Professor: Dr.

Waseem Anwar

Course: ENGL 510: Transcultural Texts and Contexts

Assignment: Class Selection and Expectations regarding Transcultural Texts

Saira Rauf:
Women in love by D H Lawrence
I have chosen this text because transculture is to go beyond limits and think and act, as the novel
portrays the unconventional attitudes of the four central characters. Their behavior and responses
go beyond the expectations of the society. It breaks the regular social norms which will be
helpful in interpreting this novel from transcultural perspective whose basic aim is to go beyond
all the limits.
The Wretched of the Earth by Franz Fanon
I have selected this text because one of the objectives of transcultural literature is to give new
avenues in terms of understanding, tolerance, being able to see it from the other side of the fence.
In this text, Fanons analyses focus on the compartmentalized world of the colonized and the
ways in which the colonized experience psychological harm and collective injury helps me to go
beyond my comfort zone to see the Other side of fence and to understand humanity. It help me
burst the bubble of my own self, culture, religion, language and everything else which ties me to
my own culture and the regional boundaries. So, analyzing this text from trans-culture develops a
kind of universal perspective where humanity, tolerance and understanding come first.
Cat on A Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
I have chosen this text because Transcultural literature allows us to go beyond and look into the
world we are not familiar with, or are not a part of. This text helps us to see the world of African
Americans or specially women from their viewpoint. This text will not only let me enjoy their
literature but also let me create another world within myself. It realizes the sameness and
difference in the traditions, beliefs, problems and ethics that resides in our and their culture. It
will make me more critical towards the genesis and deconstruction of my national prejudices
which hinder me to fully appreciate other cultural paradigm.
Selections Zulfiqar Ghose
I have choosen the poetry of Zulfiqar Ghose because transcultural literature helps to think out of
box and go beyond and see how cultures affect us and how we adopt the rituals of other cultures.
His poetry from transcultural perspective help me burst the bubble of my own self, culture,
religion, language and everything else which ties me to my own culture and the regional
boundaries. It helps to see what we are actually doing, developing sensibilities and analyzing the
world around us through his poetry. His poetry from transcultural perspective helps to
understand how individuals as well as group lives are changed when they come into contact with
different and divergent cultures.

Baela Minhas:
Edward Saids Orientalism:
This book can be very authentic and valid source for transcultural studies because its themes
transcend the monolithic stances of cultural significance by colonizer. This book is the hallmark
of 21st century subjects like anthropology, sociology, literature and even political science.

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka:

Kafka also introduced us with the themes like transformation and dependency; which are very
paradoxical in nature at the same time. These themes fit in to the transcultural areas of literature
because they talk the concept of being human outside of human body is itself very trans-reality
and I believe transcultural studies talks about odd realities that are outside of preconceived
themes.

Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot:

Transcultural refers to those absurd and meaningless visions that can foresee something authentic
but from the outside canon of usual procedures or pattern of actions (physical or psychological).
I believe this play would be a good choice for this class as it shows us the practical implications
of absurdity with the help of its characters and their frustration to what they are experiencing.

Munize Alvis collection of poetry particularly At the time of Partition:

Alvi presents the idea of being transcultural in a very subtle way yet it is very authentic and
transcultural. Alvi usually writes on the themes like duality, difference, displacement, borders
and edges which are very much going with what we are expecting to study in Transcultural
studies.

