Courses / Module

"This interdisciplinary, transnational module approaches the material and imaginative dynamics of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century post-imperial city as a paradoxical space of wealth and inequality, connectedness and segregation. We will explore literary and filmic representations of world cities that have been marked by the impacts of shifts in geopolitics, demographics, the built environment, economic systems, and cultural production, on lived spaces, neighbourhood cultures, and social fabrics. The selected texts and films include memoirs, novels, and films that focus on Istanbul, Cairo, Bombay/Mumbai, and London. By complicating current theoretical and critical debates on ‘the right to the city’, these texts and films contribute engaged perspectives on significant issues like migration and citizenship, multiculturalism and interculturalism, human rights and socially inclusive urban planning, slumification and gentrification, globalisation and neoliberalism, spatial and social justice, gender and sexuality.
Indicative Primary Texts and Films:
Akin, Fatih, dir. Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, 2005. Film.
Al-Aswany, Alaa. The Yacoubian Building, trans. Humphrey Davies, Harper Perennial, 2007.
Boyle, Danny, dir. Slumdog Millionaire, 2008. Film.
Frears, Stephen, dir. Dirty Pretty Things, 2002. Film.
Kureishi, Hanif. The Buddha of Suburbia, Penguin, 1991.
Mahfouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley, trans. Humphrey Davies, American University of Cairo Press, 2011.
Mehtu, Suketu. Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Knopf, 2004. (excerpts)
Pamuk, Orhan. Istanbul: Memories and the City, trans. Maureen Freely, Knopf, 2004.
Rao, Kiran, dir. Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries), 2010. Film.
Smith, Zadie. White Teeth, Penguin, 2001.
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