Yumna Siddiqi
Office
Axinn Center 200
Tel
(802) 443-3473
Email
ysiddiqi@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Spring 2024: M 3:45-5:45; T 1-2, and by appointment, in person or by Zoom

Courses Taught

Course Description

Senior Thesis
A senior thesis is normally completed over two semesters. During Fall and Winter terms, or Winter and Spring terms, students will write a 35-page (article length) comparative essay, firmly situated in literary analysis. Students are responsible for identifying and arranging to work with their primary language and secondary language readers, and consulting with the program director before completing the CMLT Thesis Declaration form. (Approval required.)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Special Project: Creative Writing
Approval Required.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Senior Thesis: Creative Writing
Discussions, workshops, tutorials for those undertaking one-term projects in the writing of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Literature of Displacement: Forced Migration, Diaspora, Exile
In this course we will study postcolonial literature about migration, displacement, exile, and diaspora. Spurred variously by force, necessity and desire, migrants leave their homes and homelands with regret and with hope. Writers address the historical forces that propel these migrations: decolonization and neo-colonialism, globalization, warfare, dispossession, political violence, religious conflict, and environmental catastrophe. They experiment with narrative form and poetic language to explore the experiences of undocumented immigrant workers, exiles, refugees and well-to-do migrants. We will examine how displacement shapes constructions of identity, history, community and place in texts by writers such as Anzaldua, Ali, Darwish, Diome, Patel, Gomez Pena, Said, Rushdie, and others. (formerly ENAM 0462) 3 hrs. sem. (Diversity) (Rec) Please note that, if circumstances require, this course may occasionally be taught remotely.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Spring 2022

Requirements

AAL, CMP, LIT, SOA, SOC

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Course Description

Race, Capitalism, Decolonization
What does race have to do with capitalism and profit, exploitation and dispossession? Drawing on contemporary fiction, poetry, and theory, we will consider the intersections of race and capitalism in shaping contemporary epistemologies, institutional practices, and lived experiences in local and global contexts. We will explore how present-day formations of race and capitalism are related to histories of imperialism and the global extraction of labor and resources. Decolonization implies a deep, complex, and multi-faceted process by which the discourses, knowledges, and practices at the core of capitalism and imperialism(s) and their mechanisms of oppression are challenged and dismantled. Please note that, if circumstances require, this course may occasionally be taught remotely.

Terms Taught

Spring 2022

Requirements

CMP, SOC

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Course Description

Postcolonial Literature and the City
In this course we will examine a number of novels from the 20th and 21st centuries that are about life in the city, taking a global and trans-national approach. We will explore formations of urban life alongside transformations in the novel as a genre. We will put these novels of city life in dialogue with critical theory—that is, theories of culture and society that have as their aim human emancipation (for example, Marxism, feminism, critical race studies, and postcolonial studies). The novels we read will reflect important literary movements such as realism, modernism, and postmodernism. (Not open to students who have taken ENAM 0447) (Rec)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021

Requirements

CMP, LIT, SOC

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Course Description

Literature of Displacement: Forced Migration, Diaspora, Exile
We will study contemporary postcolonial literature and theory about migration, displacement, exile, and diaspora. Spurred variously by force, necessity and desire, migrants leave their homes and homelands with regret and with hope. Writers address the historical forces that shape these migrations: decolonization and neo-colonialism, globalization, warfare, dispossession, political violence, religious conflict, and environmental catastrophe. These writers experiment with narrative form and poetic language to explore the experiences of undocumented immigrant workers, exiles, refugees and well-to-do migrants. We will examine constructions of identity, history, community and place in texts by Anzaldua, Ali, Darwish, Diome, Patel, Gomez Pena, Said, Rushdie, Spivak, and others. (Diversity) (Rec)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021

Requirements

AAL, CMP, LIT, SOA, SOC

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Course Description

Special Project: Literature
Approval Required.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022

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Course Description

Senior Thesis: Critical Writing
Individual guidance and seminar (discussions, workshops, tutorials) for those undertaking one-term projects in literary criticism or analysis. All critical thesis writers also take the Senior Thesis Workshop (ENAM 700Z) in either Fall or Spring Term.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

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Course Description

Reading Literature
Please refer to each section for specific course descriptions.(Formerly ENAM 0103)

