English 148

Pedagogies of Empire

Spring 1999	ANURADHA DINGWANEY NEEDHAM
T,Th: 8:35-9:50	Rice 109
	Office Hours: T,Th 10:00-11:00 & 12:15-1:30 & by appt.
	Phone: 775-8653 (office)
	774-1230 (home)

This course will analyze the pedagogies through which (British) colonialism (re)-made colonial subjects and subjectivities. Simultaneously, it will examine the responses, oppositional and otherwise, these pedagogies called forth. The course will focus on the scenes of instruction in canonical texts of empire and in a variety of anglophone texts from the so-called Third World.

Texts:

Ama Ata Aidoo, Our Sister Killjoy

Michelle Cliff, Abeng

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

Merle Hodge, Crick Crack Monkey

Rudyard Kipling, Kim

Earl Lovelace, Wine of Astonishment

Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North

In addition, we will read the following pieces:Thomas MacCaulay's "Minute on Indian Education," Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "On the Abolition of the English Department," Gauri Viswanathan's "Currying Favor," and Edward Said's "Introduction" to Orientalism. You can get these from the English Department Secretary, Linda Pardee in Rice 130. The cost is $3.00. Please bring in exact amount.

Tentative Class Schedule:

Feb. 9:	Introduction: Discussion of readings, requirements and procedures
Feb. 11, 16:	"Currying Favor," "Introduction" to Orientalism, "Minute," and "Abolition"
Feb. 18, 23:	Crick Crack Monkey
Feb. 25, March 2:	Black Skin, White Masks
March 3, 4:	Individual conferences for Paper 1 (optional)
March 9:	In-class workshop for Paper 1 (mandatory)
March 11:	Paper 1 due; General discussion
March 15:	Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, will give a talk entitled "Cultural Studies" at noon on Monday, March 15, 1999. Please plan to attend this talk.
March 16, 18:	Heart of Darkness
	SPRING BREAK
March 29, Apr. 1:	Season of Migration to the North
April 6, 8:	Abeng
April 12, 13:	Individual conferences for Paper 2 (optional)
April 15:	In-class workshop for Paper 2 (mandatory)
April 20:	Paper 2 due
April 20, 22:	Our Sister Killjoy
April 27, 29:	Wine of Astonishment
May 4, 6:	Robinson Crusoe
May 11, 13:	Kim; evaluations
May 14, 15:	Individual conferences for Paper 3 (optional)
May 18:	Paper 3 due

Requirements and Procedures:

You will write three 6-8 page papers for this course. For each paper, you will have to explicitly identify a specific issue/problematic that engages you in a given text or texts, justify why it's worth talking about, clarify the assumptions that undergird your interest in it. Your paper should be organized coherently around this specific issue/problematic and function as a well-developed argument with supporting evidence from examples from the text(s) you choose for analysis. For the first two papers you will discuss drafts in in-class workshops. For the third paper, you will discuss your rough drafts with me in individual conferences. You may revise papers for a better grade/improved argument; revisions are due within a week of my returning graded papers to you. Each paper should cover one, or two, or all of the readings from the immediately preceding section. Thus, paper 1 will focus on the four xeroxed readings, or Crick Crack, or Black Skin, or a combination or all of them; paper 2 on Heart of Darkness, or Season, or Abeng, or two, or all of them, and so on.

Late submission of papers is not encouraged, although, in an emergency, I do grant extensions. Extensions must be cleared with me prior to the date on which papers are due. Otherwise late papers are penalized a letter grade for each day they are late.

Due dates for papers are as follows:

March 11: Paper 1

April 20: Paper 2

May 18: Paper 3

My classes are organized around discussions; it is imperative, therefore, that you read and come prepared to discuss all the work assigned for the date on which it is specified. I do not hesitate to call upon specific students whether or not they have indicated their wish to participate. Class participation counts for 25% of the final grade, with papers 1, 2, and 3 counting for 25% each.

You cannot pass this course unless you have completed all the written work.