ENG 295-01 - Special Topic: Gandhi and Resistance

4 credits (Spring)

Cross-listed as: REL 295-01. This interdisciplinary, co-taught course focuses on Gandhi’s writings, life and political activism as models of resistance. Drawing on postcolonial theory, the course examines Gandhi as a paradigmatic example of a modern Indian figure who negotiated the binaries of tradition and modernity. We will focus on how Gandhi’s activism and spirituality made him a type of the saintly hero in Indian literature, including his own Autobiography, Anand’s The Untouchable and popular Hindu myth. The final six weeks of the course will explore Gandhi’s legacy today through presentations and workshops given by activists working in the Middle East and India and with alums of Grinnell who are working in the U. S. with non-violent protest and non-cooperation.

Prerequisite: ENG 120.
Instructor: Kapila