Assignments

Assignments

• Questionnaire
• Self-Reflection
  (Guidelines and Rubric)
• Podcast
  (Guidelines and Rubric)
• Midterm Reflection
• Final Project Proposal
• Research Paper
  (Guidelines and Rubric)
• Oral History
  (Guidelines and Rubric)
• Comparative Analysis
  (Guidelines and Rubric)
• Final Reflection

Movies

• Bend It Like Beckham
  
  Set in London, Bend It Like Beckham follows Jesswinder Bhamra, a young British Sikh woman passionate about soccer, against her family’s wishes. Her journey to balance her love for the sport and family expectations unfolds as she joins a local football team, coached by Joe, who helps her pursue her dreams. Much of the film is set in suburban West London. Bend It Like Beckham is the film upon whose interpretation Sara Ahmed based much of her idea of the melancholic migrant.
• Mississippi Masala
  
  Directed by Mira Nair, Mississippi Masala tells the story of Mina, a young woman of Indian descent, whose family was expelled from Uganda under Idi Amin’s regime. The film is set primarily in Greenwood, Mississippi, where Mina’s family runs a small business. As Mina embarks on a romantic relationship with Demetrius, an African American man, the film explores themes of race, displacement, and love. The narrative moves between the Southern US and flashbacks to Uganda, highlighting the family’s origins and displacement.
• Malcolm X (pt. 1)
  
  Directed by Spike Lee, Malcolm X is a biographical drama tracing the transformation of Malcolm Little into the Black Muslim leader Malcolm X. The film explores his early life, criminal activities, conversion to Islam, and activism within the Nation of Islam. I've provided this film in two parts.
• Malcolm X (pt. 2)
• My Beautiful Laundrette
  
  Set in London during the 1980s, My Beautiful Laundrette explores interracial, inter-class gay male love amidst a backdrop of racial tension and economic disparity. The film follows Omar, a young British-Asian man, who revitalizes a rundown laundrette with the help of his old friend and lover, Johnny, a former skinhead. As Omar navigates family pressures and his relationship with Johnny, the film touches on themes of identity, class, and multiculturalism.
• Seducing Maary
  
  Set in Montreal, Seducing Maarya is a dramatic tale that follows Maarya, an Indian immigrant who marries an older man, but develops an affair with his son. The film delves into complex family dynamics, cultural clashes, and issues of identity within the immigrant community. Montreal’s vibrant and multicultural setting plays a crucial role in the film, providing a backdrop for the characters’ intersecting lives and personal conflicts.
• Beeba Boys
  
  Directed by Deepa Mehta, Beeba Boys is a crime drama centered on a Sikh-Canadian gang leader, Jeet Johar, and his ruthless crew in Vancouver. The film explores Jeet’s balancing act between his violent, drug-dealing world and his responsibilities to his family. Vancouver’s urban landscape, including its underworld of organized crime, plays a prominent role in the film, along with scenes capturing the tensions within the South Asian community.
• A Touch of Pink
  
  Set primarily in London as well as Toronto, A Touch of Pink is a romantic comedy that follows Alim, a gay man of Kenyan South Asian origin living in England. His life is complicated by the arrival of his mother from Toronto, who tries to set him up with a suitable Ismaili woman. Throughout the film, Alim is guided by the spirit of Cary Grant, his imaginary mentor.
• My Son the Fanatic
  
  This film is set in Bradford, a town in northern England with a significant Pakistani immigrant community. The film follows Parvez, a taxi driver, and his friendship with a white sex worker, Bettina. Parvez's son Farid turns to a modernist/takfiri interpretation of Islam, at odds with his father's. The different melancholias of the first and second generations are on prominent display in this film.
• Monsieur Lazhar
  
  In French. Set in Montreal, Monsieur Lazhar tells the story of Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant hired to replace a teacher at an elementary school following her tragic death. As Bachir connects with his students and helps them cope with their loss, his own past, shaped by the political violence in Algeria, is gradually revealed.