Dear Students,
Thank you for your participation in yesterday’s class and for actively engaging with Dr. Day’s talk on ‘decoloniality’ and the subsequent discussion. You can find his paper, “The Saffronization of Public Knowledge in India,” in the materials for Lesson #6. (While it is NOT included in the required readings for the exam, it could be a useful supplementary reading for anyone interested in the topic).
Assignment for Next Week
As outlined in class, I encourage you to work on the following assignment:
From Chapter One (see the scanned chapter attached in the materials for Lesson #7), analyze the narrative styles used by Amitav Ghosh through the lens of 'hybridity'. Highlight the different narrative techniques adopted, by using different colors, and by taking notes in the margins to clarify your observations. You may focus on the styles discussed in class (see below) or others you believe are relevant to your analysis:
- Literary style/devices:
- Storytelling formulas;
- metaphors;
- similes;
- rhetorical question(s)
- excerpts from other literary texts
- Essayistic Style/devices:
- historical narration;
- ecological/environmental narration
- guiding questions;
- excerpts from other sources
- Other narrative styles/devices
- Diary stile
Please submit your annotated copy in the “Homework Submission Section” available in the materials for Lesson #7. Upload your work by Tuesday, just before class (11:59 am).
We will review some of your submissions together and provide comments during the session.
Please remember to rename your file with your full name and student ID before submission.
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Additionally, I’ve completed the corrections for the previous assignment (Lesson #5). You can access the GoogleDoc to review some observations, suggestions, and corrections I’ve provided to help you refine your writing strategies for the exam and beyond (please feel free to send a revised version of your text to double-check, if you want).
In the next lesson, we will focus on some of these aspects and I will provide a list of recommendations to help you prepare for both the written and oral exams. This will also be an opportunity to further develop your academic writing skills.
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We’re now halfway through the course, and I’ve been impressed by the progress you’ve made in critical thinking, observation, and participation. Keep it up!
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See you on Tuesday,
Best,
SR