ENGL 48 Critical Issues in Postcolonial Studies
This course charts one genealogy of postcolonial theory as it developed in the Anglo-American academy in the 1980s. Drawing on the two internationalist traditions of the late nineteenth and twentieth century, Marxism and Psychoanalysis, this course examines the ways in which these two theoretical frameworks helped construct postcolonial thinking while at the same time becoming the sites of its most rigorous critique. The course will begin with an introduction to some of the key concepts in Marxist and psychoanalytic thought, specifically as these two traditions understand colonialism. Then, we will read the work of postcolonial thinkers, such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Homi Bhabha, to consider their critiques of colonial thought and practices. Throughout the course, we will attend to the way in which racial and sexual difference is considered in the readings. The theoretical material for the course will be supplemented with our engagement with four films: Xala (Dir. Ousmane Sembène, 1975); The Battle of Algiers (Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966); Fire (Dir. Deepa Mehta, 1996); Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (Dir. Isaac Julien, 1996).
Instructor
Khan
Department-Specific Course Categories
Course Group IV