Terms Taught

Fall 2023

Requirements

CW, LIT

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Course Description

Race, Capitalism, Decolonization
What does race have to do with capitalism and profit, exploitation and dispossession? Drawing on contemporary fiction, poetry, and theory, we will consider the intersections of race and capitalism in shaping contemporary epistemologies, institutional practices, and lived experiences in local and global contexts. We will explore how present-day formations of race and capitalism are related to histories of imperialism and the global extraction of labor and resources. Decolonization implies a deep, complex, and multi-faceted process by which the discourses, knowledges, and practices at the core of capitalism and imperialism(s) and their mechanisms of oppression are challenged and dismantled. (Formerly ENAM 0313) (REC)

Terms Taught

Winter 2023, Fall 2023

Requirements

CMP, SOC

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Course Description

Postcolonial Literature, Migrants and the City
In this course, we will analyze postcolonial literature that portrays the lives of migrants in cities. Postcolonial novels such as Brick Lane by Monica Ali, Love Enough by Dionne Brand, Brother by David Chariandi, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, Carnival by Rawi Hage, The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon and A Free Man by Aman Sethi present counter-hegemonic narratives and visions of the city. They show that the city, indelibly marked by relations of Empire and the product of racial capitalism, is also a battleground for decoloniality: a delinking from colonial knowledge practices. To map this insurgent knowledge in postcolonial novels of the city, we will focus on four prominent themes that also serve as analytical categories: mobility, labor, conviviality, and protest. (REC)

Terms Taught

Spring 2023

Requirements

CMP, LIT, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Postcolonial Literature and the City
In this course we will examine a number of novels from the 20th and 21st centuries that are about life in the city, taking a global and trans-national approach. We will explore formations of urban life alongside transformations in the novel as a genre. We will put these novels of city life in dialogue with critical theory—that is, theories of culture and society that have as their aim human emancipation (for example, Marxism, feminism, critical race studies, and postcolonial studies). The novels we read will reflect important literary movements such as realism, modernism, and postmodernism. (Not open to students who have taken ENAM 0447) (Rec) (Formerly ENAM 0373)

Terms Taught

Spring 2024

Requirements

CMP, LIT, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Literature of Displacement: Forced Migration, Diaspora, Exile
We will study contemporary postcolonial literature and theory about migration, displacement, exile, and diaspora. Spurred variously by force, necessity and desire, migrants leave their homes and homelands with regret and with hope. Writers address the historical forces that shape these migrations: decolonization and neo-colonialism, globalization, warfare, dispossession, political violence, religious conflict, and environmental catastrophe. These writers experiment with narrative form and poetic language to explore the experiences of undocumented immigrant workers, exiles, refugees and well-to-do migrants. We will examine constructions of identity, history, community and place in texts by Anzaldua, Ali, Darwish, Diome, Patel, Gomez Pena, Said, Rushdie, Spivak, and others. (Diversity) (Rec)

Terms Taught

Spring 2024

Requirements

CMP, LIT, SOA, SOC

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Special Project: Literature
Approval Required. (Formerly ENAM 0500)

Terms Taught

Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

Senior Thesis: Critical Writing
Individual guidance and seminar (discussions, workshops, tutorials) for those undertaking one-term projects in literary criticism or analysis. All critical thesis writers also take the Senior Thesis Workshop (ENAM 700Z) in either Fall or Spring Term. (Formerly ENAM 0700)

Terms Taught

Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025

View in Course Catalog

Course Description

The Empire Writes Back: Politics and Literature from Postcolonial Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia
A hundred years ago, Britain ruled about a quarter of the world’s population, and the British Empire covered approximately a quarter of the earth’s land surface. Though most of the colonies have won formal independence, the effects of global imperialism continue to be felt, and arguably Empire has taken on other forms. In this seminar we will discuss fiction, poetry, and drama by postcolonial writers such as J. M. Coetzee, Derek Walcott, Daljit Nagra, Wole Soyinka, Mahashweta Devi, Jean Rhys, Arundhati Roy, Edward Said, and Frantz Fanon, addressing questions about the nature and effects of colonization, anti-colonial resistance, representation, agency, and power. 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Requirements

CMP, CW, LIT

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Course Description

Senior Work
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Race, Capitalism, Decolonization
What does decolonization mean in the present context? What does race have to do with capitalism and profit, exploitation and dispossession? In this course we will consider the intersections of race and capitalism in shaping contemporary epistemologies, institutional practices, and lived experiences in local and global contexts. We will consider how present-day formations of race and capitalism are related to histories of imperialism and the global extraction of labour and resources. (Pass/Fail)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021

Requirements

WTR

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