Postcolonialism: perspectives from South Asia 3600-IN-PSA-OG

The course is a lecture with elements of a seminar and has a twofold aim: to serve as an introduction to postcolonial theory and to examine through its lens the postcolonial condition of South Asia.
It will focus on the cultural, psychological, and political mechanisms and effects of the European colonialism on contemporary South Asia, by trying to answer the following questions: How did the colonial experience change South Asia? What elements of its legacy persist? How did colonialism change the way South Asians see themselves? Did it also change the coloniser?
It will provide an overview of postcolonial theory through reading and analysis of key texts (see: Literature), and show the added value of the theory for understanding contemporary South Asian literature, cinema, politics, and society.
At the end of the course, the student should be able to apply the postcolonial theory’s tools and lexicon to the analysis of literary and cinematic texts, as well as social and political issues, and be able to join the current discussion on theoretical questions.

Type of course

general courses
elective courses

Mode

Classroom

Prerequisites (description)

The student is required to attend all classes and do all the readings in a timely manner.

Assessment criteria

Short questionnaires checking the reading of required texts 30%.
End-of-term written exam 70%.

Bibliography

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts, Routledge: London and New York 2013

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, The Postcolonial Studies Reader (2nd edition), Routledge: London and New York 2006

Bhabha, Homi, ‘Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse’, October 28, Spring 1984

Chibber, Vivek, Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital, Navayana: New Delhi 2013

Gandhi, Leela, Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction, Columbia University Press: New York 2019

Inden, Ronald, “Orientalist Constructions of India”, Modern Asian Studies 20, 3 (1983), http://cscs.res.in/dataarchive/textfiles/textfile.2007-09-18.4131252005/file

Kipling, Rudyard, Kim, Macmillan and Co. Ltd: London 1902

Kipling, Rudyard, “White Man’s Burden”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Man's_Burden

Loomba, Ania, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, Routledge: London and New York 2015

Nandy, Ashis, The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism, Oxford University Press: Delhi 2009

Rushdie, Salman, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991, Granta: London 1991

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, in: Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, The Postcolonial Studies Reader (2nd edition), Routledge: London and New York 2006

Viswanathan, Gauri, “The Beginnings of English Literary Study in British India”, Oxford Literary Review 9 (1-2), 1987, also in: Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, The Postcolonial Studies Reader (2nd edition), Routledge: London and New York 2006

Viswanathan, Gauri, “Colonialism and the Construction of Hinduism”, in: Gavin Flood (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing: Oxford 2003

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3600-IN-PSA-OG in USOSweb