Minor Literature: Postcolonial and Ethnic Texts (MA/BA)
Dr. Donna T. Tong
少數文學: 後殖民與族裔文本
Email: 080695@mail.fju.edu.tw
Thursdays: 1:40pm-4:30pm
Office: SF 225
Location: LA 306
Office Hours: Mon. 3:30pm-5:00pm
& Wed. 2:00pm-5:00pm
Course Description
What is a minor literature? This term was coined by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in
Kafka: Towards a Minor Literature. In their analysis Kafka’s writing, Deleuze and Guattari
define how “[t]he three characteristics of minor literature are the deterritorialization of
language, the connection of the individual to a political immediacy, and the collective
assemblage of enunciation” (18). Firstly, according to Deleuze and Guattari, to
deterritorialize a language is to have a “language torn from sense.” However, this does not
mean that the text becomes nonsense, but rather that the writer, using elements from his or
her minor language and culture, draws attention to a major language, to its political and social
implications. To deterritorialize a language therefore means to, in Réda Bensmaïa’s words,
“affect the language in which it is effected” (xvi), and thereby revolutionize it. Secondly, a
minor literature is always political in that the individual cannot be extricated from his or her
relationship to society, and society is inherently political. In this way, the writer’s text
inevitably reflects, represents, and/or refracts this political context. Lastly, a minor literature
has collective, enunciative value, meaning that it expresses and/or exemplifies “another
possible community…[,] another consciousness and another sensibility” (17).
These characteristics are at once attractive in articulating a kind of kinship among ethnic and
postcolonial texts where writers with “minor” cultural backgrounds write in “major”
languages, but they are also potentially dangerous since they do assert a commonality that
may flatten crucial differences in history, geography, and political context.
In this course, we will consider theories of postcolonial and ethnic literatures to question
whether Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of a minor literature can and/or should be applied,
and what might be larger implications of applying this term to certain texts.
Required Texts
Davenport, Kiana. Song of the Exile.
Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly.
Loh, Vyvyane. Breaking the Tongue.
Murayama, Milton. All I Asking for Is My Body.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. Kafka: Towards a Minor Literature.
Course Reader (excerpts from some of the following)
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture
Fanon, Franz. Black Skin, White Masks.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Decolonising the Mind.
Said, Edward. Orientalism.
1
Course Requirements
Attendance:
Participation:
Close readings:
Presentations:
15%
15%
10%
20%
RP presentation:
Research paper:
10%
30%
prepare one discussion question each week.
2 reflections, 350 words minimum on texts of your choice.
1 presentation on a non-fiction text, 1 presentation on a literary
text of your choice.
panel presentation on last day of class.
including research proposal due 12/13.
Close Readings
Each student is responsible for writing two reflections on texts of his or her choice. Each
reflection must be 350-words minimum. If analyzing a fiction text, then each close reading
must focus on analyzing a specific passage or scene examining figures of speech, rhetorical
techniques, or characterization. If analyzing a non-fiction text, then each close reading must
investigate a specific concept defining that concept, its relation to the course, and how it
helps to better understand minor literature and/or postcolonial studies.
Discussion Questions
Each student is responsible for preparing one discussion question on the assigned reading
each week. This question must be relevant to the theoretical issues raised in class, and can be
centered on related thematic concerns in a particular fictional text.
Each student must also prepare a tentative answer to his or her own question, but this answer
does not have to be complete.
Presentations
Each student is responsible for preparing a 10-minute minimum presentation on a nonfiction text and a 10-minute minimum presentation on a fiction text. The criteria are listed
below:
Non-fiction text presentation
1. Outline of presentation.
2. Short definition/description of the particular theory.
3. Key concepts related to the theory.
4. Example application of the theory.
5. Application of the theory to one literary text that we are reading or a film we have
watched in the course.
6. Works Cited.
Fiction text presentation
1. Short overview of text.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Title and author.
Short bio of author.
Characters in the text.
Plot of the text.
