2000+ years of Tamil poetry: From Love and War to Hip Hop

Undergraduate / Graduate

Tamil is one of only a few modern, living languages with a literary tradition reaching back over two millennia. Since the 1980s, Tamil writing has become truly global, with Tamil communities across Asia, Europe, North America and the rest of the world. In this class, we will explore the breadth and depth of Tamil's literary cultures and geographies, beginning with the ancient poems of love and war (Sangam poetry) written before the Christian era and ending with the lyrics of contemporary hip hop artists from Malaysia and Switzerland. Readings will also include the famous "classics", e.g. poems of the religious devotional tradition (bhakti), temple myths, and epic poetry, as well as modern and contemporary poetry about politics, caste, class, gender and feminism, India's Independence, Sri Lanka's civil war and life in Singapore. The class is open to anyone interested in exploring one of the extraordinary literary traditions of the world. No prior knowledge of Tamil or South Asia is required. While all readings will be in English (translation), students of Tamil will also be able to study the texts in the original.