Sana Shehzad:
Edward Said Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism :
This text attempts to trace the connection between imperialism and culture in the 18th, 19th, and
20th centuries and I followed by highly influential Orientalism. Said argues the impact of
mainstream culture on colonialism and imperialism and conversely how imperialism, resistance
to it, and decolonization influenced the English and French novel. With the study of
transculturation we can be able to deconstruct the binary or multiple examples in terms of race,
class, ethnicity, etc that involve depiction of exchange. I would like to explore that how the study
of transculturation can be dealt with in the light of Saids Orientalism.
Chinua Achebe Things fall apart :
The main theme concerns pre- and post-colonial life in late nineteenth century Nigeria and is
seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English. I believe this text would take us to
evolving contexts in the light of transculturation and also social, political, economic and many
others. The aim of choosing this text is mainly to explore binaries and how trans i.e. going
beyond a culture is taking its form. In simple terms, transculturation reflects the natural tendency
of people (in general) to resolve conflicts over time, rather than exacerbating them.
 Tennesse Williams Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof features several recurring motifs, such as social mores, greed,
superficiality, mendacity, decay, sexual desire, repression, and death. The play is about social
conduct and Southern society and culture which I believe would take us to another very
important element of transculturation that is trans-nationalism and also psychoanalyzes of the
self, through or against formation of others.
Selections Rabindranath Tagore
Tagore reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I am not familiar with his work but what interests me is
that he modernized Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic
structures. I would like to explore the cross cultural, transcultural, transnational and how his
work can be classified under the "glocal plausibility.
Unaiza Naveed:
Margret Atwood Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
I have chosen this text because it belongs to the Canadian literature and we havent read much
about that literature so this will give me a new cultural context which is the essence of this
course and will help me developing and broadening transcultural perspective. As this book
provides an extensive overview of Canadian culture and literature, therefore looking this book
from the transcultural context will be very helpful in giving the Canadian Literature its rightful
place.
Katherines Mansfield The Dolls House
I have chosen this text because transcultural boundaries are not limited to only cultures but it also
go beyond different races and class identity. As story portrays the behavior of upper class i.e.
Burnells with the lower class i.e. Kelveys, thus constructing the binaries which are of self and
other between them. The deconstruction of these binaries is also one of the most important
elements of the transcultural literature. So, analyzing this text from the transcultural perspective
gives us a broader view of prevailing social, political and economic values.
Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot
I have selected this text because one of the objectives of transcultural literature is to go beyond
all the limits and to analyze it from the global point of view. As this text depicts the limitation of
human beings and the meaningless existence in this world, therefore it will help us to look within
our self and makes us understand the importance of being. The binary oppositions also work at
the same time. Thus making us realize the importance of being, it also makes us understood of
the difference between ourselves and others.
Selections Zulfikar Ghose
I have selected the poetry of Zulfikar Ghose as he has a sense of hybridity and mergence of
different cultures because of his multiple travel experiences throughout his life. His multiple
migrations expose different worlds before him which makes his poetry transcultural to some
extent. The reflection of multiple identities is evident in his poems which will be helpful to us
see his poems from the trans-geographic and transatlantic.

Nauman Ahmed:

Frantz Fanons Wretched of the Earth

I have selected this text because it talks about the relationship of the colonizer and the colonized.
Definitely, they belong to different cultures, and in order to understand each other, they have to
understand the cultures they come from. They become transcultural to understand and try to
coexist peacefully.

Tsitsi Dangarembgas The Nervous Conditions

This novel is rich as regards its transcultural elements. From the characters of Tambu to Chido to
Nyasha, everyone becomes transcultural whether they are dealing with gender or colonization or
race.

Frank McGuinnesss Someone Wholl Watch Over Me

Adam, Michael, and Edward has to become transcultural in order to survive. They understand
one another and their respective cultures to brave the pains they live through.

Derek Walcotts Omeros

Walcotts mentioning and treatment of diverse elements as well as figures e.g. Homer, Ulysseus,
Achilles, African gods, Caribbean gods etc, make it one of the best examples of a transcultural
text. The bringing together of diverse cultural elements makes this text all the more interesting.

Filza Cyril Das:

Edward Saids Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism:

The Colonial and Post-Colonial aspects play a major role in the inception of culture
theories and its ascendency to transculturation. The notions of West and the East, the
Colonized and the Colonizers, the Orient and the Occident, are some of the foundational
terms in the studies of Transcultural studies. Saids arguments and ideas provides the
main strands of discussion into the deep study of Transculture.

Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe:

The novel depicts the interaction between two cultures, languages and traditions under
the umbrella of the colonizer and the colonized. How it was the White mans burden
 to provide civilization and education to the ignorant and savages of the land where
Crusoe was ship wrecked. The domination and submission of one culture over the other.
Transculturation as a myth even in the aftermath of decolonization.

William Shakespeares Hamlet:

Shakespeares attempt to explore the religious and cultural issues and the reactions of the
most on the matter surrounding Henry VIII in regards to his marriage to the widow of his
brother Philip. How this event effected the life and psychological state of Hamlets mind.
Actually, I would like to trace the notion of Hamlet representing as one cultural body
who is resistant to the idea of a change. His incapacity to accept change or transcend the
cultural boundaries. And how his own bonds on taboo subjects were being broken and
brought to the surface while he was confronting his mothers breaking the cultural
boundaries.

Selections by Rabindranath Tagore:

He is a poet who is celebrated as a humanistic poet rather than focusing on one region or
one culture. How Tagore has made a true effort at transculturation.

Hassan Imtiaz:
Frantz Fanons Wretched of the Earth

I have selected this text because it talks about the relationship of the colonizer and the
colonized. Definitely, they belong to different cultures, and in order to understand each
other, they have to understand the cultures they come from. They become transcultural to
understand and try to coexist peacefully.

Tsitsi Dangarembgas The Nervous Conditions

This novel is rich as regards its transcultural elements. From the characters of Tambu to
Chido to Nyasha, everyone becomes transcultural whether they are dealing with gender
or colonization or race.

Frank McGuinnesss Someone Wholl Watch Over Me

Adam, Michael, and Edward has to become transcultural in order to survive. They
understand one another and their respective cultures to brave the pains they live through.

Derek Walcotts Omeros

Walcotts mentioning and treatment of diverse elements as well as figures e.g. Homer,
Ulysseus, Achilles, African gods, Caribbean gods etc, make it one of the best examples of
a transcultural text. The bringing together of diverse cultural elements makes this text all
the more interesting.
 Zujaja Naqvi:

Animal Farm by George Orwell and Othello by William Shakespeare:

The topic on which I will give review is "Tansnationalism and Globalization in Animal Farm by
George Orwell and Shakespeares Othello. I will apply the transnationalism and globalization
factors in both the novels and how the various animals and the black and white nations undergo
segregation and quarrel for power and freedom in both the novels' texts. How politics is involved
in dividing nations and humans for power and dominance. How rules, regulations and human
rights are important in defining a progressive human nation.

Two Cultures by David Dabydeen:

Another text that will be used to study multiculturalism, cultural differences and distances will
be the poem Two Cultures by David Dabydeen that throws light on the various cultural
differences and the sufferings and sorrows that the racial and cultural prejudices bring to
humanity. The poem talks about the hard facts of a multicultural world where transculturalism
has become not only a phenomenon but a need as well.
Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism by Edward W. Said:
These literary texts will be analyzed with the help of Edward Saids Orientalism and Culture and
Imperialism. The views of Said on culture and imperialism role will be discussed with reference
to these transcultural and multicultural literary texts

Rida Zainab:

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon:

This book embodies racial differences, psychology, and role of violence in history along
with many other aspects of colonialism. This work is evergreen because racial prejudice
still prevails and it see no boundaries. All cultures are prey of this disease. Post-Trump
world is seeing the after effects of this prejudice running in blood.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

This work symbolizes the universal idea of love and touch notions of aging and death.
The pain, suffering, longing and plague of love are transcendental issues giving this novel
a transcultural air. Indeed a wonderful clash of reality and fantasy.
Omeros by Derek Walcott:
 I find aspects of transculturation in this collection as Derek Walcott has brought elements
from a different culture. It is a beautiful amalgam of history, myth and contemporary.
How an epic has been recreated in a different style, scenario, setting and culture is surely
beautiful. This work is surely wonderful for transcultural project as it has visited Africa
and North America along with St. Lucia. The epic tradition is also transformed according
to the present day conditions and sufferings like tribal losses, African enslavement and
pain of an individual.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles:

