‘Literature Reflects Culture and Society’

PAO David Gainer addresses students of IIT, Madras

As part of African-American History Month, U.S. Consulate General, Chennai Public Affairs Officer David Gainer held an interactive session with the Humanities Department students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras on the contributions of African-Americans to American literature on February 11, 2013.   

The discussion focused on the ways in which literature reflects the culture and society of the times, and the enormous changes that have occurred over the past 100 years in American race relations.   

The address was followed by a screening of the film “Help” and a discussion of its practical relevance to those who work as domestic servants today and the often peculiar nature of inequality in the intimate environment of home.  More than 50 students, research scholars, and academics participated in the program.