Devika Panikar
δάσκαλος (dáskalos) means the teacher in Greek. Devika Panikar has been teaching English Language and Literature since 2006. She is an Assistant Professor with the Directorate of Collegiate Education under the Government of Kerala. She teaches at the Government Colleges coming under this directorate and is now posted at the Department of English, Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram. This website is a collection of the lecture notes that she prepared by referring to various sources, for her students’ perusal. It has been compiled here for the sake of future generations.
The Subaltern Speaks
In post-colonial theory, the word ‘subaltern’ is used to refer to a member of any group who faces oppression due to caste or gender or race. In her seminal essay, Can the Subaltern Speak?, Gayathri Ch...
Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom
Correcting students need not amount to the banking method of education. Rather, teachers should call on students to contribute their experiences so that teachers can critically engage with students’ i...
A Critique of Gender Discrimination
Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court is in Session is a critique of gender discrimination in patriarchy and the women’s fight against the injustice done to her. He represents the problems faced by ind...
Ritusamhara
Kalidasa's Ritusamhara is an ode to nature's bounty and the enduring emotional response it evokes in mankind as a whole. The word Ritu (season) with the word saṃhāra is used here in the sense of "comi...
Sophoclean Drama
Sophocles was an ancient Greek playwright and the second of the 3 greatest Greek writers of tragedy with Aeschylus and Euripides. He is known best for what he wrote about Oedipus, the mythological fig...
From Critical Theory to Critical Pedagogy
Critical Pedagogy (CP) emanated from Critical Theory (CT) which was developed by the philosophers and theorists of the 1923 Frankfurt School of Thought like Theodor W. Adorno, Jürgen Habermas, and Her...
Dante Divine
Dante Alighieri was a Medieval Italian poet and philosopher whose poetic trilogy, the Divine Comedy, made an indelible impression on both literature and theology. He was one of the most learned Italia...
Bringing Classroom and Society Together
Critical pedagogy is a teaching philosophy that invites educators to encourage students to critique structures of power and oppression. It is rooted in critical theory, which involves becoming aware o...
Universal Grammar
Universal Grammar Theory states that all children are born with an innate ability to acquire, develop, and understand language. While different languages may have different kinds of grammar, humans ha...
Antigone, the Classic
Classical works of literature usually share a common element: a memorable main character. Classics feature central characters with vivid, distinct personalities and strong points of view about the wor...