01:013:420
Senior Seminar in Literature and Society
Instructor:
Samah Selim
Office Hours:
M/W 2:00-3:00 pm in Lucy Stone Hall Room B329
Class:
Monday/Wednesday 3:20-4:40 Beck 213
Course Description: This course is an advanced seminar on critical theories and methods of analysis related
to the modern and contemporary literatures of the AMESALL regions. The course will include a selection of
seminal texts from a variety of disciplines (literary studies, translation studies, postcolonial and cultural
studies) as well as fiction in translation (three novels) from North Africa/ the Middle East. The course is
divided into four interconnected units, each unit focusing on a specific theme emerging from core issues in
the humanities and the region’s modern intellectual and cultural history. Section 1 introduces some of the key
issues and debates in contemporary Postcolonial Studies. Section 2 focuses on the groundbreaking theory of
Orientalism and its critique from Marxist perspectives. Section 3 explores the seminal framework of the
nation-state in the shaping of African and Asian identities and literatures. Section 4 turns to the complex
question of language and translation in the history of the colonial encounter.
Learning Objectives: The course material is designed to provide advanced students with an overview of the
major trends in postcolonial studies as well as a range of interpretive tools and critical approaches to textual
and cultural analysis as these are relevant to the modern and contemporary literatures of Africa and Asia.
Students will learn how to bring theory and text into productive dialogue and how to critically engage
secondary materials as independent thinkers and analysts. The course will develop students’ critical and
collaborative skills through intensive and regular in-class presentations and student-led discussions. Finally,
students will develop their research and writing skills by learning how to write a research prospectus and
annotated bibliography and by working closely with the instructor on the drafting of their final seminar
paper.
Requirements: This is a reading and discussion intensive course, which means that attendance is crucial.
Regular student presentations will be a major component of class time and student grades. There will be no
exams. Students will be responsible for presenting at least one critical text class during the semester and
leading the ensuing class discussion. The written requirement for the course is a final 20 page research paper
to be based on a prospectus (a 2-3 page outline of the paper topic) and an annotated bibliography drawn up
in consultation with the instructor.
Grading: Attendance and participation: 25%; Class presentations: 25%; Research Prospectus: 10%; Research
paper: 40%.
Attendance Policy: Students will be allowed one unexcused absence during the semester. Each further
unexcused absence will result in a 5 point reduction in the attendance and participation grade.
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Important Dates: In-office student/instructor meetings to discuss the final paper topic and drafting of the
prospectus will begin during the second week of April. The prospectus will be due on April 16 and the final
paper on May 14.
Syllabus dates are approximate. They may vary slightly depending on the scope and rhythm of discussion
over the course of the semester.
Required Texts (Please purchase the editions cited in the Amazon links below):
Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North http://www.amazon.com/Season-Migration-North-ReviewClassics/dp/1590173023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390319159&sr=81&keywords=season+of+migration+to+the+north
Nawal Al-Sadawi, Woman at Point Zero http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Point-Zero-NawalSaadawi/dp/1842778730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390319570&sr=81&keywords=woman+at+point+zero
Abdel Fattah Kilito, Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language http://www.amazon.com/Shalt-Language-MiddleLiterature-Translation/dp/081563191X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390319682&sr=81&keywords=thou+shalt+not+speak+my+language
Assia Djebar, Fantasia: An Algerian Calvacade http://www.amazon.com/Fantasia-Algerian-Cavalcade-AssiaDjebar/dp/0435086219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390319726&sr=81&keywords=fantasia+an+algerian+cavalcade
All other texts will be uploaded to Sakai in PDF format.
Course Schedule
Weeks 1–2: January 22–February 5
I. Introduction: Key Debates in the Study of Postcolonial Literatures
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Neil Lazarus, “Introducing Postcolonial Studies”; “The Global Dispensation Since 1945.” (2004).
Tamara Sivanandan, “Anticolonialism, National Liberation and Postcolonial Nation Formation”
(2004).
Deepika Bahri, “Feminism in/and Postcolonialism” (2004).

Anuradha Dingwaney Needham, “At the Receiving End: Reading "Third" World Texts in a "First"
World Context” (1990).

N+1, “World Lite: What is Global Literature?” (2013) http://nplusonemag.com/world-lite
Weeks 3–5: February 10–27
II. Representation:
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Edward Said, Orientalism. Chapter One, “The Scope of Orientalism” (1978).
Sadik Jalal al-Azm, “Orientalism and Orientalism in Reverse” (1981).
Sayid Qutb, “The America I Have Seen” (1951).
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1–Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North (Sudan, 1963).
***
Weeks 6–11; March 3–April 9
III. Nation:
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Elias Khoury, “Remembering Ghassan Kanafani or How a Nation Was Born of Story Telling”
(Lebanon, 2013); “The Memory of the City” (1995).
Frederic Jameson, “Third World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capital” (1986).
Aijaz Ahmad, “Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and ‘the National Allegory” (1992).
Barbara Harlowe, “From the Women’s Prison: Third World Women’s Narratives of Prison” (1986).
***

2–Nawal Al-Sa’dawi, Woman at Point Zero (Egypt, 1975).
***
Weeks 12–15; April 14–May 5
IV. Language and Translation:
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Amal Amirah, “Framing Nawal Al-Saadawi: Arab Feminism in a Transnational World” (2000).
Debjani Ganguly and Bhekizizwe Peterson, “The Language Question in India and Africa” (2012)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “On Writing in Gikuyu” (Kenya, 1981).
Ken Saro-Wiwa, “The Language of African Literature: A Writer’s Testimony” (Nigeria, 1992).
Abdel Fattah Kilito, Thou Shalt Not Speak my Language (Morocco, 2002).
***

3–Assya Djebbar, Fantasia: An Algerian Calvacade (Algeria 1985).
***
Wed. April 16, Prospectus due
Mon. May 14: Final Paper due
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