McMaster University
Department of English and Cultural Studies
English/ Cultural Studies and Critical Theory/ 3R06/Peace Studies 3E06
Postcolonial Cultures: Theory and Practice
(Fall/Winter 2010-11)
Instructor: Dr. Chandrima Chakraborty
Class Time: Mondays 11.30-1.20 and Wednesdays 11.30-12.30pm
Office: Chester New Hall 309
Phone: 905-525-9140 Ext. 23777
Email: chandri@mcmaster.ca
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12.30–1.30 pm, and by appointment
Location: KTH/B 132
Course Description
A study of contemporary texts including literature, film and other forms of popular culture that engage the
implications of living in a postcolonial world. We will begin by raising some of the theoretical questions that
have plagued postcolonial scholarship since its inception. We will then explore a variety of culturally specific
texts that complicate our understanding of these broad questions. Each text will be carefully situated in its
historical, political, ideological, and socio-economic contexts. Over the course of the year students will be
offered a range of critical tools, terms and theoretical frameworks with which to negotiate the complex
intersections of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, culture and power under the circumstances peculiar to
colonialism, post/neo-colonialism, imperialism and globalization.
Important Note 1: In the event of class cancellations, students will be notified on the English Department
Website. It is your responsibility to check the sites regularly for any such announcements.
Link: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~english/ (Department)
Important Note 2: The instructor and university reserve the right to modify elements of the course during the
term. The university may change the dates and deadlines for any or all courses in extreme circumstances. If
either type of modification becomes necessary, reasonable notice and communication with the students will be
given with explanation and the opportunity to comment on changes. It is the responsibility of the student to
check their McMaster email and course websites weekly during the term and to note any changes.
*
Students will be requested to complete a online course evaluation at the end of the course.
Student Responsibilities and Grade Structure
In-class Participation
First Essay (1500 words), due Nov 10, 2010
Midterm Exam
Final Essay (2500 words, due Mar 14, 2010)
Final Exam
Required Texts
Custom Courseware, available in Titles Bookstore
Ania Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart
Sembene Ousmane, Gods Bits of Wood
Dionne Brand, What we all Long For
Alex la Guma, A Walk in the Night
Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age
Kushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan
Joy Kogawa, Obasan
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
In-class Participation
Students are required to come to class having read assigned readings and prepared to contribute to the
discussion. You are expected to attend every class and participate regularly to receive a good grade in this
section of the course; attendance alone will not be enough.
Each student will also be responsible for presenting an analysis of an excerpt from a course reading. The time
limit is 8-10-minutes. The readings will be randomly assigned on the first class. You will be marked for the
quality of your delivery, time management, and the quality of the discussion that your analysis initiates. This
assignment tests your skill in articulating your ideas orally and responding to queries on the spot, within the
time constraints. You have 10 minutes to make your point so be clear about the point you wish to make, and
provide support for it.
Essays
All essays will be marked on grammar, clarity of writing, and organization, as well as content and analysis.
Essays are due in hard copy only. Late assignments will be penalized by 5% per day, including weekends and
will not receive any comments, only a grade. To improve essay skills, you are encouraged to visit the Centre
for Student Development (MUSC B107; x24711) and to seek advise from the Writing Tutors in the Department
of English and Cultural Studies (CNH 321)
.
First Essay: Topics and instructions for the first essay will be handed out in class.
Final Essay: I invite you to design your essay topic, which will be subject to my approval in advance.
Essays that are submitted without seeking prior approval will receive 2% penalty. The final essay provides you
with the space to investigate more fully a theme or a question that interests you from the course readings and
to develop a major argument. You should be able to draw on the course readings and two external scholarly
sources (academic journals or book chapters) to produce a coherent essay that develops and proves a thesis of
your own. It should follow MLA format (refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers available
in the library) or another approved style, consistently observed, and include a Works Cited page. You may wish
to attempt a large overview of an issue, to test a theoretical approach in relation to a creative text, to place the
work of several authors in dialogue with each other, or to investigate a single aspect of a single
theoretical/fictional work. Make sure that you choose a topic that is appropriate to the length of this assignment.
