Department of English

This course is intended as an introduction to postcolonial literature and theory, with particular emphasis on the British context. We will begin by reading some of the founding texts of postcolonial studies, including Franz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth , Edward Said's Orientalism, and essays by Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, and Gayatri Spivak. Additional theoretical readings by such writers as George Lamming, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Benita Perry, Paul Gilroy, Aijaz Ahmad, Sara Suleri, and Chandra Mohanty will be examined in tandem with novels and films drawn mostly from Britain and the Caribbean. These may include Sam Selvon's Lonely Londoners, Lamming's The Emigrants, Keri Hulme's Bone People, Ravinder Randhawa's Wicked Old Woman, Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, Jamaica Kincaid's Autobiography of My Mother, Paule Marshall's Daughters, Caryl Phillips's Final Passage, Merle Hodge's Crick Crack Monkey, and films by Hanif Kureishi and others. Written work will consist of frequent 1-2-page assignments and two essays of 10-15 pages. A more detailed description will be posted soon.