2. Key themes/motifs.
3. Textual analysis.
2
a. Select a particular passage, scene, or moment in the text.
b. Explain how that particular passage connects to the whole text.
c. What is significant about the selected passage?
i. Is something crucial revealed about the characters?
ii. Is something important revealed about a specific theme or motif?
d. Figurative language.
i. What kind of figurative language is used?
ii. What is the effect of the figurative language?
e. What kinds of literary theories from Beginning Theory can be used with this text?
4. Works Cited.
Research Paper
MA students need to prepare a 2500-3500-word (8-12 pages) research paper on any of the
literary texts, or on a literary text with the instructor’s approval and using at least two of the
non-fiction texts. The research paper must include at least two research sources not included
in the class.
BA students need to prepare a 1500-2200-word (5-8 pages) research paper on any of the
literary texts, or on a literary text with the instructor’s approval and using at least one of the
non-fiction texts. The research paper must include at least one research source not included in
the class.
RP Presentation
Each student must prepare a 10-15 minute presentation on his or her research paper to be
given on the last day of class. Do not simply read your research paper.
Deadlines & Late Paper Policy
Unless deadlines are changed verbally in class or over email, the due dates for assignments
and presentations are as indicated in sign-up sheets and the schedule.
No late papers will be accepted without arrangements made one week prior to the due date
with the instructor.
Conduct, Plagiarism, Cheating
Attendance is MANDATORY. Excused absences are accepted for medical or family
emergency with appropriate documentation. Three tardies equal one absence. Tardiness past
20 minutes after class has begun is counted as one absence. More than 3 absences will lead
to failing the course.
Any act of plagiarism or cheating will lead to failing the course.
Paper Format & Submission



Font: Times New Roman 12 point size.
Margins: 1-inch all around.
Spacing: double-spaced text.
3
1-inch margins
Assignment
Title
Paragraph
indented
Text –
double-spaced
At the end of each essay, students are required to have the WORD COUNT written. For
example: Word count: 1079.
Headings must have the student’s name, ID #, course, and date, with the assignment and title
that corresponds with the content of the essay.
All essays must be submitted in hard copy with an electronic copy sent through email to
<minor.literature@gmail.com> on the due date. The subject heading must have your name
and the assignment: Your Name – Assignment. Example: John Cho – Reflection 1.
Your electronic file must be named appropriately: ID# Your Name – Assignment. Example:
722096031 Jane Doe – CR1.docx (CR = Close reading 1).
Schedule
Date
09/20
09/27
10/04
10/11
10/18
10/25
11/01
11/08
11/15
11/22
11/29
Topic
Intro
What is minor literature?
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Minor literature (cont)
Minor literature (cont)
Social constructivism, Puccini’s Madama
Butterfly
Race/gender as social constructs
M. Butterfly
What is postcolonial studies?
Once Were Warriors
Orientalism
Troubled Paradise
Hawai‘i: postcolonial?; “Standard” English
vs “pidgin” English
Language & racial discrimination
Colonial mimicry
4
Homework
D&G p. ix-27
D&G p. 28-62
D&G p. 63-90
M. Butterfly Act 1
M. Butterfly Act 2 & 3
A Reader’s Guide
Said Orientalism
All I Asking for Is My Body
p. 1-54
All I Asking for Is My Body
p. 55-103
Bhabha Location of Culture
Breaking the Tongue p. 1-169
Times New Roman 12-point Font
Heading- single-spaced
Name
ID #
Course title
Date
12/06
12/13
12/20
12/27
01/03
01/10
01/17
Singapore & Sook Ching Massacre
Chinese diasporic identity
Due: research proposal
Postcolonial English
Double-consciousness
Language & colonialism
Settler vs. indigenous
Last day to turn in Reflections
Last Comments
Panel Presentations
Due: RP Presentation, Research Paper
5
Breaking the Tongue p. 173-340
Breaking the Tongue p. 343-489
DuBois “The Souls of Black
Folk”; Ngũgĩ Decolonising
the Mind
Fanon Black Skin, White Masks
Song of the Exile p. 1-184
Song of the Exile p. 185-355
Have a good winter break!