Fans of Indian cinema and literature will want to catch upcoming presentations by visiting professor Dr. Nilufer Bharucha at the University College of the Fraser Valley.
Bharucha, the head of the English department at the University of Mumbai, will be making two public presentations, one on Images of Women in Indian Cinema on Wednesday, Oct 18, at 7 p.m. in main lecture theatre on the Abbotsford campus, and one on India, Women, and Fiction on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. at University House on the Abbotsford campus. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Images of Women in Indian Cinema event, subtitled Devis (God-desses), Devd-aasis (Prost-itutes), and Daayins (Witches) will explore how the way women are presented in Indian films ties into mythology and women’s traditional roles.
The India, Women, and Fiction event will be a book-group style discussion of a short story by Shashi Deshpande. If you wish to read a copy of the story before the event, contact UCFV’s Dr. Susan Fisher at susan.fisher@ucfv.ca or 604-504-7441, local 4453, and she will forward one to you. Deshpande is well-known as a fiction writer in India but is just beginning to find an audience abroad.
Bharucha’s areas of specialization are postcolonial literature, Indian film, the writings of the Parsis, and the literature of the Raj. She is the author of a book on the fiction of Rohinton Mistry, and her articles and essays have appeared in Western and Indian journals and anthologies. She is also a fiction writer and translator.
In addition to her public lectures, Bharucha will also spend time with students in UCFV’s South Asian literature and creative writing classes.
“I first came into contact with Dr. Bharucha when I wrote her with an inquiry about something she wrote in her book about the fiction of Indo-Canadian Rohinton Mistry,” recalled Dr. Susan Fisher of UCFV’s English department.
“I found out she often travels to give guest lectures, so decided to ask if she’d like to come here.”
“UCFV is unique in its focus on South Asian literature, and bringing in guests such as Dr. Bharucha is a way of enriching our offerings in this area and helping students appreciate this branch of literature,” said Fisher.
“Visits like this also help set the stage for more formal relationships between our institutions such as faculty or student exchanges or our alumni going on to do graduate work in India.”
Dr. Bharucha’s visit is being sponsored by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and UCFV’s International Education department. It is part of a growing focus on India at UCFV through its Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies and Research.
Original article here