English 663
Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Theory
Thursdays,
McIver 138
Professor Alexandra Schultheis
108 McIver Bldg.
(o) 334-4689; (h) 389-9716
Office Hours: TR
Class Description:
This seminar will investigate the dominant theoretical
approaches to postcolonial studies. We
will focus on the literary and cultural theories emerging in response to
European imperialism and colonialism in
Expectations and
Class Requirements:
This is a seminar that demands extensive class participation. In addition to regularly attending class and participating in discussion, each of you will be required to lead one class discussion.
To facilitate discussion and to help you prepare for your final paper, you are required to write three short responses (approximately 2-4 pgs.) to the assigned readings. You may choose any three sets of class readings you wish. Think of short responses as a space to think critically about the readings. The responses are not intended as summaries of the material or as polished essays, but as opportunities for you to begin to engage with the texts (however messy a process that may be). Try to identify the main arguments in the texts and then respond to some portion of them.
Your major writing assignment is a final paper (approximately 15-20 pgs.) due at the end of the semester. Your paper should demonstrate substantial engagement with the theoretical texts, and you may wish to incorporate literary texts into your analysis. Our last couple of class meetings will be devoted to conference-style presentation of final papers.
1/16 Introduction; Keywords
1/23 Said, Orientalism
1/30 Said, “Orientalism Reconsidered”
Young, “Disorienting Orientalism”
Ahmad, “Orientalism & After,” In Theory
2/6 Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
2/13
Chatterjee, Chapter 1, The Nation and Its Fragments
2/20 Jameson, “
Ahmad, In Theory
2/27 Bhabha, The Location of
Culture
Young, “The Ambivalence of Bhabha”
3/6
Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”
SPRING BREAK
3/20 Spivak, “Deconstructing Historiography”
Chakrabarty, “Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History”
3/27 Appadurai, “Discjunction and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”
Dirlik, “The Postcolonial Aura”
Appiah, “Is the ‘Post-‘ in ‘Postcolonial’ the ‘Post-‘ in ‘Postmodernism’?”
Ella Shohat, “Notes on the ‘Post-Colonial’”
4/3 Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
Spivak, “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism”
Devi, “Duoloti the
4/10 Radhakrishnan, “Nationalism, Gender, and the Narrative of Identity”
McClintock, “No Longer a Future in Heaven”
Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes”
Suleri, “Woman Skin Deep”
4/17 Presentations
4/24 Presentations
5/1 Final Papers
Due