This course introduces students to the major genealogies of “canonical” postcolonial theory (Franz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi Bhaha, Gayatri Spivak, among others), a retrospective look at a moment when there is much speculation about the future of this field. As epistemological critique, postcolonial theory has hybrid and multiple origins bringing the charge of derivativeness against its major practitioners. Pursuing a genealogical thread will enable us to confront this aspect of the “pasts” of postcolonial theory, and subsequently its critical allegiances, refusals, and negotiations. Alongside the work of the major theorists, we will read relevant explorations of the current “state of the field.” Here our focus will be on the strange temporality postcolonial studies—a field that seems to always work toward its own demise. For since the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), since its “beginnings,” postcolonial scholars have regularly prophesized the passing of postcolonial times and of postcolonial thought. So as we read genealogically we will pause on a second question: is the time of the postcolonial over? Or is the postcolonial critique still salient for our ongoing investigations of new empires? If it survives what are its new domains, its new eruptions? And when we find the postcolonial everywhere, what does the term mobilize at this historical juncture?
Our readings each week will include critical essays from Padmini Mongia’s Contemporary Postcolonial Theory, supplemented by materials in a Course Reader; selections from our single literary case study, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, 1988); and relevant chapters from one account of postcolonial theory, Ania Loomba’s Colonialism/ Postcolonialism, and Robert Young’s historical overview in Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Students will also be expected to view three feature length postcolonial films (Cuban, Indian, Senegalese) and two documentaries outside of class time. Each class session will comprise of a lecture, class discussion of critical and literary texts, and a student oral presentation. Students will be expected to prepare a conference package (a one-page abstract, a 20-minute presentation, and an 8-page paper) and a write a 20-page research paper on a topic approved by the instructor. I will suggest/provide presentation essays/materials as well as research topics suited to individual interest, but please let me know if you have a specific idea/project in mind or already under way.
Required Texts:
Padmini Mongia, Contemporary Postcolonial Theory (1997)
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses (1988)
Ania Loomba, Colonialism/ Postcolonialism (Second Edition, 2005)
Robert Young, Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction 2001)
Screenings of Franny Armstrong, Drowned Out (2004); Isaac Julien’s Franz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996); Ashutosh Gowarikar, Lagaan (2001); Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, The Last Supper (1976); Ousmane Sembene and Thierno Faty Sow co-directed Camp de Thiaroye (1987)
Course Reader I (essays, short fiction, interviews)
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