The Fiction of Indian Diaspora

By Prof. Nagendra Kumar | IIT Roorkee

Learners enrolled: 800 | Exam registration: 33

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The course “The Fiction of Indian Diaspora” primarily deals with Diaspora, Indian diasporic fictions and the theorisation of Diaspora. It provides an in-depth exploration of the concept of Diaspora, tracing its origins from the Greek term diaspeirein (“to scatter”) to its contemporary formations and meaning along with highlighting the complex theoretical articulations in literary and cultural studies. The objective of this course is to explore the intricacies and complexities of Diaspora and its ancient and contemporary manifestations in literary texts, particularly within the context of Indian Diaspora. Second, to examine how diasporic writers such as V. S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Anita Desai, Chitra Banerjee, Meena Alexander, Jhumpa Lahiri and several others have represented the diasporic consciousness in their literary works; and third, to provide the theoretical aspects of Indian Diaspora. The course engages with critical definitions and frameworks related to Diaspora offered by major postcolonial and Diaspora thinkers including Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, William Safran, Avtar Brah, Vijay Mishra, Sudesh Mishra and others. These critics and their key concepts have been employed in the discussion of this course to examine diasporic identity, cultural dislocation, and transnational belonging. While critically discussing the seminal and contemporary literary narratives related to diaspora, from V.S. Naipaul’s explorations of rootlessness to modern narratives of migration and exile, this course highlights the recurring themes in Diaspora Studies, such as displacement, memory, nostalgia, identity crisis, and cultural negotiation etc. The course also investigates the narrative strategies of diasporic authors to represent fractured identities, hybrid cultures, and the emotional geographies of migration.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG, PG Students, PhD Scholars and Academicians

PREREQUISITES: No. Not any pre-requisite courses are required. Any graduate, postgraduate or scholars enrolled in PhD courses can apply for this course.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences English Studies
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	28 Jul 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	15 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	02 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to Diaspora, its meaning, definition and development, characteristics of Diaspora, Diaspora literature and narrative techniques, challenges and opportunities in Diaspora

Week 2: Indian Diaspora, historical roots, demography and geography of the Indian Diaspora, language, identity, and heritage, socio-economic and political aspects of Indian Diaspora

Week 3: Phases of Indian diaspora and its contribution, government initiatives, the rise of fiction of Indian Diaspora, narrative techniques of diasporic writers

Week 4: Theorizing Diaspora: Homi K. Bhabha, Edward Said, Azaz Ahmad, Frantz Fanon and Gayatri C. Spivak

Week 5: Theorizing Diaspora: Vijay Mishra, Sudesh Mishra, Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, James Clifford, William Safran, Steven Vertovec, Rey Chow and Avtar Brah

Week 6: Key concepts related to Diaspora: Melting Pot, Unhomely, Transnationalism, Alienation, Borderland migration, Incipient Diaspora, Acculturation, Deculturation, Assimilation, Digital Diaspora and others

Week 7: V. S. Naipaul and his A House for Mr. Biswas and In a Free State, Kamala Markandaya’s The Nowhere Man

Week 8: Salman Rushdie and his Midnight’s Children and The Moor’s Last Sigh, Anita Desai’s Bye-Bye Blackbird

Week 9: Bharati Mukherjee and her Jasmine and Desirable Daughters, Anita Desai’s Baumgartner’s Bombay

Week 10: Jhumpa Lahiri and her The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Week 11: The Mistress of Spices, Kiran Desai, Rohinton Mistry, Anita Nair and M. G. Vassanji

Week 12: Amitav Ghosh, Meena Alexander, Benny Daniel, Vikram Chandra, Sanjeena Sathian

Books and references

Literature of the Indian Diaspora by Vijay Mishra
Routledge Handbook of the Indian Diaspora edited by Radha Hegde and Ajay Sahoo
The Indian Diaspora: Dynamics of Migration edited by N. Jayram
The Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Essays in Indian Criticism edited by A.L. Mcleod.
Tracing the New Indian Diaspora edited by Om Prakash Dwivedi.
The Fiction of Bharati Mukherjee: A Cultural Perspective by Nagendra Kumar
English Literature: Voices of Indian Diaspora edited by Malti Agarwal
The Literature of Indian Diaspora: An Anthology of Critical Essays edited by Ajay Kumar Chaubey.
Indian Literatures in Diaspora edited by Sireesha Telugu.
English Literature: The Voice of Indian Diaspora by Hari Prasad N.Kamol

Instructor bio

Prof. Nagendra Kumar

IIT Roorkee

Dr Nagendra Kumar obtained his Ph.D degree in English Literature from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. Prof. Kumar specialises in Language, Literature and Communication and Soft Skills with a keen interest in Indian Classical Literature. Besides publishing a widely reviewed book and a volume of translation of Coffee Table Book of IIT Roorkee, he has published over 120 research papers in reputed national and international journals, such as Critique, Scrutiny 2, ANQ, The Explicator, South Asian Review, South Asian Popular Culture, Media Watch, South East Asia Research, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Univ. of Bucharest Review, Neohelicon, Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Asiatic, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Partial Answers and others, conference proceedings and edited anthologies. He has successfully supervised 22 Ph.D. scholars and 17 others are currently pursuing their degree under his supervision. He has delivered invited talks in over 50 institutions across the country and abroad including in Austria, Oman, Singapore, Canada, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji and Egypt. He has been an International Reviewer for many reputed journals and is part of editorial and advisory boards of national and international journals. He has also successfully organised about a dozen AICTE, Industry and MSME sponsored short term courses and workshops on Soft Skills, Communication, Culture, and Digital Pedagogy. He has served as Head, and Chairperson, Department Research Committee, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee and has been a Fellow of Salzburg Seminar, Austria, and the recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award of IIT Roorkee for the year 2015.His administrative responsibilities include, Chairperson Institute Sports Council, President Temple Management Committee, and Chairperson Institute Medical Emergency Fund. Currently he is a Professor (HAG Scale) in the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, INDIA

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams : November 02, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Roorkee. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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