Dr. Amardeep Singh, an assistant professor of English at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., will be Catawba College's literary scholar in residence this week as he helps Catawba's first-year students further explore Khalid Hosseini's "Kite Runner." "Kite Runner," Hossseini's best selling first novel about coming of age in Afghanistan is Catawba's common reading selection this year for all new students.
"Kite Runner" has provided both a starting point and a context for a year-long conversation between students and their faculty about globalization and consilience.
Singh is just one of several guests to campus whose visits have provided a common thread for intellectual discussion throughout the first-year experience.
Singh will address first-year students and members of the college community at noon Thursday, March 22 in Keppel Auditorium of the Robertson College-Community Center on the topic of globalization in context of "Kite Runner."
Singh earned his bachelor's degree in English from Cornell University and his master's degree from Tufts University. He earned his doctorate from Duke University and his dissertation was entitled, "Post-Secular Subjects: Religious Identity and difference in the Modern Novel."
While on campus, Singh will have breakfast and conversation with a group of first-year students, visits and conversations in several English literature classes, and a late lunch with a group of first-year students.
Singh's visit follows a week-long residency of world-renowned photographer Luke Powell, a native North Carolinian and UNC Chapel Hill alumnus who has traveled and worked extensively in Afghanistan. He exhibited his photographs in Peeler Crystal Lounge on campus, offered commentary in various classes, and offered several lectures focused on his own Afghan experiences.
"Kite Runner," written by Afghan immigrant Hosseini, was published in 2003. It is the tale of a friendship between two Afghan boys and how one's betrayal of the other affects their adult lives in Kabul and California. Incorporating universal themes, the novel's storyline stretches across several decades of Afghan history, from the monarchy of Mohammad Zahir Shah through the bloodless coup of 1973, the Communist takeover in 1978, the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the reign of the Taliban ending after the American invasion in 2001.
RELATED CONTENT:
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- Photo Gallery of Photographer Luke Powell's Visit ;
- Photographer Displays Photos of Afghanistan During Residency at Catawba ;
- Afghanistan: Haven of Peace and Tranquility (March 2007 Community Forum)
