Back to Teacher Information

 
These activities are intended to encourage you to interpret the ways people express themselves and to develop your own personal expression skills, while critically examining literature by Asian writers.

1 Comparison Between Two Poems

Write a comparison between two works by well-known poets that were written in similar cultural contexts but in different periods and in response to different social conditions.

What To Do

1. Read the poem 'Soon' by Vikram Seth in Chapter 1 of Dimensions. Carefully consider the idea expressed in the last two lines: 'Love me when I am dead and do not let me die'.

2. Read the poem 'My Song' by Rabindranath Tagore at the following website:
   http://www.indolink.com/Poetry/tagore3.html

3. In a small group, discuss whether you think these two poems have anything in common. Select quotations from the poems to support your point of view. Do you think that either or both of these poems expresses ideas common to all people at all times?

4. When preparing your written comparison, discuss your work with the group and redraft it according to suggestions.

2 Magazine Article or Report

What To Do

1. Read the poem 'I Am Not That Woman' by Kishwar Naheed in Chapter 1 of Dimensions.

2. Read Taslima Nasrin's poem 'Things Cheaply Had?' at:
   http://www.indolink.com/Poetry/tslmNsrn.html

3. Then read the letter and response to it at:
   http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/news/dawn1.html
4. Read the scholarly article on 'Pakistani Women in Changing Society' at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sangat/pakwomen.htm and try to reconcile the views expressed in each of the texts you have read.
   

5. Compare these experiences with your observations of your own community and consider whether these authors are expressing some of the universal experiences of women.

6. Write an article or report for a magazine explaining your perceptions, as a reader from a different culture, of the role of women in society as expressed in the texts. Consider whether there is a universality of experience expressed in these texts.

7. Discuss your views, and drafts of your articles with others in your group before finalising them.

3 Searching the Internet for Asian Women Writers

What To Do

1. Develop a web guide to inform people about the impact of South Asian women writers, both locally and globally, and the effect that cultural experiences have had on their writing.

   The target area is South Asia: Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

2. Make a list of five internationally recognised female writers from the region, for example, Gita Mehta, Shauna Singh Baldwin and Arundhati Roy.

3. Research and write down some basic biographical details for each one, for example, the range of genres in which they have published work (type of literature, eg novels, poetry), the names of their most famous works, the languages they write in and where they have lived.

4. Start with the following websites:
   • Biographies of South Asian Women Writers
     http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/books_bios.html

   • Books by and for South Asian Women
     http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/SAW.books.html

   • For a little more information about female authors in South Asia read the following.
     • 'Indian Writers in English'
       http://www.pugmarks.com/week/writers.htm
     • 'Steamy Leaves'
       http://www.pugmarks.com/week/steamy.htm
     • 'An Area of Brightness'
       http://www.pugmarks.com/week/authors.htm
     • 'A Petty Penny'
       http://www.pugmarks.com/week/petty.htm

   If you need help, consult the notes on searching in the Resources section. For future reference, record your results using different search words or criteria. Use lower case letters to maximise your search chances.

5. As you conduct your web searches, take notes in your workbooks, writing down the word or combinations of words used, the websites located, which ones were the best and why you found them useful.

6. Collect relevant information from the sites you found useful and put the information into logical order.

   

7. Rank the top ten websites and develop your web guide for people who may not have studied Asian texts before, including:
   • the ten most useful websites
   • a brief description of their content and value

8. Explain what the women writers you have chosen have drawn from their cultural experiences and what they are contributing to the wider culture through their writings. Explain why you think so.