Academic Calendar 2023/2024 - Topics in Postcolonial Literature

ENGL 3146  Topics in Postcolonial Literature

Prerequisites:

Six credits of 2000 level ENGL (excluding ENGL 2001, ENGL 2011) or any 45 credits completed (excluding ENGL 1501, ENGL 1502, ENGL 2001, ENGL 2011).

Hours:

Three hours of lecture per week for one term.

Credits:

3

Description:

This course focuses on literature coming from countries which are former British colonies, excluding Canada and the United States. The emphasis in the selection of texts and approaches is on tracing the effects of (de-)colonization on emerging literatures in English. The collision and collusion of cultures brought together by imperial domination have produced theatre, fiction and poetry rich in controversy and imagination. As well, the process of British colonization has helped to rewrite the texts and traditions of British literary history, and the English language itself. The course is divided and defined regionally rather than historically, and while they should include a short history of colonization, the readings are drawn largely from the twentieth-century. Some of the regions covered may include the Caribbean, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Recent developments in literary theory and critical approaches to postcolonial literature are also considered.