Postcolonial Literatures

Course Type	Course Code	No. Of Credits
Discipline Core	NSUS1EN213	4

Course Coordinator and Team: SES Faculty

Email of course coordinator: pcbabed@aud.ac.in

Pre-requisites: No

Course Description:

This course is an introduction to Postcolonial Literatures. The experiences of colonialism, struggles of postcolonies in an independent world, the rebuilding of a nation and the forging of remembered cultures with the ones inherited due to the colonial experience are some of the recurring motifs in post-colonial literatures across the world. Themes such as these will be taken up for class discussion through a variety of theoretical, literary and cultural texts drawn from various postcolonial geographies like Africa, India and South America. The course would also look at the debate around postcolonial theoretical mode of analysis as suggested by Aijaz Ahmad against Jameson's more universalist approach which overlooks local socio-cultural and historical specificities.

Course Objectives:

The course intends to introduce students to various literatures written and being written in postcolonial societies. These literatures reflect issues that are of immediate relevance to readers from postcolonial cultures. By the end of the course students will have gathered knowledge about such crucial issues like colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism, racism, representation, decolonization, the debate over language, subaltern identities among others that are central to postcolonial studies. The course will explore the aforementioned concerns through theoretical, literary and cultural texts drawn from various postcolonial nations.

Course Outcomes:

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

Develop critical thinking and writing skills
Analyse primary texts in detail
Synthesise ideas discussed in class with their reading of texts
Gain insight into the cultures of formerly European colonies
Understand central terms and concepts in postcolonial studies
Apply postcolonial criticism on a variety of literary and cultural texts

Brief description of the modules:

Module I| INTRODUCTION: ISSUES AND DEBATES

As the title suggests this module introduces students to Postcolonial Studies an area which they may be unfamiliar with. It is important for students to understand the nature and reasons for the rise of this field of knowledge. While it problematizes the nature of English literary studies in postcolonial societies it also introduces them to various debates and issues in this area of literary study like language, identity, representation and decolonisation. The module will prepare the theoretical framework for the modules to follow. The module shall take up foundational theoretical debates in Postcolonial theory including the language, identity, history and representation. The module emphasise the need for a theoretical framework(s) suited for post-colonial nations.

Rushdie, Salman. ―Commonwealth Literature Does Not Exist‖. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-91. London: Granta Books, 1992. pp. 61-70.
Ngugi wa Thiong‘o. ―The Language of African Literature‖. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: James Curry, 2005 (1981). pp. 4-33.
Achebe, Chinua, ―The Politics of Language‖. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. 2nd Edition. Eds. Bill Ashcroft et al. London and NY: Routledge, 2006. pp. 268-271.
Said, Edward. ―Orientalism‖. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. 2nd Edition. Eds. Bill Ashcroft et al. London and NY: Routledge, 2003. pp. 87-91.
Guha, Ranajit. ―On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India.‖ Subaltern Studies I: Writings on South Asian History and Society. Ed. Ranajit Guha. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Shinde, Gauri. Dir. English Vinglish (2012

Module 2| POSTCOLONIAL DRAMA

This module introduces students to drama in postcolonial societies. Drama has helped raise issues that have been significant for postcolonial societies. Issues like postcolonial subjectivity, decolonisation, use of indigenous myths, histories and cultures are some of these which this module will engage students with. One of the following dramas shall be discussed in class:

Soyinka, Wole. ―The Lion and the Jewel‖. Collected Plays II. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1974.
Karnad, Girish. ―Tughlaq.‖ Collected Plays: Volume 1. New Delhi: OUP, 2005. pp. 5-9

Module 3| POSTCOLONIAL FICTION

This module will engage students with colonial and postcolonial fiction. The module problematizes the issue of representation in colonial fiction like Joseph Conrad‘s Heart of Darkness. Only after sufficiently theorising on this aspect students move to postcolonial fiction and various issues it raises like colonial encounter, identity and subjectivity. The shall then move to discuss the subaltern identity in Mahasweta Devi‘s works especially through a discussion of her short story ―Draupadi.

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Classics, 2001 (1958).
Devi, Mahasweta. ―Draupadi‖. Tr. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Critical Inquiry 8.2 (1981) pp. 381-402.

Module 4| POSTCOLONIAL POETRY

This module will introduce students to the poetic genre in postcolonial societies. Through a selection of poems that deal with diverse thematic concerns, the module will explore the questions of colonialism, identity & culture and diaspora.

Walcott, Derek. ―A Far Cry from Africa‖, ―Goats and Monkeys‖. Neruda, Walcott and Atwood: Poets of the Americas. Ed. Ajanta Dutt. Delhi: Worldview, 2001. pp. 104-107.
Parthasarathy, R. Excerpts from ―Exile‖, ―Trial‖, ―Homecoming‖. From Rough Passage. New Delhi: OUP, 1977.
Neruda, Pablo. ―The Way Spain Was‖, ―Discoverers of Chile‖. Neruda, Walcott and Atwood: Poets of the Americas. Ed. Ajanta Dutt. Delhi: Worldview, 2001. pp 8-9.
Bennet, Louise. ―Colonization in Reverse‖ and ―Dutty Tough.‖ https://www.best-poems.net/louise-bennett-coverley/poems.html

Assessment Plan:

S.No	Assessment	Weightage
1	Mid-semester	50%
3	End-Semester Examination	50%

References:

Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" Massachusetts Review. 18. 1977. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness, An Authoritative Text, background and Sources Criticism. 1961. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough, London: W. W Norton and Co., 1988, pp.251-261.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Collins Classic, 2010.
Pati, Mitali R. ―Mahasweta Devi's Rhetoric of Subversion in ―Draupadi South Asian Review 20.17 (2017), pp. 86-91.
Patke, Rajeev S. ―Poetry and Postcoloniality. Postcolonial Poetry in English. NY: OUP, 2006. pp. 3-28.
King, Bruce. Modern Indian Poetry in English, revised ed. Oxford UP, 2001.
Jaidka, Manju and Tej N. Dhar. The Encyclopedia of Indian Writing in English, New Delhi: Routledge, 2004