Postcolonial Cultures and Global Literatures in English (5cr)

Objectives

The students can analyse texts in relation to historical, local and global perspectives on colonialism and postcolonial cultures and societies. They can describe and analyse factors that have contributed to the creation of English-language postcolonial literatures. They can explain and debate postcolonial (literary) studies as a strategy to question hegemonic visions of the world. They can identify key themes and strategies of postcolonial literature, master central terms of postcolonial literary theory, and apply them in literary analysis. They acquire further skills in presenting arguments orally and in writing.

Content

The course unit explores literature written in English from a postcolonial and postimperial perspective. It demonstrates how the expansion of the British Empire affected the creation of postcolonial literatures in English in different parts of the world (including North America, Australia, Africa and India) and gave rise to forms of anti-colonial resistance. It investigates the ideologies and legacies of colonialism, the formation of postcolonial identities and the decolonisation of the mind and knowledge. It further focuses on the adoption and subversion of English as a global literary language, and the ways in which postcolonial literatures engage with, question and remodel literary-aesthetic traditions.