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Global Literature: How Learning About “Over There” Helps Us Understand “Over Here.”
| When |
Feb 27, 2012
12:00 PM |
|---|---|
| Where |
Shoreline Library Meeting Room
345 NE 175th st Shoreline |
| Region | Central Puget Sound |
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Program Description:
In this engaging lecture, award-winning University of Washington Professor Anu Taranath will use examples from global literature to showcase this extraordinary body of talented writing, and to suggest ways of reading that invite conversation on often difficult topics of power, privilege, voice and agency. A novel from Nigeria, Sri Lanka or Trinidad illuminates local cultures, but also invites us to reflect on our own culture, be it in Pullman, Friday Harbor or Seattle. Characters and stories in novels might speak like us or seem totally dissimilar, and in figuring this out during our reading process we begin to form an impression of what we are like, how we define ourselves, and where these definitions come from. Literature from around the globe helps us picture “people over there” and brings texture and depth to our lives “over here.”
Bio:
Dr. Anu Taranath is a professor in the English department and the Comparative History of Ideas program at the University of Washington Seattle since 2000. She is a Fulbright-Hays Scholar, and a recipient of the University of Washington 2010 Distinguished Teaching Award. In addition to her work with wonderful undergraduates in the Seattle classroom, she leads a study abroad program to India on issues of social justice and NGO activism.
