195:307:01 Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures and Theories
Cross-listed with 013:401:03 Advanced Topics in AMESALL
Fall 2011 M5W5 Scott 101, CAC
Professor Janet A. Walker
jwalk@rci.rutgers.edu
Office: Scott 238 Office hours: M5W5 or by arrangement
Office phone number: (732)932-7605
My mailbox is in the office of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures,
located in Scott 330. You may leave papers there during normal business hours.
Comparative Literature website address: http://complit.rutgers.edu/
This course fulfills the SAS Global Awareness and Humanities requirements.
It also fulfills several requirements of the Core Curriculum. It fulfills the goals O and
P of the Arts and Humanities requirement, which specifies that, upon completion of
this section of the Core Curriculum, students will be able to O. Examine critically
philosophical and other theoretical issues concerning the nature of reality, human
experience, knowledge, value, and/or cultural production; and P. Analyze arts
and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to specific histories, values,
languages, cultures and technologies. It also fulfills the goals A, B, and D of the SAS
Core Curriculum’s 21st-Century Challenges requirement. The latter specifies that,
upon completion of this section of the SAS Core Curriculum, students will be able to
A. Analyze the degree to which forms of human difference shape a person’s
experiences of and perspectives on the world; B. Analyze a contemporary global
issue from a multidisciplinary perspective; and D. Analyze issues of social justice
across local and global contexts.
The issue of human difference, which is a focus of A in the SAS Core Curriculum’s
21st–Century Challenges requirement, is crucial to this course. Colonial ideology
posited the colonized as inherently different from the colonizer, this difference
interpreted hierarchically as inferiority, and the colonized actively resisted this selfdefinition, renegotiating their identity both under colonialism and in the postcolonial
era. The course fulfills the B requirement in that it analyzes the contemporary
global issue of the legacy of colonialism in several nations using literary, filmic, and
theoretical texts. Issues of social justice, which are a focus of D, are also central to
the course. While the colonized are denied human rights and social justice by the
colonizer under colonialism, in the postcolonial era certain groups are frequently
marginalized and denied social justice by formerly colonized nations: for example,
tribal people and Dalits (Untouchables) in India. The literary texts and theories read
in the course bring these issues to the fore.
Students will be assessed, in the final paper, following guidelines set out by the
CRC and the SAS Advisory Committee on Assessment.
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Rationale for the course
Postcolonialism may be defined, following Robert Young, as the perspective
provided by theories that “analyze the material and epistemological conditions of
postcoloniality and seek to combat the continuing, often covert operation of an
imperialist system of economic, political and cultural domination.” In this course we
will discuss, through the lens of postcolonial theories, major literary and filmic texts
that, as John McLeod puts it, have been “produced by people from countries with a
history of colonialism, primarily those concerned with the workings and legacy of
colonialism, and resistance to it, in either the past or the present.”
Learning Goals of the Instructor
The course aims to develop the student’s capacity to think critically about
postcolonial literatures in a comparative framework. Important issues that we will
consider are the construction of nation and national culture, the role of language, and
concepts of hybridity, gender, and the subaltern in the formation of colonial and
postcolonial identities.
By the end of the course students should have arrived at both a definition of
postcolonialism and a sense of how it is represented and interrogated in texts from
several areas of the formerly colonized world. Students should further have arrived at
an understanding of how postcolonialism interacts with identity, class, gender, and
race in the colonized and formerly colonized world. In terms of reading, students
should have gained the tools to do a close reading of literary texts and apply theories
to them. In terms of writing, students should have acquired the capacity to express
their understanding of specific texts as postcolonial texts in three short papers and
one longer paper.
Required readings to be purchased: the fictional texts Pramoedya Ananta Toer,
House of Glass (Penguin ISBN #0-14-02.5679-2); Mahasweta Devi, “Draupadi;”
Ousmane Sembene—Xala (Lawrence Hill Books ISBN #1-55652-070-0); Arundhati
Roy, The God of Small Things (Harper ISBN #0-06-097749-3); and the film Xala,
directed by Ousmane Sembene. Theoretical texts include parts of Ania Loomba,
Colonialism/Postcolonialism, 2nd edition 2005, Routledge (ISBN #0-415-35064-6)
and relevant essays placed on Alexander Online Reserve. All texts will be read or
viewed in translation. All texts except “Draupadi” may be purchased at the Rutgers
University Bookstore (Ferren Mall). If you wish to order books online, please make
sure that you have them in time for the days on which we are discussing them, and
please buy the editions noted above.