I find strong elements of transculturation in this work. As the aspect of Oedipal complex
has transcended history. Furthermore, its ideas of God vs mans will is present in every
culture.
Aminah Habib:
The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli:
In this course, specifically with its instructor, we often end up questioning ourselves and the conventions
which perplex us. While we discuss Literature itself, it entangles us in the political debates as to why,
when and how. We usually cling to the two ends; politics and Literature, without taking into consideration
the essence of it, 'real politik' and human nature which connects the two. In short, literature mirroring life
is a political philosophy; a game of power, lust and incessant pursuit of self-interests. and this whole
philosophy formulates and makes us readily accept the dominant structure structuring the major patterns
in our context of study, English and Englishness. This text by Machiavelli is a soul satisfying a piece of
work which quenches our thirst to know the reality making us confront an inevitable bitter truth.
REALISM RULES!

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe:

This archetypal modern African novel in English is a treat to the inquisitive minds looking for the cross-
cultural understanding and its impacts. Though after reading it we get a clear win-win situation for the
Englishness to exercise its influence and assertiveness, but the way it creeps and settles making a massive
shift in the structure is worth noticing. This piece of work will clearly motionize the picture in front of the
readers showing a foreigner culture being domesticised.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett:

This commonly known as an absurdist play proves that some questions remain unanswerable and some
widely acclaimed concepts remain ineffective. A clear line of similarity can be sketched between the
nothingness of life and scope (inability) of transculturality where the power wins cultural war.

Two Cultures by Dabydeen:

This text might not be read by me but its title suggests that it either could either be the clash between the
two cultures or cultural hybridization.
Zia Muhammad:

Edward Saids Culture and Imperialism.

Transculturation is a process which include the dynamics of colonial and postcolonial discourse.
This course offer us to go beyond rigid ideologies. This collection of essays by Edward Said
attempts to trace the connection between imperialism and culture in the 18th, 19th, and 20th
centuries. Said conceived of Culture and Imperialism as an attempt to expand the argument of
Orientalism "to describe a more general pattern of relationships between the modern
metropolitan west and its overseas territories. Said defines "imperialism" as "the practice, the
theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory. I believe
that Culture and Imperialism will help us deconstruct the binaries of Us-and-Them, East-West,
Universality-Diversity. Only the deconstruction of these notions can lead us to understand and
ultimately accept transculturation which is considered inevitable in todays global world.

Salman Rushdies Midnights Children.

Midnight's Children is a 1981 novel by Salman Rushdie that deals with India's transition from
British colonialism to independence and the partition of British India. It is considered an
example of postcolonial literature and magical realism. Midnight's Children chronologically
entwines characters from both India and the West, with post-colonial Indian history to examine
both the effect of these indigenous and non-indigenous cultures on the Indian mind and in the
light of Indian independence. Rushdie tried to depict the identity-crises, his protagonist is
passing from, with the

advent of nationalistic rigid ideologies after the partitions. This text can offer us some good
insights in regard of postcolonial scenario after partition, identity politics, and rigid ideology
which posit hindrance in the process of transculturation.

Hanif Kureishis My Beautiful Laundrette.

My Beautiful Laundrette can be considered as a highly effective examination of postcolonial

Britain. As a work of postcolonial literature, My Beautiful Laundrette examines the lives of
individuals whose origins lie in what was once a colonized state, but are now living as
immigrants, as are their offspring, within the society of their homelands former colonizer. It can
offer a good critique of acculturation, if we opt it as one of our primary text for this course, by
exploring postcolonial identity, particularly in relation to the politics of gender, questions of
sexuality and the family unit, as well as the cultural connotations that are inherent across each of
these.

