/ British Colonial History, Literature and Postcolonial Theory 3301-LB1030-1ST
The course aims to discuss English literature in the context of colonialism, focusing on literary themes and cultural developments related to colonial history, such as power, domination, conquest, colonial discourse, otherness, race, slavery, imperialism, and cultural difference. Selected literary texts will be analyzed in the context of the history of colonialism from the Renaissance through the 18th century and the Victorian period, to the 20th century, with a focus on the history of British Empire and British expansionism, slavery, exploitation and plantation system, colonial trade, racism and colonial violence. The influence of colonialism and colonial discourse on such writers as W. Shakespeare, A. Behn, D. Defoe, O. Equiano, W. Blake, Ch. Dickens, T. Carlyle, J. Conrad, R. Kipling, E.M. Forster and G. Orwell will be studied in connection with their views on such issues as race, religion, violence, slavery, cultural difference and appropriation. Selected postcolonial writers and thinkers, such as Ch. Achebe, S. Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee, D. Lessing, G. Spivak and E. Said will be discussed to introduce elements of postcolonial theory and decolonial critical thought with the view of providing students with tools necessary for an informed critical reading and analysis of (post)colonial discourses and literatures.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students will be able to:
K_W01 Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of literary studies within the humanities
K_W02 Describe on an advanced level the current trends in literary and cultural studies research on the history of the English literature in the context of English colonial history
K_W04 Characterize on an advanced level the principles of research design in literary studies with special focus on the application of methods and tools in formulating research problems
K_W05 Identify the notions and principles pertinent to intellectual property and copyright
Abilities
Students will be able to:
K_U01 Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline (literary studies and cultural studies with reference to British colonial literature and postcolonial literature in English)
K_U02 Apply advanced research methodology within literary and culture studies and English studies, respecting ethical norms and copyright law
K_U03 Apply knowledge obtained during the course of studies to account for and solve a problem, thereby completing a research task related to the discipline of literary studies and the field of eighteenth-century British literature
K_U04 Analyze eighteenth-century literary and cultural phenomena and draw generalizations on their basis in the context of societal, historical and economic factors on an advanced level
K_U05 Discern alternative methodological paradigms within a discipline
K_U06 Find information in various sources and critically assess its usefulness for research related to the topic of the MA project
Social competences
Students will be ready to:
K_K02 Apply knowledge and skills obtained during the course of studies to undertake lifelong learning, as well as personal and professional development
K_K03 Take responsibility for performing one’s professional duties, with due respect for the work of others, obey and develop the ethical norms in professional and academic settings related to the disciplines included on the curriculum of English studies
K_K04 Assess critically one’s own knowledge and skills related to the studies
K_K06 Value cultural heritage and cultural diversity as well as individual opinions
Assessment criteria
Final grade based on assessment for:
- attendance and participation
- short presentations
- final essay
Two (2) absences are allowed.
Bibliography
Literary texts and other primary sources:
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
John Maxwell Coetzee, Foe
William Blake, “The Little Black Boy”
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative
Thomas Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question”
Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger (fragments)
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (fragments)
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
Derek Walcott, “Names” + other poems
V.S. Naipaul, The Mimic Man
Rudyard Kipling "The White Man's Burden"
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Nadine Gordimer, “Six Feet of the Country”
Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing
John Maxwell Coetzee, Disgrace
Critical sources / anthologies
(2003) The Post-colonial Studies Reader. Bill Ashcroft et al. (ed.) Routledge.
(2005) A Companion to the Eighteenth Century Novel and Culture. Paula R. Backscheider and Catherine Ingrassia (ed.) Blackwell.
(2013) The Postcolonial Short Story. Contemporary Essays. Maggie Awadalla and Paul March-Russell (ed.) Palgrave.
Bhabha, Homi. (1994) The Location of Culture. Routledge
Boehmer, Elleke (2005) Colonial and Postcolonial Literature. Oxford University Press.
Brantlinger, Patrick (1990) Rule of Darkness. British Literature and Imperialism, 1830-1914. Cornell University Press
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. (2000) Provincializing Europe. Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton University Press.
Colley, Linda (1992) Britons: Forging the Nation 1701-1837. Yale UP.
Gikandi, Simon (2011) Slavery and the Culture of Taste. Princeton University Press.
Huggan, Graham and Helen Tiffin. (2010) Postcolonial Ecocriticism. Literature, Animals, Environment. Routledge.
Joseph, Betty. “Re(playing) Crusoe/Pocahontas: Circum-Atlantic Stagings in The Female American.” Criticism 2000, 42/3, 302-317.
Linebaugh, Peter and Marcus Rediker (2002) The Many-Headed Hydra. Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Beacon Press.
Loomba, Ania (2000) Colonialism/Postcolonialism. Routledge.
Said, Edward (1994) Orientalism. Vintage.
Schwarz, Henry and Sangeeta Ray (2005) A Companion to Postcolonial Studies. Blackwell
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1999) A Critique of Postcolonial Reason. Towards a History of Vanishing Present. Harvard University Press.
Weaver-Hightower, Rebecca (2007) Empire Islands. Castaways, Cannibals, and Fantasies of Conquest. University of Minnesota Press.
Full list will be provided to course participants each semester.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: