Lahore University of Management Sciences

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1 Course code SALT --- An Ecocritical Study of Selected Urdu Poems Fall 2017 Instructor Ahmad Bilal Awan Room No. 282(D-10) Office Hours Telephone Ext 2211 Secretary/TA Yes TA Office Yes Hours Course URL (if any) Course Basics Credit Hours 4 Lecture(s) 28 Duration 14 Weeks Recitation/Lab (per Nbr of Lec(s) Per Duration week) Tutorial (per week) Week Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration Course Distribution Core Elective Open for Student Category Close for Student Category SALT Yes For All COURSE DESCRIPTION Ecocriticism is one of the latest fields of inquiry in literary studies/criticism. It emerged in the 1990s, although its roots go back to the 1970s. The term ecocriticism was first used by William Rueckert in his essay Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism. Emerging as a reaction to the devastation of the planet over the last couple of centuries, ecocriticism brings one of the most pressing issues of our era - the global

2 environmental crisis - into the realm of literature. It is an interdisciplinary method of inquiry that involves ecology, environmentalism, and ethics of nature. Simply defined by Cheryll Glotfelty, "Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and physical environment. Just as feministic criticism examines language and literature from a gender-conscious perspective, and Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of production and economic class to its reading of texts, ecocriticism takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies... As a critical stance, it has one foot in literature and the other on the land. As a theoretical discourse, it negotiates between the human and the non-human. Nature and man have always been placed at the center of world literature. But the awareness of environmental crisis has given us new lenses through which to see nature and its relationship to man. This new literary theory not only urges us to describe our present crisis appropriately, but also reread classical texts of world literature, providing new hermeneutic tools to reinterpret texts as nature writings. Urdu literature has an immense heritage of nature writings, which have depicted and interpreted nature in diverse ways. This course is designed to read selected Urdu poems, modern and classical, in the light of ecocriticism. The course is divided into three parts. In the first, students will use the primary texts of the literary theory of ecocriticism to explore its terminology. In the second part, students will study the different aspects of, and perspectives on, nature in Urdu poetry, from the classical to the modern age. In the third and the final part of the course, students will engage closely with selected Urdu texts which portray nature in crisis, and with it the endangered lives of those who depend on it. COURSE Anti-PREREQUISITE(S) Students who can read and write Urdu are eligible to take this course. In exceptional cases, students may take their mid-term and the final exam in English, and write their response papers in English. COURSE OBJECTIVES First and foremost, students will develop a framework for reflection: how are we, as a society, to come to terms with nature, wild and human? (Richard L. Fern) Students will become familiar with pressing contemporary issues through the close study of selected Urdu poems in the light of ecocriticism Students will learn the method of close reading and analysis of poetic texts, itself a literary art. Students will learn how to apply literary theory to texts. Students will learn about the process of writing poetry.

3 Students will explore the deep insight, keen observation, and profound sensibility of Urdu poets who realized this crisis long ago and made it a subject of their poems. Methodology & Requirements This is a combination lecture and seminar-style course, with interactive discussion and focused lectures. The course requires students to engage fully with the texts during class time, in order to use the time most productively. The texts are our teacher - if students don t participate, there is no use. Students should use class discussions to organize their thoughts in preparation for writing response papers. The response papers should focus on the topics we discussed in the classes. It will be up to the students to decide how to approach the composition of the response paper. Grading Breakup and Policy Assignment(s): Attendance: 5% Class participation: 10% Midterm Examination: 25% Final Examination: 25% Final Project/Presentation: 15% Response Paper (5): 20% Examination Detail Midterm Exam Yes/No: Yes Combine/Separate: Duration: Exam Specifications: Final Exam Yes/No: Yes Combine : Duration: Exam Specifications: COURSE OVERVIEW

4 Week/ Lecture/ Module Week 1 Lahore University of Management Sciences Topics a: Questioning the category of nature through examining material and scriptural explanations. b: The relationship between nature and humankind how do they respond to each other? a: What are environment and ecology? What does the environmental crisis signify? b: The impact of material and scientific advancement on nature. Exploring an ethics of nature. Recommend ed Readings Objective s/ Applicati on Week 2 a: The basic definition of ecocriticism. Ecocriticism as a literary theory, its emergence, and development. Central questions of ecocriticism. (Most of these questions are taken from Charles E. Bressler s Literary Criticism [2011].) 1-What is meant by nature in the given text? 2-How is nature portrayed in a text? 3-How are the characters in a text portrayed in relation to nature? 4-How do the characters interact with nature? 5-How does nature interact with the characters? Week 3 6-How does the text demonstrate how the microcosm (humanity) affects the macrocosm (nature) and vice-versa? 7-How are race and gender illustrated in the text, and how are these categories related to nature and land? 8-Is the text challenging its readers to environmental action and promoting changes in how we treat nature? Other classes? Races? Genders? What is meant by nature writing? Week 4 a: Nature in Urdu literature: a brief account of nature writings in Urdu poetic literature. b: Nature portrayed in the classical Urdu poetic genres before Aligarh Movement: qasida, marssiya, masnavi.

5 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Lahore University of Management Sciences Close reading of some poetic excerpts which portray nature from qasida, marssiya and masnavi. a: Close reading of a few excerpts from the poems of Nazir Akbar Abadi and other poets. c: Nature portrayed in the major writers of Aligarh Movement and Anjuman e Punjab: Altaf Hussain Hali, Muhammad Hussain Azad and others. a: Nature writings in the post-aligarh movement: the movement of Romanticism in Urdu poetry. b: Close readings of a few excerpts from its poetry. a: Nature in Iqbal s poetry. Close study of prominent poems portraying nature. a: Nature in post-iqabl poetry: Hafiz Jalndehri, Akhtar Sherani, and others. a: Majeed Amjad, the first notable voice in the realm of Urdu poetry against the large-scale demolition of forests for the expansion of cities and industrial zones in the second half of 20 th century. b: Nature as a creative metaphor in Majeed Amjad s poetry (Nazm). c: His poems reflections on nature. Close reading of Majeed Amjad s poems in the light of ecocriticism. ر ددا د زمانہ ا ہ یہ خوشگوار نظارے پیش ر و :a ہری بھری فصلو کانٹے اور کلیاں ایک کوہستانی سفر کے دوران میں : :b بن کی چڑیا د ورکے پیڑ گاڑی a: Close reading of Majeed Amjad s poems میں سو کھا تنہا پتا b: Open discussion and student s take on these readings. Mid-term exam پژ م ردہ کلیاں گاوں یہیں پہ poems: a: Close reading of Majeed Amjad s رہنے دے صیاد ا شیاں میرا گھٹا سے b: Open discussion of these poems

6 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Lahore University of Management Sciences سایوں کا سندیس پامال پہاڑوں poems: a: Close reading of Majeed Amjad s کے بیٹے کوہ بلند اے ری چڑیا کوہستانی جانور poems: a: Close reading of Majeed Amjad s فصل گ ل توسیع شہر b: Discussion and students takes on these poems. ترقی کی رفتار ارض ناکس Iman: a: Close reading of poems by Akhtar ul رویاے صادقہ b: Discussion and students takes on these poems. a: Guest Speaker: A renowned Urdu poet/scholar will speak about the topic of this course. ضرب مسلسل ترقی Qasmi: a: Close reading of poems by Ahmad Nadim یافتہ سی اح کی ڈا ی ری جنگل شہر کے وسط میں Shaheen: b: Close reading of a Urdu poem by Javaid c: Discussion and students takes on these poems. درختوں کے نام Haq: a: Close reading of a poem by Muhammad Izhar ul ایک نظم سبز سے سفید میں ا نے کا Rizvi: b: Close reading of two poems of Khurshid غم ق رب قیامت الہور کے لیے Nizami: Close reading of a poem by Moeen Study b: Close reading of a poem by Yasmeen Hameed: Environmental Hazard. مٹھی سے پھسلتی نروان کی Nadeem: a: Close reading of a poem by Ravish ریت اب پھول صرف گملے میں ا گتے Hassan: b: Close reading of a poem by Zia ul ہیں a: Close reading of remaining poems. a: Final conclusion: quick overview of the course. Instructions for further readings for those who would like to continue with this subject. Presentations Presentation Presentations Textbook(s)/Supplementary Readings

7 1-The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Edited by Cheryll Glotfelty Herold Fromm 2 Excerpts from different sources will be used. Most readings will be available in the reading pack and will also be ed well before the respective class.