Vulnerability Studies: An Introduction

ABOUT THE COURSE: This course is an elective for UG and PG students across the Humanities and Social Sciences, including Literary Studies, Cultural Studies and Media Studies. It aims to introduce the students to basic concepts in Vulnerability Studies, an emerging discipline. It introduces theories of precarity/vulnerability, resistance, resilience, and others. It then turns to specific forms and domains of vulnerability, from willed vulnerability in extreme sports, to ageing and childhood-related vulnerabilities. Each of these will be illustrated through examples from literary and popular texts, including films, graphic novels, visual images. There will be group discussions and guest lectures for certain component of the course.INTENDED AUDIENCE: Undergrad and postgrad students.

Syllabus

Week 1: Key Concepts: Vulnerability, Precarity, Resilience, Resistance, Risk, Narrative, Deviance/Stigma, Violence and SufferingWeek 2:Reading Vulnerable Bodies in Literature and Culture: Social identities and vulnerability, vulnerable/extreme spaces, ageing bodies, refugee bodies, labouring bodies, sick bodiesWeek 3:Vulnerability Aesthetics: Traumatic Materialism, Melodrama, The SublimeWeek 4:Vulnerability Biopolitics: Pandemic Vulnerabilities (historical and contemporary), Bhopal, GenocidesWeek 5:Ecoprecarity and Ecodystopias in Literature and CultureWeek 6:Vulnerability and Ageing in LiteratureWeek 7:Vulnerability and Childhood in LiteratureWeek 8:Vulnerability, Resilience and Resistance