phone conversations have inspired me and helped me to stay focused. Melanie, Anuvrat, Bikram, - vi - Prodipto, Venkat, Tazeen, Ramya, Renuka, have each contributed to this project by always reminding me of their belief in me and my work. My dear sister Nandini, who is the first PhD in the family, is far away in India but her enthusiasm and eagerness for my work and belief in me has been a great source of comfort. My parents, Rabi and Amrit initiated me to the wonderful world of books and ideas. They fostered in me a respect for learning, and have gifted me with a yearning for knowledge. This PhD is my tribute to their efforts. The closest and most cherished person in my life is my mate and life-partner, Anup. Without him, this PhD would not have been possible. He shared with me his vision for our future together, but above this, he gave me the confidence and strength to visualize a future for myself. His constant presence, love, and unbelievable enthusiasm for my work are my greatest assets and will guide me in all my future endeavors. - vii - Table of Contents 1. Introduction: Are Teachers Born, or Made? … 1 2. Chapter Two: Staging Otherness: Experiences of Teaching Multicultural Literature as a Minority … 24 3. Chapter Three: Communicating the Lostness of the Immigrant: Teaching Bharati Mukherjee’s “The Tenant” … 32 4. Chapter Four: Situating Otherness: Teaching Love, Stars and All That … 49 5. Chapter Five: Ask me, I am South-Asian! Problems of Subjectivity in the Classroom … 66 6. Chapter Six: Taking Multiculturalism Personally: Teaching The Shadow Lines … 85 7. Chapter Seven: The Elitism of the Questioning Subject: Teaching Meatless Days … 102 8. Chapter Eight: The Best Way to Learn Something Is to Teach It … 111 9. Works Cited … 119 10. Appendices… 130 - viii - Chapter One: Are Teachers Born, or Made? “When the poet Iqbal was offered some honorific title by the literati of India, he refused to accept it until they had first bestowed a similar glory on his former teacher. ‘But what has he written?’ asked the literati, scandalized. ‘I,’ replied Iqbal, ‘am his book’” (Suleri 184). Iqbal’s reverence towards his teacher, articulated so compellingly by Suleri in Meatless Days, was a sentiment that I passionately believed in. The concept of a teacher has always held a cherished place in my life. As a profession, my family practiced teaching for over two generations. My parents and my maternal grandfather were all teachers of English. Though they belonged to two different religions and regions of India, a common love of W.B.Yeats, and Aristotle’s Poetics brought my parents together. I grew up listening to moving and inspiring anecdotes from my grandfather about his former students who would stop him on the street, their eyes moist with tears of gratitude, as they would fondly recollect his classroom lectures on the elegant prose of Thomas Carlyle. My fascination with teaching was matched with my love for English literature. I did not associate glory and amazement with a physics or botany professor. But it seemed so appropriate to me to picture the brilliant teacher of literature as she motivated students to uphold truth and sincerity by highlighting that cathartic moment of Lear’s regeneration from the depths of madness.