21st Century

• AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE


  • Writing by people from mixed African Arab or African Asian backgrounds
  • Reflects the storm and stress of developing nations seeking a place under the sun
  • Mirrors customs, traditions, and philosophy of life of African and Asian countries and cultures
• GENERAL NORMS AND CULTURE

  • Usually care for family first
  • Fond of social values and love for their own country
  • Active in celebrating festivals
  • Religious
  • Good writers, talented in different branches of sports
• AFRICA (54 countries)


  • Egypt
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Kenya
  • Tunisia
  • Morocco
  • Zimbabwe
  • Botswana
• AFRICA


  • Has 300 distinct ethnic groups and 2000 languages
  • World's record largest and second most populous continent
  • Sense of Community, Good Human Relations, Hospitality
• SENSE OF GOOD HUMAN RELATIONS

  • The art of dialogue and conversation is a cherished value
• SENSE OF HOSPITALITY


  • Symbolic way of expressing welcome
• AFRICA LITERATURE


  • Slave narratives
  • Protests against colonization
  • Call for independence
  • African pride
  • Hope for the future
  • Dissent
• Major themes in AFRICA LITERATURE

  • Colonization
  • Liberation
  • Nationalism
  • Tradition
  • Displacement
• ASIA (48 countries)


  • Thailand
  • Japan
  • Bangladesh
  • China
  • India
  • Cambodia
  • Philippines
  • Hong Kong
• ASIA


  • The individual as being a part of a much larger group or family, great importance on the well-being of the group
• FAMILY AND EDUCATION


  • Child rearing
  • Spend more time with their children
• RESERVE CONFORMITY AND HARMONY


  • Placed on maintaining harmony; fulfilling one's roles in the world of the family or group
• BENEVOLENCE AND OBLIGATION


  • Tend to be hierarchical; viewed as dependence or domination; obligated to follow their parent's wishes
• Khushwant Singh was an Indian novelist, lawyer, journalist, and politician
• Khushwant Singh


  • Trenchant secularism, humor, sarcasm, and an abiding love of poetry
  • Editor of several literary and news magazines (1970 and 1980s)
  • Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India (1980-1986)
• Khushwant Singh was born and raised in Hadali, Punjab (now in Pakistan)
• Khushwant Singh studied law at St. Stephen's college, Delhi and King's College London
• Khushwant Singh was married to Kawal Malik
• Khushwant Singh was a lawyer in the Lahore Court for eight years
• Khushwant Singh was appointed as a journalist in 1951
• Khushwant Singh worked at the Department of Mass Communication of UNESCO in Paris in 1954
• Khushwant Singh was decorated with the Padma Bhushan in 1974, but returned the award in 1984 in protest against Operation Blue Star
• Khushwant Singh was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's 2nd highest civilian award, in 2007
• The Story Karma


  Originally published in 1989 in Khushwant Singh's The Collected Stories, about an Indian gentleman who tries to adopt upper class English culture
• The English soldier


  • The instruments of karma in the story
• The English soldiers' discriminating and aggressive attitude teach Mohan Lal a lesson about arrogance
• North American Sovereign States

  • USA
  • Mexico
  • Canada
  • Guatemala
  • Haiti
  • Cuba
• North America is the third largest continent, extending from the Aleutian Islands in the northwest to the Isthmus of Panama in the south
• North America's five physical regions

  • Mountainous west
  • Great Plains
  • Canadian Shield
  • Varied eastern region
  • Caribbean
• Mayan civilization had a writing system, pyramids and temples, a complex calendar, and the concept of 0
• European colonization caused the decline in the Native American population
• Native Americans or American Indians spoke English, Spanish, or French
• Themes in North American literature

  • Greed as a Destructive Force
  • The Role of Fate and Agency in Shaping Human Life
  • Colonial Society's Oppression of Native Cultures
• North American literature is related to Romanticism and Realism
• Early North American literary writings exalted patriotism and the values of equality, freedom, and truth
• Three important events in North American history

  • The Revolution
  • Colonization by the English
  • Territorial expansion
• North American literature


  • Writings established the popular and the issues of daily life
  • Realism is handled in a direct and crude manner
  • Misfortunes (natural disasters, epidemics and banditry) are reflected
  • Characters have a strong psychology and very clear reason to act
• The Pearl


  A novel by John Steinbeck, an American novelist and social activist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961