Academic Integrity
Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent means and can result in
serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript
(notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic
dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university. It is your responsibility to understand what
constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various kinds of academic dishonesty please refer to
the Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3,
located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm.
Email Guidelines
It is the policy of the Department of English and Cultural Studies that all email communication
between students and instructors (including TAs) must originate from their official McMaster University email
accounts. This policy protects the confidentiality and sensitivity of information and confirms the identities of
both the student and instructor. Instructors will delete messages that do not originate from McMaster email
accounts.
SCHEDULE OF READINGS
TERM I
Week 1: Sept 13-15: Defining the Postcolonial
Loomba, Introduction, pp. 1-22 (Colonialism/Postcolonialism)
Week 2: Sept 20-22: Empire and Writing
Loomba, Colonialism and Literature, pp. 62-82
Boehmer, “Imperialism and Textuality”
Week 3: Sept 27-29: Orientalism
Said “On Orientalism” (excerpts)
Loomba, Colonial Discourse, pp. 42-53
Week 4: Oct 4-6: Colonial Discourse
Loomba, Gender, Sexuality and Colonial Discourse, pp. 128-45
Screening: Hollywood Harems
Week 5: Oct 11-13: The Empire Writes Back
Achebe, “Colonialist Criticism”
Week 6: Oct 18-20: Language
Achebe, “The Writer and his Community”
wa Thiongo, “The Language of African Literature”
Week 7: Oct 25-27: Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Week 8: Nov 1-3: Education
Kincaid, “Columbus in Chains”
Tiffin, “Plato’s Cave”
Senior, “Colonial Girls School”
Week 9: Nov 8-10: The Empire Plays Back
Varney, “Howzatt! Cricket from Empire to Globalization”
Screening: Lagaan dir. Ashutosh Gowarikar
First
Essay Due Nov 10, 2010
Week 10: Nov 15-17: Chakraborty, “History and the Other”
Bennett, “Independence”
Week 11: Nov 22-24: From Colony to Nation
Fanon, “Concerning Violence”
Loomba, Challenging Colonialism: Nationalisms and Pan-Nationalisms, pp. 154-76.
Week 12: Nov 29-Dec 1: Ousmane, Gods Bits of Wood
Week 13: Dec 6: Midterm survey
TERM II
Week 14: .Jan 3- 5: Women and the Nation
Loomba, Feminism, Nationalism and Postcolonialism, pp. 180-92
Shinebourne. “The Marriage Match”
Week 15: Jan 10-12: Anam, Golden Age
Week 16: Jan 17-19: Race and Class
Loomba, Colonialism and Knowledge, pp. 53-62, 91-106
Screening: Sugar Cane Alley [Rue cases nègres], dir. Euzhan Palcy
Week 17: Jan 24-26: Religion and Nation
Pandey, “The Three Partitions of 1947”
Screening” The Day when India Burned
Week 18: Jan 31- Feb 2: Kushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan
Week 19: Feb 7-9: Everyday Violence
hooks, “Marginality as a site of resistance”
la Guma, A Walk in the Night
Week 20: Feb 14-17: Resistance
Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”
Mootoo, “Out on Main Street”
Feb 21-23: Reading week
Week 21: Feb 28-Mar 2: Postcolonial Cities
Loomba, Hybridity, pp. 145-53
Bennett, “Colonization in Reverse”
Week 22: Mar 7-9: Case Study: Toronto
Brand, What we all Long for
Week 23: Mar 14-16: Case Study: London
Brah, “Thinking through the Concept of Diaspora”
Selvon, Lonely Londoners (excerpts)
ESSAY APPROVAL DEADLINE
FINAL ESSAY DUE MARCH 14, 2010
Week 24: Mar 21-23: Minorities and Majorities
Kogawa, Obasan
Goellnicht, “Minority History as Metafiction: Joy Kogawa’s Obasan”
Week 25: Mar 28-30: Minorities and Minorities
Screening Mississipi Masala, dir. Mira Nair
Mehta, “Emigrants twice displaced”
Week 26: April 4: Exam Review