Overview

Crossing Borders is a gathering of twenty original, interdisciplinary essays on the paradigm of borders in African American literature, multi-ethnic U.S. studies, and South Asian studies. These essays by established and mid-career scholars from around the globe employ a variety of approaches to the idea of “border crossings” and represent important contributions to the discourses on modernity, diasporic mobility, populism, migration, exile, sub-nation, trans-nation, as well as the formation of nationalities, communities, and identities. Borders, in these contexts, signify social and national inequities and hierarchies and also the ways to challenge and transgress entrenched barriers sanctioned by habit, custom, and law. The volume also honors and celebrates the life and work of Amritjit Singh as a teacher, mentor, author, scholar, and editor over half a century.

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9781611478990

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Reviews

In this imagined salon of notable international scholars joined by their friendship and admiration for Amritjit Singh, transnational studies and border studies intersect with feminist recuperation of historical oversights, South-Asian remappings, and African American literary analyses to explore the permeability of race and other borders. Highly recommended. -- John C. Hawley, Santa Clara University From its title to its delightful stories, Crossing Borders speaks perfectly to the rich contributions Amrit has made to literary study. It crosses borders of identity, nation, and art in ways that open our eyes-and our minds-to the multiple cultures he has been so instrumental in enabling us to see and to engage. A brilliant festschrift to celebrate the importance of Amritjit Singh's work-and also his life as a colleague and friend. -- Paul Lauter, Allan K. & Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Literature (emeritus), Trinity College Crossing Borders promises to be one of the most exciting publishing events in the academy in a decade, inscribing a long overdue tribute to Amritjit Singh, one of my finest colleagues and a leading humanist scholar of his generation. That Amrit is the subject of honor here is itself remarkable testimony to the real and symbolic value of different cultural subjects gathering across borders to express their affectionate regard for an unrelenting worker in the 'contact zone' of a plethora of cultures. -- Hortense Spillers, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Vanderbilt University A rigorous, coherent, and superbly timed collection of essays, Crossing Borders pays rich and eloquent tribute to Professor Amritjit Singh's distinguished and ongoing contributions to perennial 'border crossings' and does justice not just to the uniqueness of Amritjit's conjunctural presence and significance as a scholar, teacher, and public intellectual, but also to the themes and issues that have constituted his cosmopolitan agenda over the years. -- R. Radhakrishnan, Chancellor's Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine Amritjit Singh is a respected scholar, teacher, and friend. This fine collection of essays is a tribute to Amrit's personal courage and intellectual willingness to transgress borders and establish a common humanity with people everywhere. These are important attributes in our times when people want to assert their differences than seek a conversation which is always inconclusive. Maybe the question King Vikramaditya asks in an ancient text of moral riddles best describes Amrit's life-history: What country is foreign to the learned? -- Professor Alok Bhalla, author of Partition Dialogues and Stories About the Partition of India (4 Volumes). In order to understand the scope and breadth of Amritjit Singh's contributions to global letters, one need only look at the list of contributors, who are among the most important voices in the field. Indeed, Crossing Borders makes a strong and persuasive argument that African American literary and cultural studies is a global project taking place in multiple locations both inside and outside the U.S. Beyond a doubt, Amrit has been witness to myriad configurations of knowledge production-including multiculturalism, gender studies, transnationalism, and literary historiography. -- Herman Beavers, Professor of English and African American Studies, U of Pennsylvania

Our time of mass migration and resulting social displacement suggests the need for a volume like this one. Crossing Borders examines the generic uncertainties of studies in Multi-Ethnic American, African American, Postcolonial, and South Asian literatures. An intriguing discussion results, demonstrating the artificiality of borders not only in academic departments, but in national identities, as well. -- John C. Hawley, Professor of English and former chair of department at Santa Clara University, editor of India in Africa, Africa in India, and former president of the US chapter of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies

Author Information

Tapan Basu is associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Delhi. Tasneem Shahnaaz is associate professor in the Department of English, Sri Aurobindo College, University of Delhi.

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