In our AMES 191 class, Dr. Knapczyk has made it one of her primary goals to give us real-world experiences and interactions with the topics that we explore within the classroom. At the end of our unit on Dalit literature and liberation, we forged attending a traditional class in favor of taking part in a discussion-based speaker series event that she facilitated. The event featured three well-known Indian academics: Professor Raj Kumar (of the English department at Delhi University), Professor Aparna Lanjewar Bose (of the English Literature department at the English and Foreign Languages University), and Professor Rekha Sethi (of the Indraprastha College for Women).
Professor Raj Kumar started out by laying out a compelling historical contextualization of the Dalit struggle. I was quite surprised and pleased to hear him referencing some of the same readings and literary figures that we studied in class, and thought that it was cool to see that his students in India were learning about the same themes through the same lens. Professor Raj Kumar is an expert on Dalit studies, and it was fascinating to hear from someone that proximal to the Dalit community and has experience.
Professor Aparna Lanjewar Bose’s section of the lecture examined the intersection between the feminist and Dalit struggle. I was very much surprised to hear Professor Aparna connect and highlight the parallels between the Black and Dalit struggle; so much so that I eventually chose to further explore these parallels in the paper that I wrote at the end of this unit. I was also very pleased and impressed by Professor Aparna’s eloquence. It is no surprise that she is an English Literature professor!
Finally, Professor Rekha Sethi wrapped up the event by extrapolating the main themes and adding her analysis and opinion. Throughout the event, students were able to ask questions to the speakers, and by the time the event was over, there was a satisfying back and forth in which the speakers and students were able to build on each other’s questions and observations, allowing for an interactive discussion that’s main ideas challenged and informed my existing preconceptions regarding the caste struggle in India.
Overall, I really enjoyed the speaker series event, and am extremely grateful to Kusum Ji for organizing the fascinating discussion. I am also thankful for Professor Raj Kumar, Professor Apana Lanjewar Bose, and Professor Rekha Sethi for taking the time out of their busy schedules to talk to all of us.
Below are reflections from other students in the class:
Shourya said, " I enjoyed the speaker series a lot, especially the discussions by Prof. Dutta on the liminality of Shahid Ali's poetic self and Prof. Kumar's on the Dalit consciousness. I feel that talks really met their objectives in getting the message across with adequate time for questions. I really liked the passion with which the speakers presented their thesis and could greatly benefit from them.
Shantelle wrote, "I was able to learn a lot through the speakers, they were very insightful and enunciated their ideas very clearly. I enjoyed learning more about the struggles of Dalits, women, and the LGBTQ community through the speakers, and they all had very interesting information to share. The talks always focused on the topics we were discussing in class so they were easy to follow and the time allotted for questions was always sufficient. I liked that all the speakers had different information they wanted to share with us and that they all seemed passionate about their work. My favorite talk was about Lipstick Under My Burkha since the speaker made us view the movie in a way we had not before. Everyone who participated seemed very intelligent and was able to share about the struggles of people in India in a way that was both interesting and knowledgeable."
Jordan added, " Even before we had the first guest speaker, I really had no worries or doubts; I just saw the speaker's series as an opportunity to ask my burning questions to experts in Dalit experiences, women's literature, and the LGBTQ+community. I loved how each speaker had so much knowledge in their field that they were able to go beyond the text and provide historical, societal, and cultural context that illuminated each poem or story that we read. For example, as an American, I initially had much more knowledge about feminism and queer literature, but little understanding of the Hindu caste system, so hearing Dr. Raj Kumar explain his research and writing helped me appreciate the Dalit literature we read in class more. The same could be said for the women's literature speaker and LGBQT+speaker. If the speaker's series' objective was to give us additional information about each unit's marginalized community, it one hundred percent achieved its goal."
Videos are available here:
This workshop was supported by Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and Duke Service-learning.
Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies