Decolonization and the Novel (P00954)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : LLC-P-P00954

This course traces the politics of writing in English for an international range of novelists with regard to specific dynamics in Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and ultimately contemporary Britain itself. The debilitations and enablements of writing in the language of one's supposed master will be considered. The course will also provide a theoretical analysis of key concepts in postcolonial criticism such as hybridity in gauging whether such positions are positive or negative conditions. In addition to affirming resistances within colonies themselves the course also concludes with an analysis of diasporic writing within Britain itself as voices from those former colonies begin to articulate themselves from the imperial metropoles or centres.

Entry Requirements

? Costs : Purchase of essential texts as required.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 2 hour(s) per week for 1 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the course successfully will have learned to engage critically with the novel's role in decolonization struggles. They will be able to question whether the idea of postcoloniality is itself a fiction in the context of the neo-imperialism of the global market and to recognise and trace the ambivalences that key writers harbour about moments of supposed national liberation. Students will become acquainted with the development of subaltern studies and the various displacements concerning race, ethnicity, gender and class. They will be equipped to explore critically the terrain upon which oppositional and properly emancipatory identities may be constructed.