BDS 109: Bangladesh 1971 – Through the Lenses

3 credits | Prerequisites: none

Course rationale

The year 1971 has not only become the most important time in the process of nation formation for Bangladesh, it also has turned into a major narrative discourse here. Various literary and media texts, such as novels, short stories, songs, poems, films, television dramas, stage plays, and street-theatres have been produced on and around 1971. These together continuously narrate and re-narrate the liberation war and its various aspects and aftermaths. Eventually, these construct a representational discourse of not only the 1971 liberation war but also of the nationhood of Bangladesh. This course will critically study some of these influential mass media, art forms, and literary devices. It will thus also identify some less-traveled ways of representing and thinking about the Bangladesh liberation war.

Course content

This course has been designed as a foundation course for undergraduate students to help them get acquainted with the rich history of 1971 and subsequently equip students with the factual knowledge and analytical skills that will enable them to critically appreciate the event of the emergence of the nation through different perspectives. This course will teach them about the complex interconnection between the War of Liberation and its representation in/through various media and cultural forms, thus helping them to have a better understanding of present phenomena in the light of the past.

Course objectives

  1. Understand different topics of this course.
  2. Apply Fourier analysis to solve differential equations.
  3. Understand the basics of complex analysis, and theorems of complex integration.
  4. Understand some important special functions of physics.
  5. Apply these special functions to different problems arising in physics.

References

  1. van Schendel, Willem. (2015). A History of Bangladesh, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. Raghavan, Srinath. (2013). 1971: A Global History of the creation of Bangladesh, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
  3. Raju, Zakir Hossain. (ed.), (2011). Ganamaddhame Muktijuddho, Dhaka: Jagriti Prokashoni.
  4. Iqbal, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal (2013). Muktijuddher Itihash, Dhaka