Course Description
Examination of a particular regional literature or a specific topic in postcolonial writing.
Athena Title
Topics in Postcolonial Lit
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ENGL 4695S
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course aims to deepen students’ understanding of postcolonial literatures by focusing on specific postcolonial regions and/or topics. It aims to equip students with a range of theoretical and critical tools with which to approach the study of postcolonial literatures. By the end of the course, students, having read a substantial body of literature, will be able to discuss these texts (both orally and in writing) by engaging in discussions of postcolonial theory and by looking at texts aesthetically and historically. They will also develop an understanding of the literary history of postcolonial regions.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. The literature will be read outside of class and discussed in class,examined individually and comparatively in the context of the times and the circumstances of their composition. Periodically during the semester,students will perform a number of graded tasks, including some combination of tests and out-of-class papers. A possible series of topics might resemble this: West African Literature; Southern African Literature; The African Novel, Post-Apartheid Literature; South Asian Literature; Caribbean Literature; Contemporary Canadian Literature; Australian Literature; Aboriginal Literature; Canada, New Zealand, and Australia; Literature of Migration; The City in Postcolonial Literature; Nation and Narration; Globalization and Literature; Postcolonial Drama; Postcolonial Poetry; Postcolonial Literature by Women; Magical Realism; "Writing Back": Colonial and Postcolonial Writing; Postcolonial Geographies; Postcolonial Film. Texts might include works by: J.M. Coetzee; Nadine Gordimer; Chinua Achebe; V.S. Naipaul; Jamaica Kincaid; Keri Hulme; Janet Frame; Zakes Mda; Derek Walcott; Dionne Brand; Ngugi wa Thiong'o; Tsitsi Dangarembga; Athol Fugard; Michelle Cliff; Amitav Ghosh; Nazruddin Farah; Arundhati Roy; Buchi Emecheta; Ama Ata Aidoo; Bessie Head; Wole Soyinka; R .K. Narayan; Salaman Rushdie; David Malouf; Raja Rao; Louise Bennett; Patrick White; Naguib Mahlbuz; Njabulo Ndebele; Dambudzo Marechera; George Lamming; Kamau Brathwaite; Grace Nichols; Mudrooroo Narogin; Witi Ihimaera; Sam Selvon; Michael Ondaatje; Zadie Smith; Ken Saro-Wiwa; Ben Okri; Zoe Wicomb; Anita Desair; Sara Suleri; Amos Tutuola; Rohinton Mistry; Peter Carey; Jean Ittrys; Caryl Phillips; Tayeb Salih; Alan Duff; Shirley Geok-Lin Lim; Hanif Kureishi; Earl Lovelace; Mariama Ba; Camara Laye; Shani Mootoo.
Syllabus