BANG

Students attending this course must be able to produce an articulate discourse on subjects related to history and literary criticism. They should also have a good command of Bengali grammar. The course is mainly devoted to the study of selected modern and premodern Bangla texts (narrative literature, devotional and courtly poetry, treatises) in their historical contexts. We propose various readings in the historiography of Bangla literature, philology, traditional performance of Bangla poetry, etc... Besides, material from all periods will be studied according to the student's scholarly interests.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

When joining this course the student is expected to demonstrate the ability to narrate in all time frames of the language. The student should be able to provide a simple though articulate discourse on familiar topics and subjects directly related to the his/her interests. He/She will learn to provide a full account of events and to use appropriately complex sentences in Bangla. We will also focus on some aspects of the technical language pertaining to various domains. The student will be invited to discuss orally on written material studied in class and at home, and he/she will have to produce two to three pages long essays on a given topic. Systematic introductions to a variety of registers and literary idioms (19th century Sadhu Bhasha, dialects, etc.) will also be provided. By the end of the spring quarter the student will have the necessary tools to expand significantly his/her abilities in order to reach the superior level.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

This sequence is a continuation of First-Year Bangla and aims at gaining intermediate high proficiency in the language. Students who have prior knowledge of elementary Bengali can join the course. The course concentrates equally on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. At the end of the course the learner is supposed to have a command of Bengali language and culture that allows him/her to communicate with native speakers with ease. He/she will have sufficient reading abilities to comprehend non-technical modern texts. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, homework assignments, projects, tests, and final examination.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

This sequence concentrates on developing skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing Bangla at the novice and intermediate low levels. It is designed both for scholars who want to do research on Bengal and for those who want to gain proficiency in elementary Bangla for communication purposes. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, attendance, homework assignments, projects, quizzes and final examination.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

The course offers an introduction to the literary traditions of Bengal (today’s West Bengal in India, and Bangladesh). We will study the making of Bengal as a region of literary production through a selection of secondary and primary sources in translation. We will look at how literature and literacy have been defined in various contexts up to the colonial period and discuss what constituted the literary identity of Bengal’s various linguistic traditions. We will approach the topics of reading practices and genres from the perspective of both material culture (script and scribal practices, manuscript formats, etc.) and the conceptual categories underlying literary genres and the linguistic economy of Bengal (scholastic and non-scholastic, classical and vernacular languages, individual reading and publicly performed texts, hinduyani and musalmani). Even if Bengali language and literature stand at the center of this course, we will also discuss the literary traditions that predate the formation of Bengali literature and were part of the background of the making of Bengali texts (Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, Arabic, Persian, Maithili, and Awadhi literature). The aim of the course is to introduce students to precolonial Bengali literature in its conceptual, aesthetic, and historical dimensions. The course will address topics of interest for students in comparative literature, religious studies, history, linguistics, medieval studies, book history, musicology or performance studies.

Students attending this course must be able to produce an articulate discourse on subjects related to history and literary criticism. They should also have a good command of Bengali grammar. The course is mainly devoted to the study of selected modern and premodern Bangla texts (narrative literature, devotional and courtly poetry, treatises) in their historical contexts. We propose various readings in the historiography of Bangla literature, philology, traditional performance of Bangla poetry, etc... Besides, material from all periods will be studied according to the student's scholarly interests.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

When joining this course the student is expected to demonstrate the ability to narrate in all time frames of the language. The student should be able to provide a simple though articulate discourse on familiar topics and subjects directly related to the his/her interests. He/She will learn to provide a full account of events and to use appropriately complex sentences in Bangla. We will also focus on some aspects of the technical language pertaining to various domains. The student will be invited to discuss orally on written material studied in class and at home, and he/she will have to produce two to three pages long essays on a given topic. Systematic introductions to a variety of registers and literary idioms (19th century Sadhu Bhasha, dialects, etc.) will also be provided. By the end of the spring quarter the student will have the necessary tools to expand significantly his/her abilities in order to reach the superior level.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

This sequence is a continuation of First-Year Bangla and aims at gaining intermediate high proficiency in the language. Students who have prior knowledge of elementary Bengali can join the course. The course concentrates equally on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. At the end of the course the learner is supposed to have a command of Bengali language and culture that allows him/her to communicate with native speakers with ease. He/she will have sufficient reading abilities to comprehend non-technical modern texts. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, homework assignments, projects, tests, and final examination.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

This sequence concentrates on developing skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing Bangla at the novice and intermediate low levels. It is designed both for scholars who want to do research on Bengal and for those who want to gain proficiency in elementary Bangla for communication purposes. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, attendance, homework assignments, projects, quizzes and final examination.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.