Instructor: Jannik Haruo Eikenaar email: jannik.eikenaar@ubc.ca
Availability: Wed. 10-12, Art 131 also by appointment
The one duty we owe to history is to re-write it. – Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist Pt. 1
What are the differences between history and fiction? Why are some things accepted as historical fact while others are dismissed as historical fancy? How does history, fictional or not, affect our understanding of the past, present, and future?
This course will examine the relationship between history and fiction in five contemporary novels of the British Commonwealth. It takes as starting points the assumptions that any history is necessarily insufficient, and that fiction can supplement history.
Several important parts of the course will be structured through Vista. Please ensure that you are familiar with Vista functions.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
• demonstrate a sustained, critical engagement with the course material
• engage in scholarly, peer-based dialogue around the course material
• extend and apply critical analytic processes beyond the course material
• refine skills of verbal and written expression
• expand research skills and the ability to integrate research in critical analysis
Assessments (details on Vista)
• 10% Scholarly dialogue: response papers, peer feedback, instructor evaluation
• 10% Participation: in-class activities, reading quizzes
• 15% Reflection essay: formal response to peer and instructor feedback (2-4 pages)
3 components: reflection statement, evaluation of feedback, research statement
• 20% Course supplement: suggest a supplement to the syllabus (2-4 pages)
3 components: identify gap in syllabus, summarize supplement, rationalize suggestion with annotated resource materials
• 10% Exit interview: semi-structured interview with instructor
15 min interview re: course objectives and outcomes

• 35% Research paper: use two novels from the course as basis for research
2 components: reflection statement (1-2 page preface), essay (6-8 pages)
Required readings (available at the bookstore and on reserve in the library)
Boyden, Joseph. Three Day Road .
Sidhwa, Bapsi. Cracking India.
Swift, Graham. Waterland .
Rushdie, Salman. The Enchantress of Florence .
Kogawa, Joy. Obasan .
Supplemental readings will be provided in class or on Vista, or placed on reserve in the library.
Course Schedule
Weeks 1, 2, 3: Three Day Road
Reading quiz (Jan. 10)
First response paper (post on Vista by Jan. 17)
Weeks 4, 5: Cracking India
Peer feedback (post on Vista by Jan. 24)
Reading quiz (Jan. 26)
Weeks 6, 7: Waterland
Reading quiz (Feb. 9)
Reflection essay due (upload to Vista by Feb. 16)
Week 8: Reading Break
Weeks 9, 10: The Enchantress of Florence
Reading quiz (Mar. 1)
Second response paper (Mar. 6)
Peer feedback (post on Vista by Mar. 15)
Weeks 11, 12: Obasan
Reading quiz (Mar. 20)
Course supplement (upload to Vista by Mar. 22)
Weeks 13, 14: Workshops and exit interviews
Exit interviews (Mar. 26 – Apr.5)
Research essay (upload to Vista by Apr. 5)

Bibliography
Bentley, Nick. Contemporary British Fiction . Edinburgh U P: Edinburgh (2008).
Bohr, Roland. Review of Three Day Road . Manitoba History 59 (2008): 52.
Boyden, Joseph. Three Day Road . Toronto: Viking Canada (2005).
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. “Marx after Marxism: History, Subalternity, and Difference.” Positions
2.2. (Fall 1994): 446-463.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. “Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History: Who Speaks for ‘Indian’
Pasts?” Representations 37 (1992): 1-26.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. “Radical Histories and Question of Enlightenment Rationalism: Some
Recent Critiques of ‘Subaltern Studies’.” Economic and Political Weekly 30.14 (1995):
751-759.
Chatterjee, Partha. “Their Own Words? An Essay for Edward Said.” in Michael Sprinker, Ed.
Edward Said: A Critical Reader Blackwell: Oxford (1992).
Coates, Donna. “On the Warpath.” Review of Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road . Canadian
Literature 195 (Winter 2007): 122-123.
Conrad, JoAnn. Review of The Enchantress of Florence . Marvels and Tales 23.2 (2009): 433-
436.
D’haen, Theo. “‘History’, (Counter-)Postmodernism, and Postcolonialism.” European Journal of
English Studies . 1.2 (1997): 205-216. Electronic version. Retrieved Mar. 25 2011.
Gordon, Neta. “Time Structures and the Healing Aesthetic of Joseph Boyden’s Three Day
Road .” Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne. 33.1 (2008):
118-134. Electronic version. Retrieved Mar. 28 2011. http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/11212/11953
JanMohamed, Abdul. “Humanism and Minority Literature: Toward a Definition of Counter-
Hegemonic Discourse.” Boundary 2 (1984): 281-299.
---.“The Economy of Manichean Allegory: The Function of Racial Difference in Colonialist
Literature.” Critical Inquiry 12.1 (Autumn 1985): 59-87.
Kogawa, Joy. Obasan . Markham, ON: Penguin (1983).
Mbembe, Achille. On the Postcolony . U of California P: Berkeley (2001).
Moore, Susan Kathleen. “Encountering the More-Than-Human: Narration, Abjection and Pardon in Three Day Road .” The Journal of Ecocriticism 2.1 (January 2010): 67-80.
Parry, Benita. Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique . Routledge: New York (2004).
Prakash, Gyan. After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements . Princeton
U P: Princeton (1995).
Rushdie, Salman. The Enchantress of Florence . Random House: Toronto (2009).
Sidhwa, Bapsi. Cracking India . Minneapolis: Milkweed (1991).
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies . Zed Books: London (1999).
Swift, Graham. Waterland . Heinemann: London (1983).
Tosh, John. The Pursuit of History . Pearson Longman: Toronto (2006).
White, Hayden. “The Burden of History.” History and Theory 5.2 (1966): 111-134.
Young, Robert J. C. White Mythologies: Writing History and the West . Routledge: New York
(2004).

Academic Integrity
The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. As members of this enterprise, all students are expected to know, understand, and follow the codes of conduct regarding academic integrity. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or mislead others about what is your work. Violations of academic integrity (i.e., misconduct) lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious consequences arise and harsh sanctions are imposed.
For example, incidences of plagiarism or cheating may result in a mark of zero on the assignment or exam and more serious consequences may apply if the matter is referred to the
President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. Careful records are kept in order to monitor and prevent recurrences.
A more detailed description of academic integrity, including the University’s policies and procedures, may be found in the Academic Calendar at http://okanagan.students.ubc.ca/calendar/index.cfm?tree=3,54,111,0 .
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If you require assistance related to an issue of equity, discrimination or harassment, please contact the Equity Office, your administrative head of unit, and/or your unit’s equity representative.
Critical Studies Equity Representative: David Jefferess: david.jefferess@ubc.ca
, 807-9359
UBC Okanagan Equity Advisor: ph. 250-807-9291; email equity.ubco@ubc.ca
Web: www.ubc.ca/okanagan/equity
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