Rabindranath Tagores Poetry.

For the world, Tagores poetry has become the voice of India's spiritual heritage. His poetry
shows the influence of different parts of the Indian cultural background as well as of the rest of
the world. Rabindranath rebelled against the strongly nationalist form that the independence
 movement often took. According to Tagore "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my
refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow
patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live." This attitude toward humanism can aptly
be seen in mystical writing of Geetanjali. Tagore writing can be seen as in opposition with the
cultural nationalism that has been gaining some ground, along with an exaggerated fear of the
influence of the West and the fear of transculturation which is considered as the ravishment of
cultural identity.

Samreen Shahid:

Things Fall Apart by Achebe:

It talks about globalization as opposed to colonization, the issues about identities and boundaries that
need to be tackled with proper understanding about history and politics that led to it.

Wretched of the earth by Fanon:

Linked to some kind of universal transcultural human nature. The ethnicity, colour, class and gender
difference was central to it. It is re-conceptualizing representation and identity issues of
transculturalism.

Mourning becomes electra by O'Neill:

Used the classical framework of universalism and particularly nationalism and transculturalism on it.

Selection of Tagore:
Poetry about diaspora, multilingualism, translation and transcultural encounters.

Annum Abid:

Edwards Saids Orientalism

This book defines the term Orientalism to mean a constellation of false assumption underlying
western attitudes towards the Middle-East. So, it will help in knowing about the image of culture
formations and to make out the persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabic-Muslim people
and their culture. It will help us in recognizing the relationship between power and knowledge
regarding the European views of Islamic world. Taking a comparative and historical literary
review of European scholars and writers, looking at, and writing about the people of Middle East,
this literary text sought to lay bare the relations of power between the colonizers and colonized.
The writings have far reached implications beyond area studies of imperialist western attitudes to
India, China and elsewhere. This book will help us to point out the focus on human experience of
cultures and societies.
Salman Rushdies Midnight Children

It depicts the struggle for cultural unification after independence. So it will help us in knowing
about transculturation in a country where four major religions were followed. The melding of
these differing religions, forces religious similarities rather than differences, to prominence.
Another transcultural aspect would also be discovered i.e, Language. Indian has thousands of
spoken languages and for it, such a wide range means another potentially divisive element in the
creation of its national identity. The use of English mixed with several phonetics re-creation, of
Indian words ensures a kind of linguistic objectivity.
Hamlet by Shakespeare

Shakespeare was such a great genius that his plays have not lost their appeal and relevance even
today. His vision of life is so universal that it can easily transcend the barriers of time, place and
even culture. Hamlet has countless adaptations, especially post-colonial and transcultural
adaptations because it offers a mean to formely subjugated, colonized and marginalized voices to
re-describe the dominant narratives of western modernity as well as critically interrogate the
concepts of class/caste, gender and race. It is the process of transculturation that involves the
interactions and conflicts of socio-cultural, political and historical forces that give rise to inter-
textual references in Hamlet from post-colonial context which lead to the creation of new literary
genres.
Selections Rabindranath Tagore

Tagores poetry carries transhistorical and transcultural significance as it defines the colonial and
postcolonial eras of Indian Writing in English. His work is caught in the complex meshes of
tradition, history and modernity. His poetic auto-translations are a creative synthesis that
interweaves various cultural strands, incorporating revolutionary ideas and verse forms into the
English language. The linguistic world of Tagore, as in the case of other Indian writers, is a highly
complex one. If the term interlanguage is applied, then Tagores linguistic universe would
comprise of his native Bengali, other Indian languages like Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit and English,
the language of the colonizer. Tagore, however, is also seeking to assert himself by his medium of
expression and by the creation of Indian English English, which has been modified and adapted
to suit his Indian sensibility. Thus Tagores poetry in translation sees the creative use of English,
moving away from a Western perspective. Tagore's poetry and his subsequent English translations
are a dialogue between his past and present. He brings to light the past in the form of ancient Hindu
thought and tradition, in the guise of ancient Indian poets like Kalidasa, Krishna Chaitanya, and
links them to Western philosophy and Sufi thought. Tagore's work can also be perceived as
literature that brings history to every age. Tagore has thus successfully translated the cultural
consciousness of India into the English language. His poetry enables Western audiences to get a
picture of the cultural diversity within India. So his selections will be helpful in discovering the
transculturaltion in Britian India.
Zunera Bukhari:
Imaginary Homelands by Salman Rushdie:

