Course Description
Introduction to literatures from a selection of the following post-colonial regions: Africa, South Asia, Canada, the Caribbean, New Zealand, and Australia. Course covers multiple genres. Introduction of central concerns of post-colonial writers, such as decolonization and national identity, and identity of differences among post-colonial regions.
Athena Title
POST COLONIAL LIT
Prerequisite
Permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course aims to introduce students to a wide range of texts by writers who have responded to colonialism and globalization. It aims to equip students with a broad range of theoretical and critical tools with which to approach the study of post-colonial 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 key areas of debate, such as race, gender, ethnicity, and nationhood.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and from 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: • Colonialism • Resistance • Decolonization • Geography and mapping • Nationalism • Diaspora • Globalization Texts might include works by: • J.M. Coetzee • Nadine Gordimer • Chinua Achebe • V.S. Naipaul • Salman Rushdie • Arundhati Roy • Wole Soyinka