Introduction to Postcolonial Literature

At its zenith, the British Empire encompassed almost a quarter of the globe, allowing the diminutive island nation unprecedented economic, military, and political influence upon the rest of the world. This course will introduce some of the foundational responses to this dominance, both literary and theoretical, by the colonized and their descendants. We will examine important critiques of colonialism by theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak, as well as literary works that reflect a postcolonial critique by authors such as V.S. Naipaul, George Lamming, Doris Lessing, and N'gugi wa Thiong'o. The course will interrogate how literature could be said to help consolidate Empire as well as ways in which it might function as rebellion against imperial power, with a view toward teasing out the problematics of race, gender, language, nationalism, and identity that postcolonial texts so urgently confront. This course satisfies the 20th C or later historical requirement. This course may fulfill the global or minority literatures requirement for students who declare an English major in the fall 2021 semester and beyond.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; AS HUM; AS LCD; EL TC; EL GML; FA HUM; AR HUM

Introduction to Postcolonial Literature

ENGLISH LITERATURE 3520

Section 01