The Empire Writes Back
The Empire Writes Back: Politics and Literature from Postcolonial Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia A hundred years ago, Britain ruled about a quarter of the world’s population, and the British Empire covered approximately a quarter of the earth’s land surface. Though most of the colonies have won formal independence, the effects of global imperialism continue to be felt, and arguably Empire has taken on other forms. In this seminar we will discuss fiction, poetry, and drama by postcolonial writers such as J. M. Coetzee, Derek Walcott, Daljit Nagra, Wole Soyinka, Mahashweta Devi, Jean Rhys, Arundhati Roy, Edward Said, and Frantz Fanon, addressing questions about the nature and effects of colonization, anti-colonial resistance, representation, agency, and power.
The Empire Writes Back: Politics and Literature from Postcolonial Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia A hundred years ago, Britain ruled about a quarter of the world’s population, and the British Empire covered approximately a quarter of the earth’s land surface. Though most of the colonies have won formal independence, the effects of global imperialism continue to be felt, and arguably Empire has taken on other forms. In this seminar we will discuss fiction, poetry, and drama by postcolonial writers such as J. M. Coetzee, Derek Walcott, Daljit Nagra, Wole Soyinka, Mahashweta Devi, Jean Rh …Read more
I think that this course was alright as an FYS. We had many readings for each class, and discussions felt a little weird but I enjoyed one of the books a lot so I think that made it worth it. I was never really interested in postcolonial literature, but I have found the basic principles useful in my studies of French later on.
The novels we read explored a wide scope of postcolonial literature from many different contexts, and many inspired me to dive deeper into certain authors in my own time for my personal projects. Professor also provides many great resources for supplemental readings. There can be a lot of readings to do some weeks, but doing them is incredibly valuable for class discussions, which are led well.
The novels we read explored a wide scope of postcolonial literature from many different contexts, and many inspired me to dive deeper into certain authors in my own time for my personal projects. Professor also provides many great resources for supplemental readings. There can be a lot of readings to do some weeks, but doing them is …Read more
This course is very much a discussion-based class. There can be quite a lot of reading, but most of them are not particularly fastidious and useful if you are interested in post-colonialism. The talks that come as a result can also be genuinely valuable if your classmates are interested in the topic.