Dwelling At the Cusp of Modernity : Heidegger and Urdu Poetry

This course proposes to journey through modernity as understood by one of its main thinkers, Martin Heidegger, attuned to the echoes of major Urdu poets of that era. Existential motifs resonate aplenty, for instance between a “Building Dwelling Thinking” (1951) of Heidegger, and the poem “Hasan Kuzagar” by N M Rashid. “The poets are in the vanguard of a changed conception of Being” (Heidegger) : we will try to seek through the poets of the Urdu tradition a resonance to what Heidegger was searching from the poetic seers of the West, from Homer to Holderlin. Such existential experiences will be explored through a thematic study of some of the key terms of Heidegger’s works — language, technology, thinking, being — through a patient, comparative and tentative thinking with great creations from Urdu poets such as Ghalib, Iqbal, or N M Rashid. In a post-modern era where subjectivity is hijacked by technology, Heidegger’s wisdom about post-industrial developments is always to be refreshed, and the practitioners of language that were those Urdu poets reveal the parallel lines of existential conditions across cultural and historical differences.

How this course works

The participants and the instructor meet each Thursday evening, 6:30-8:00 PM in a group Skype, for a session of textual analysis from a selection of essays and poems. Through this method, the guide offers at once the keys to participants to enter and further explore the texts on their own, and a personal reading rich with originality and creative potential. Babar will read Heidegger in English and the Urdu poets in the original Urdu language, with published alongside personal translations into English. Participative responses are encouraged across the session, during the exercise of textual analysis by the instructor and through the open discussion.

On the Fridays 20 January and 10 February, the exploration of the course is complemented with CineWords, our participative exchanges of movie interpretation, based on the documentary The Ister (David Barison and Daniel Ross, 2004) (more info) and the film In Custody (Ismail Merchant, 1993) (more info), selected by the guide in relation to the course. Each of these participative sessions takes place through a group Skype.

Finally, on the Saturdays 7 January, 4 February and 4 March, the group meets physically in the studio of IST Delhi, for a live Questions & Answers session with the instructor. The room is located in Noida, 30 minutes from Connaught Place by metro, and walking distance from the station. The exact address will be shared with each participant after registration. This session is also broadcasted on Skype for participants unable to join us physically.