Framing Tamil Worlds: Histories, Cultures, and Identities

Tamil is a Dravidian language that is spoken by approximately 77 million speakers around the world. Used as the official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore, Tamil's classical status makes it an exciting language through which diverse modes of ethnic linguistics and linguistic belonging can be studied in South Asia. This course is meant to study global Tamil societies through the interdisciplinary lenses of literary and cultural studies. Through a variety of literary, visual, cultural texts that span from the Sangam ages to the contemporary moments, this course will introduce students to the histories, growth, and formation of Tamil societies within different national contexts such as India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar and diasporic spaces.