Subversive Lit Presentation and Project & Shared Feedback Document
Research project: Students will research a topic of their choice related to the course material. Topics must be approved in advance by the instructor. You should choose an aspect, book, movement, film, etc. from South Asia (which can also be comparative with another place) that speaks to the topic of subversive or banned material or literature, etc. You are to use at least two scholarly sources to help you understand the topic and also to support your claim about the topic. You may use as many other sources as you want, but you need at least two of high academic standard. This means JSTOR, peer-reviewed, or from academic publishers, rather than things found on the internet.
For the project, you should provide the historical background and context. Then offer a way to see this aspect of South Asian culture, that is, make claim or state a thesis about the material. What are the implications of seeing or reading this way? What are the historical conditions that may have inspired subversion, or repression? How have views towards certain figures changed over the course of a century? There are many ways you can go with this. I urge you to check with me if you are unsure about how to proceed or if your project is viable.
This project has 3 graded components:
- Proposal (one paragraph) and Bibliography with at least two scholarly sources, due by end of Fall Break, November 23. (grade = 10%). You are welcome to give to me earlier.
- Class presentation (grade = 40%) – ten minutes in which you explain the project, your main claim and questions, and what you’ve discovered.
- The written portion (grade = 50%). The writing portion should be approximately 1500 words, but if you need more space you are welcome to use it. It should include full citations and a bibliography. This can be more or less the same as the presentation, in fact, you can think of it as a script. But I would also like you to add a reflection about the research. How was it for you to do this research? Have you gained some insights that may be further reaching than the scope of this course? The reflection can just be a paragraph or two placed at the end of the paper. You may submit the written portion in Canvas
