This course, which introduces you to some of the anglophone literatures of the Third World, will examine the problems of definition, analysis, and evaluation that attend our reading and understanding of texts from the Third World.  Through a variety of theoretical essays and fictional works, our discussions will address, though not be limited to:  a) whether or not terms like "third world" or "post-colonial" are appropriate designations for this work; b) whether or not notions of "marginality," "difference," or "alterity," so often deployed to characterize these works, are effective for understanding them; c) whether or not these works can be valuably studied as enactments of resistance against dominant ideologies and/or cultural formations.

 

Since these works were written not only at different historical moments, but also emerge from, and address, different rhetorical exigencies, and social, political, and cultural formations, our discussions will proceed through an awareness of these ideologically determined "constraints."

 

Texts

 

Ama Ata Aidoo, Our Sister Killjoy

J.M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians

Tsi Tsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

Bessie Head, A Question of Power

Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia

Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

Salman Rushdie, The Moor's Last Sigh

Sam Selvon, Moses Ascending

 

 

 

Tentative Class Schedule

 

Feb. 5:	Introduction:  Details about course, readings and papers.
Feb. 7, 12, 14:	Essays by Jameson, Ahmad, Spivak ("Burden" and opening pages of "Marginality") Jeyifo, and Schwarz.
Feb. 19, 21:	Black Skin, White Masks: Introduction and Chs. 1,2,3,5.
Feb. 26, 28:	Our Sister Killjoy
Mar. 5, 7:	Nervous Conditions
Mar. 12:	Essays by Brennan and Robbins
Mar. 14, 19:	A Question of Power
Mar. 20, 21, 22:	Conferences for Paper I
Mar. 23:	Paper 1 due
Mar. 23- Apr. 1:	SPRING BREAK
Apr. 2, 4:	Coetzee, "Into the Dark Chamber" and Waiting for the Barbarians
Apr. 9:	Essays by Guha and Spivak ("In a Word")
Apr. 11, 16:	God of Small Things
Apr. 18, 23:	The Moor's Last Sigh
Apr. 25:	Essays by Bhabha and Papastergiadis
Apr. 30, May 2:	Moses Ascending
May 7, 9:	Buddha of Suburdia
May 10, 11:	Conferences for Paper
May 15:	Paper 2 due

 

Requirements and Procedures

 

You will write two papers (10-12 pages each) in which you will present a sustained, well-developed argument organized around a central, coherently stated thesis.  You should make your critical assumptions explicit and, as far as possible, reflect on those assumptions in the course of your essay.  You are encouraged (though not required) to show me early drafts of your papers for comments.  You may revise final drafts as well for a better grade.  You will also keep a journal where you will jot down your "responses" to every text we will read in class.  During class discussion, I will call upon various students arbitrarily to read from journal entries.  This way, hopefully, I will ensure that everyone comes prepared, and everyone is called upon to participate in class discussion.  At the end of a two- or three-week period, I will look through the entries.  The journal will not be graded.

 

Due dates for papers

 

Paper 1 due:  March 23

Paper 2 due:  May 15

 

Papers must be submitted on the dates they are due.  You will be penalized a grade per day (e.g., lowered from B to B-) for unexcused late submissions.  You can ask for extensions, but only by contacting me before the date the paper is due.

 

Method of Instruction

 

Lectures will be kept to a minimum and class will proceed mainly through discussions to which every student must contribute.  This will require you to do your reading on time, to assiduously jot ideas and responses down in your journals, and come prepared to participate intelligently and provocatively in class discussions.

 

Grades

 

Papers 1 and 2 will count for 70% of the grade (35% each); your participation in class discussion will count for the remaining 30%.  You cannot pass the course unless you have completed all your written work.