Fall 2009

E 360L • Postcolonial Literatures: Diaspora and Exile

Course Description

Please refer to the course schedule for course days, time, room location, prerequisites and possible cross-listings: http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/

The creation of a new world map and the transformation of ancient cultures is the indisputable legacy of colonialism. From the middle of the twentieth century to the present, there has been a flow of colonial subjects and postcolonial émigrés into the cultural capitals of Europe and North America, causing a secondary global transformation. The struggles of the new "arrivants," the transformations of cities and cultures, and the generational battles over retaining customs vs. assimilating and modernizing have been a fertile field for writers, theorists, and filmmakers. In this course we will examine a range of texts that struggle with questions of identity, assimilation, racial hatred, cultural transformation, the romance of the great city (Paris, London, New York), and the appropriation of literary and film forms to address these problems.

Grading Policy

Periodic quizzes on Reading. A test on terms, histories, geography, and writer biographies. Participation in class discussion. A final paper which does an in-depth analysis on a text or a comparative paper on selected texts.

Texts

Hurricane Hits England: An Anthology of Writing About Black Britain; Monica Ali. Brick Lane; Linton Kwesi Johnson; Mi Revalueshunary Fren; Leila Sebbar. Sheherazade; Samuel Selvon. The Lonely Londoners. Course Reader with Essays on Identity, Nationality and Exile. Short Stories about exile in England, France, the United States, and Canada.

Dirty Pretty Things. Stephen Frears, dir.; In America. Jim Sheridan, dir.; Black Girl. Ousmane Sembene, dir.

back