Salman Rushdie has presented the idea in his book "Imaginary Homelands: Essays and
Criticism," saying that the book deals with high emotion which is concerned on the basic
human condition in search for home and identity. The author discusses the idea of
intercultural and trans-cultural narration in this book.

Animal Farm by George Orwell:

 Animal Farm provides an allegorical representation of the Russian Revolution and the
rise of Stalinism in the Soviet Union by relaying Orwells story of a revolution led by a
group of farm animals and its aftermath. Animal Farm ultimately reduces its fictional
animal characters to simple metaphors for real human subjects, thus serving the most
common function of the animal-human allegory in literature.

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles:

Oedipus Rex sees the human condition as one in which we are born to suffering and
death is a form of release and reminds reader and spectator alike of the trans-cultural
nature of life and death. Oedipus Rex is considered Sophocles greatest work and is cited
by Aristotle as the exemplar text of all Greek tragedy. Sophocles use of dramatic irony
intensifies the empathetic relationship between the audience and the characters on stage.

Selections English Romantic Poets:

All the major Romantic poets exhibited a genuine attempt to capture and come to an
adequate understanding of other cultures and, at the same time, to fully commit to their
own national identity and plea for the return to English history and tradition of folk
literature.

Asad Ali Awan:

Aristotles Poetics:

In Aristotles Poetics, mimesis is a central term, which requires the notion that a work
of fiction is a representation or imitation of the world. Keeping the elements of world
concepts, this text offers various opportunities for changing and adapting perspectives.
This historical background can be help in our transcultural studies.

Orwells Animal Farm:

As an allegorical novella, Animal Farm can be relevant for transcultural learning because
it gives perception and interpretation that could uncover transcultural elements, especially
Intercultural. Certainly, the application of this text promotes the developing cultural
competences.

Shakespeares Othello:

Known as the universal tragedy, this text illustrates the intercultural allusion in
descriptions of transcultural identity. This makes it necessary for transcultural studies as
 it explores the recognition of Self. It also explores the insight between the I and the
Other.

Selections English Romantic Poets:

Romantic poets have the natural tendency to capture and come up with a decent
understanding of different cultures. Due to their transnational experiences and a large
diversity of transcultural sensitivity, the Romantic poets can be easily considered as
developers of cross-cultural trend.

Muhammad Usman:
The Prince" - Nicholo Machiavelli

"The Prince" deals with the separation of political laws from moral laws. Politics and ethics have
greatly influenced the societies throughout the history of mankind all over the world. So the study of
this text will greatly enhance our understanding of transculturalism as certain aspects of different
cultures can be analyzed through the study of this text.

"Siddhartha" - Herman Hesse

"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of man and during
this process it discusses the alienation of man from man, the alienation of man from environment.
These themes can become a central point of our study of transculturalism as it deals with some basic
issues of mankind, transcending the cultural and geographical boundaries.

"Hamlet" Shakespeare

"Hamlet" by Shakespeare deals with the theme of absurdity of life, a theme that is found in the
literatures of different cultures all over the world. This play can depict the this theme in the best
possible manner. Its study in the context of transculturalism can help us understand the process of
transculturalism.

Selections Rabindernath Tagore

Tagore's poetry as well as his novels, short stories, and essays are very widely read. By Studying
Tagore we can understand those processes that makes a work of art transcend cultural boundaries.