Family Law in the World Community
Professor Ann Laquer Estin
University of Iowa College of Law

Fiction, Film and Video Resources

Film/Video:

Heart of the Dragon
This Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series of twelve programs on various aspects of life in China includes an episode on marriage, and another on divorce mediation. The films, produced in 1984, are narrated by Robert McNeil and Jim Lehrer and available in many public librarires or from Ambrose Video. The companion textbook by Alasdair Clayre (also titled The Heart of the Dragon) has chapters to accompany each program.
http://www.ambrosevideo.com/displayitem.cfm?vid=365
see also: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/eacp/webcourse/chinaworkbook/heart/intro.htm

Divorce Iranian Style
(Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, 1998)
http://wmm.com/catalog/pages/c454.htm

Monsoon Wedding
(Mira Nair, 2002)
http://monsoonwedding.indiatimes.com/
http://www.mirabaifilms.com/monsoon.html

Fiction:

Pearl Abraham, The Romance Reader (1995).
(assignment: chapter 24)
http://www.readinggroupchoices.com/html/reading_group_choices_96_27.html

Mariama Ba, So Long a Letter (1981).
(assignment: chapters 13 and 14)
http://www.africanwriters.com/Writers/WriterTop.asp?cPK=BaMariama
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/africana/ba.htm

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Arranged Marriage (1995).
(assignment: "The Ultrasound")
(This book of short stories received the 1996 American Book Award.)
http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/
http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/books/arranged_marriage/
http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0385483503
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/arranged_marriage.asp

Ha Jin, Waiting (1999).
(assignment: Prologue)
(Recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award.)
http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/hajin/jin.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1299/jin/
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/waiting.asp

Peter Orner, Esther Stories (2001).
(assignment: "Providence")
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=693060

Other Fiction:

Ama Ata Aidoo, Changes (1991).
(Winner of 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa))
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/africana/aidoo.htm

Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991).
(pp. 43-56 "Woman Hollering Creek")
http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/catalog/results.pperl?authorid=4977

Buchi Emecheta, The Bride Price (1976).
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/africana/emecheta.htm

Connie Porter, Imani All Mine (1999).
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/porter.shtml