When books to be purchased are to be read, their titles are marked with an asterisk in
the syllabus. If a required text to be read is not marked with an asterisk, it is to be
found on Alexander Online Reserve. Please bring to class all required books, and
copies of the literary and theoretical readings on Alexander Online Reserve that
will be discussed on a particular day.
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Requirements: attendance (10%), participation and oral presentation (15%), three
short (3-4-page) take-home exams (15% each) and a 6-7-page final paper (30%).
SYLLABUS
*Please note: in the syllabus, only the author, the title, and the page numbers of
a reading are given; complete references to the texts, which students will need in
preparing a Works Cited section for each paper, are to be found under the
author’s name in the Bibliography after remarks on plagiarism.
Wed. Sept. 7 Introduction to course content and format
Thurs. Sept. 8 (Monday class) What is postcolonialism? What is colonialism and
what is the “post” in the term postcolonialism?
Readings:
1) Ania Loomba, “Chapter One: Situating Colonial and Postcolonial Studies.” In
*Colonialism/Postcolonialism. 7-24 (through top paragraph).
2) Barbara Harlow and Mia Carter, ed. and introd., “The British East India
Company.” In Imperialism and Colonialism, 4-7.
****Indonesia Unit****
Mon. Sept. 12 Introduction to colonialism and postcolonialism in Indonesia
Assignment: Look up Indonesia on Wikipedia and be ready to make one point in
class about the nation of Indonesia or colonialism (dates, policies, etc.) in the
Netherlands East Indies.
Wed. Sept. 14 Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s *House of Glass
Readings:
1) Pramoedya Ananta Toer, *House of Glass (final volume of “Buru Quartet,”
1980-88). Translator’s Note, Introduction (Max Lane), Chs. 1-3 (pp. 1-75).
2) Aimé Césaire, “Discourse on Colonialism.” Pp. 172-180.
Mon. Sept. 19 Orientalism in *House of Glass
Readings:
1) *House of Glass, Chs. 4-6 (pp. 76-158).
2) Edward W. Said, Orientalism. Pp.1-13, 201-211.
Wed. Sept. 21 Nationalism in *House of Glass
Readings:
1) *House of Glass, Chs. 7-9 (159-247).
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2) Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, Pp. 1-7, 30-36.
Mon. Sept. 26 Colonial education in *House of Glass
Readings:
1) *House of Glass, Chs. 10-12 (248-315).
2) Ania Loomba, *Colonialism/Postcolonialism, 74-80 (from “This brings us to
yet…” to end of first paragraph on p. 80).
3) Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Minute on Indian Education.” Pp. 428-430.
Wed. Sept. 28 Minke the nationalist, Pangemanann the colonialist
Reading: *House of Glass, Chs. 13-14 (pp. 316-359).
Mon. Oct. 3 Colonial education and traditional Javanese education
Readings:
1) Sanjay Seth, “Introduction.” Subject Lessons. Pp.1-5, 197-98; 17-18, 26-31, 4245.
2) Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind (first volume of “The Buru
Quartet”). Pp. 189-195, 208-217, 296-97, 307-313.
****India unit****
Wed. Oct. 5 Introduction to colonialism and postcolonialism in India
Assignment: Look up India on Wikipedia and be ready to make one point in class
about the nation of India and/or the British colonization of India.
**First short exam due
Mon. Oct. 10 Literature of the subaltern—tribal people: Mahasweta Devi,
“Draupadi” (1978)
Readings:
1) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Draupadi: Translator’s Foreword.” Pp. 1-18.
2) Mahasweta Devi, “Draupadi.” Pp. 19-38.
3) “The Author in Conversation.” Pp. ix-xxi.
Wed. Oct. 12 Theories of the subaltern
Readings:
1) Partha Chatterjee, “The Nation and Its Peasants.” Pp. 8-23.
2) Ranajit Guha, “On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India.” Pp.
1-7.
3) Abdul JanMohamed. “Between Speaking and Dying: Some Imperatives in the
Emergence of the Subaltern in the Context of U.S. Slavery.” Pp. 139-155.
4) Ania Loomba, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” In *Colonialism/Postcolonialism.
Pp. 192-204.
5) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Pp. 24-28.
Mon. Oct. 17 Literature and Theories of the Subaltern: concluding discussion
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Wed. Oct. 19 Literature of the Subaltern—Dalits and Women: Arundhati Roy,
*The God of Small Things (1997).
Today’s topic: India’s Dalits (Untouchables). Reading: Broken People. Pp. 1-10,
179-199.
Mon. Oct. 24 Reading: *The God of Small Things. Chs. 1-2.
Wed. Oct. 26 The Issue of Women in Postcolonial India
Readings:
1) *The God of Small Things. Chs. 3-6.
2) Chandra Talpade Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and
Colonial Discourses.” Pp. 259-263.
3) Sara Suleri, “Woman Skin Deep: Feminism and the Postcolonial Condition.” Pp.
273-280.
Mon. Oct. 31 The Issue of Language in Postcolonial India
Readings:
1) *The God of Small Things. Chs. 7-10.
2) Frantz Fanon, “The Negro and Language.” Pp. 17-40.
Wed. Nov. 2 India and the Idea of Nation
Readings:
1) The God of Small Things. Chs. 11-14.
2) Amilcar Cabral, “National Liberation and Culture.” Pp. 53-65.
3) Ania
Loomba,
“Nationalism
and
Pan-Nationalisms.”
*Colonialism/Postcolonialism. Pp. 154-179.
4) Partha Chatterjee, “Nationalism As a Problem.” Pp. 164-166.
In
Mon. Nov. 7 India: Hybridity and the Subaltern
Readings:
1) The God of Small Things. Chs. 15-21.
2) *Ania Loomba, “Hybridity.” In *Colonialism/Postcolonialism. Pp. 145-153.
****Sénégal unit****
Wed. Nov. 9 Ousmane Sembene’s *Xala (1973) and the Notion of Mimicry
Readings:
1) Xala. Pp. 1-37.
2) Homi Bhabha, “Of Mimicry and Man.” Pp. 85-92.
**Second short exam due
Mon. Nov. 14 Ousmane Sembene, *Xala and the Issue of Language
Readings:
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1) Xala. Pp. 37-76.
2) Chinua Achebe, “The African Writer and the English Language.” Pp. 428-434.
3) Ngugi wa Thiong’o,” The Language of African Literature.” Pp. 435-455.
Wed. Nov. 16 Gender in Xala
Readings:
1) *Xala. Pp. 76-103
2) Kirsten Holst Petersen, “First Things First: Problems of a Feminist Approach to
African Literature.” Pp. 251-254.
3) *Ania Loomba, “Feminism, Nationalism, and Postcolonialism.” In
*Colonialism/Postcolonialism. Pp.180-192.
Mon. Nov. 21 (Wednesday classes) Ousmane Sembene: Xala (film—1974)
Thanksgiving Break (Wed. Nov. 23-Sun. 27)
Mon. Nov. 28 (Wednesday classes) Ousmane Sembene: Xala (film) followed by a
discussion of the differing possibilities offered by a novel versus a film in the context
of postcolonialism.
****Guatemala unit****
Wed. Nov. 30 Introduction to Guatemala
***Third short exam due
Mon. Dec. 5 *I, Rigoberta Menchú (1983)
Readings:
1) *I, Rigoberta Menchú. Translator’s Note, Introduction, Chs. 1-3, 7-8, 11, 14.
2) John Beverley, “The Margin at the Center: On Testimonio (Testimonial
Narrative.” Pp. 91-114.
Wed. Dec. 7 *I, Rigoberta Menchú
Readings:
1) *I, Rigoberta Menchú. Chs. 15, 18-19, 22-23, 25, 29, 31, 33-34.
2) John Beverley, “Our Rigoberta? I, Rigoberta Menchú, Cultural Authority, and
the Problem of Subaltern Agency.” Pp. 427-447.
Mon. Dec. 12 Wrapping it up: postcolonialism now
Reading: Dawn Duncan, “A Flexible Foundation: Constructing a Postcolonial
Dialogue.” Pp. 320-333.
Wed. Dec. 21: 12 Noon
***Final 6-7-page paper due
Requirements
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1) Attendance. Students are expected to attend all classes and attendance will be
taken at each class meeting. Each student is allowed two unexcused absences for the
semester; exceeding that number will result in a lowering of the attendance grade by
one point for each absence. Religiously observant students should indicate that they
wish to be excused on religious holidays, and these absences will be considered
excused absences, following university regulations. Athletes needing to attend
practice or to take part in sport events at certain times should officially inform me of
their absences; absences for these reasons will also be considered excused absences.
Students should also let me know if they have transportation emergencies or
scheduled job interviews, as these are also excused absences.
Student Absence Reporting for health and other emergency absences. As of
the Fall 2011 semester, a new system of student absence reporting will be in
effect. Under this system, students are responsible for reporting their health
and other emergency absences on the Rutgers Self-Reporting Absence
Website: https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/. This central system alerts the Office
of Undergraduate Education to students who would benefit from assistance in
addressing health and family issues. If you expect to miss one or two classes
for these reasons, please use the University Self-Reporting Absence Website,
stating the date and reason for your absence. An email message is then
automatically sent to me.
Long-term Absences. In cases where students must miss classes for periods
longer than one week, they are directed to see a Dean of Students for
assistance to help verify these circumstances.
3) Participation, including oral presentation. Students are expected to be ready to
discuss the readings on the day for which they are assigned. Occasional quizzes
will be given. In addition, each student will present an oral report on a topic from
a list to be given out shortly after the semester begins. Presentations should last
no more than ten minutes and will be graded on 1) the accuracy and originality of
the close reading; 2) the organization of the presentation; 3) the quality of the
delivery of the presentation (i.e., maintaining good eye contact with the audience,
talking rather than reading off of a paper, etc.). If a student misses the day
scheduled for their oral presentation for a legitimate reason (see under “excused
absences”), they may make up the oral presentation at a later time. If a student
misses the day scheduled for their oral presentation due to an unexcused absence,
the student will not be allowed to make up the presentation.
4) Three short (3-4-page) take-home exams. These will be due on Oct. 5, Nov. 9,
and Nov. 30. I will give out questions for these one or two class days before the
exam is due. Exams may be either sent to me by email attachment or handed in
in class on the due date. Late exams may be made up within two weeks of the
due date.
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5) One 6-7-page paper that involves theory and two texts read in the course. This
will be due at the latest on the final exam date scheduled for the course, which is
Wednesday Dec. 21. I will be handing out a list of suggested topics but I
encourage students to propose their own topic for this paper. A paragraph
proposing the topic must be handed in by Dec. 5.
***Note: All written work for the course should be typed in 12-point Times New
Roman or equivalent, with margins of one inch on all sides. Give all papers a title,
double-space them, number the pages, and staple the pages together. Proofread all
papers to catch grammatical and spelling errors, and typos. Do not use sources
outside of class readings. I will hand out a sheet of instructions, before the first takehome exam is due, on how to write a literature paper, another on how to do a close
reading of a text, and another on how to quote from or refer to a text read in the
course. Always include a Works Cited section at the end of your papers, though not
necessarily on a separate sheet of paper. Follow MLA style and format
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/).
Please note that an A-range paper explains and interprets the material in an original
manner, with an original and cogently articulated thesis. A B-range paper explains
and interprets the material adequately, but not exceptionally. Both A-range and Brange papers refer specifically to the text(s), by discussing specific incidents and by
quoting from the text(s). A C-range paper clearly presents and summarizes ideas in
the text(s) but has a weak argument and does not quote from the text(s). A D-range
paper presents an unclear argument or has no argument and does not deal specifically
with the text(s).
Course Etiquette
Please note that no cell phones of any kind will be permitted during class time. You
may use a laptop to take notes but you must disable its wireless connection.
Grading Policy
1) Attendance 10%
2) Participation and oral presentation
15%
3) Three short (3-4-page) take-home exams (15% each=45%)
4) One 6-7-page paper 30%
Total
------------------------------
100%
Grading Rubric
A 90-100
B+ 87-89
B 80-86
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C+ 77-79
C 70-76
D 60-69
F 59 and below
Policy on Plagiarism
Plagiarism can include using information from published materials (including the
internet) without acknowledging the source, teaming up with a classmate to write
papers, and having someone else write some or all of the paper for you. In this
course I am interested in your ideas, in your work. If I should discover evidence
of plagiarism, I will pursue it following the interim university regulations on
academic integrity, which can be found at this website:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity/shtml.
“Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any
academic work. To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by
quotation marks, or by appropriate indentation, and must be cited properly according
to the accepted format for the particular discipline. Acknowledgment is also required
when material from any source is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in
one’s own words. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state: to
paraphrase Plato’s comment….and conclude with a footnote or appropriate citation
to identify the exact reference….” (quoted from Interim Academic Integrity policy)
Here are a couple of plagiarism tutorials that students might consult:
“Consult Don’t Plagiarize: Document Your Research!” For tips about how to take
notes so that you don’t plagiarize by accident.
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruc/instruct_document.shtml
A 20-minute Interactive Tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity.
http://sccweb.scc-net.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/Intro.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bibliography
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread
of Nationalism. Revised Edition. London and New York: Verso, 1991. 1-7, 30-36.
Beverley, John. “The Margin at the Center: On Testimonio (Testimonial Narrative).”
In De/Colonizing the Subject: The Politics of Gender in Women’s Autobiography.
Eds. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1992. 91-114.
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Beverley, John. “Our Rigoberta? I, Rigoberta Menchú, Cultural Authority, and the
Problem of Subaltern Agency.” In Postcolonialisms:An Anthology of Cultural
Theory and Criticism. Eds. Gaurav Desai and Supriya Nair. New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2005. 427-447.
Bhabha, Homi. “Of Mimicry and Man.” In Homi K. Bhabha. The Location of
Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1994. 85-92.
Burgos-Debray, Elisabeth, ed. and introd. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman
in Guatemala. Trans. Ann Wright. 2nd English edition. London and New York:
Verso, 2009.
Cabral, Amilcar. “National Liberation and Culture.” In Colonial Discourse and PostColonial Theory. Eds. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1994. 53-65.
Césaire, Aimé. “From Discourse on Colonialism.” In Colonial Discourse and PostColonial Theory: A Reader. Ed. and introd. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman.
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Chatterjee, Partha. “The Nation and Its Peasants.” In Mapping Subaltern Studies and
the Postcolonial. Ed. and introd. Vinayak Chaturvedi. London and New York: New
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Chatterjee, Partha. “Nationalism As a Problem.” In The Post-Colonial Studies
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Relocating Postcolonialism. Eds. David Theo Goldberg and Ato Quayson. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishers, 2002. 320-333.
Fanon, Frantz. “The Negro and Language.” In Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White
Masks (Peau noire, masques blancs, 1952] Trans. Charles Lam Markmann. New
York: Grove Press, 1967. 17-40.
Guha, Ranajit. “On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India.” In
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Harlow, Barbara and Mia Carter, ed. and introd. Imperialism and Colonialism: A
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Human Rights Watch. Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s
“Untouchables.” New York, Washington, London, Brussels: Human Rights Watch,
1999. 1-10, 179-199.
JanMohamed, Abdul. “Between Speaking and Dying: Some Imperatives in the
Emergence of the Subaltern in the Context of U.S. Slavery.” In Can the Subaltern
Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea. Ed. Rosalind C. Morris. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2010. 139-155.
Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. 2nd edition. London and New York:
Routledge, 2005.
Macaulay, Thomas Babington. “Minute on Indian Education.” In The Post-Colonial
Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. London and
New York: Routledge, 1995. 428-430.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and
Colonial Discourses.” In The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft,
Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 259263.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o. “The Language of African Literature.” In Colonial Discourse
and Post-Colonial Theory. Eds. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1994. 435-455.
Petersen, Kirsten Holst. “First Things First: Problems of a Feminist Approach to
African Literature.” In The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth
Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 251-254.
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: HarperCollins Publishers,
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Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. 1-13, 201-211.
Sembene, Ousmane. Xala. Trans. Clive Wake. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1976.
Seth, Sanjay. Subject Lessons: The Western Education of Colonial India. Durham,
N.C.: Duke University Press, 2007.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “The Author in Conversation.” In Imaginary Maps:
Three Stories by Mahasweta Devi. Trans. and introd. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
New York and London: Routledge, 1995. ix-xxi.
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Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” [radically abridged
version] In The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths,
and Helen Tiffin. London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 24-28.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Draupadi: Translator’s Foreword.” In Mahasweta
Devi, Breast Stories. Trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Calcutta: Seagull Books,
1997. 1-18.
Suleri, Sara. “Woman Skin Deep: Feminism and the Postcolonial Condition.” In The
Post-Colonial Studies Reader. Eds. Bill Ashcrift, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin.
London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 273-280.
Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. House of Glass. Trans. Max Lane. New York: Penguin,
1992.
Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. This Earth of Mankind. Trans. Max Lane. New York:
Penguin, 1990.
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