Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, Linfield College professor of English and coordinator of the Gender Studies Program, will lead a weekly Delve Reading Seminar offered through Literary Arts in April. The four-week seminar offered in Portland, “Reading Jhumpa Lahiri: Exploring the South-Asian-American Diaspora,” is sold out.
Watch a video of Dutt-Ballerstadt (also embedded below) and listen to an interview from the “Carl in the Morning” show on 107.1fm KXRY.
From her Pulitzer winning collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, to her most recent novel The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri examines the complex state of belonging to both India and America for both the first and the second-generation immigrant. The seminar will explore how Lahiri’s literary representation connects the two worlds of the East and the West as her subjects navigate their various states of belonging.
“My goal in offering this seminar was to introduce a more ethnic and diverse canon of literature,” Dutt-Ballerstadt said. “One of the central themes we will be discussing is the issue of south Asian migration. What does it mean to find another home? Particularly for second generation, growing up here they have identities as being American but at the same time they have other identities. How do they negotiate these identities and cultures?”
Lahiri is a second-generation resident, whose parents are from Calcutta, India. Her writing resonates with Dutt-Ballerstadt, who grew up in Calcutta and moved to the U.S. at age 18.
“Her stories are universal – they deal with relationships, struggles, what does it mean to belong in a place?” Dutt-Ballerstadt said. “Students of all ages are drawn to these stories.”
Dutt-Ballerstadt said she will share insights from the class with her students at Linfield.
“I’m looking forward to bringing back the perspectives and life experiences of a different demographic of students,” she said. “Where people have journeyed from and come to. It will be wonderful to bring that back to Linfield students.”
At Linfield, Dutt-Ballerstadt teaches postcolonial literatures, gender studies and creative writing. She is the author of a scholarly monograph, The Postcolonial Citizen: An Intellectual Migrant (2010) and has published in The Asian American Renaissance Journal, The South Asian Review, Saranac Review, The Rocky Mountain Review and other scholarly and creative journals. Dutt-Ballerstadt was born in India and has lived in the U.S. for 25 years.
Delve Readers Seminars engage readers in exploring challenging books in lively discussion-based seminars led by experienced scholars.
Learn more about the Linfield Department of English.
