This course on Postcolonial literature will explore colonialism and anti-colonial resistance through the cultural legacies and literary imprints that they leave. It will also be an introduction to the specialized field of postcolonial studies which started emerging during the 1980s and ever since then has come to occupy a significant position within the various humanities departments across the world. It is hoped that this course will enable students to competently navigate the complex maze of theoretical terms and concepts that characterize postcolonial studies and savor the wonderful variety and richness of the literature that is today classified under the rubric of postcolonialism.
Overview
Syllabus
Postcolonial Literature - Introduction - Dr Sayan Chattopadhyay, IIT Kanpur.
Lecture 01 - Introduction: What is Postcolonialism?.
Lecture 02 - Commonwealth Literature.
Lecture 03 - Colonial Discourse Analysis: Michel Foucault.
Lecture 04 - Colonial Discourse Analysis: Edward Said.
Lecture 05 -Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Lecture 06 -Colonialism: The African Perspective.
Lecture 07 - Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (I).
Lecture 08 -Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (II).
Lecture 09 -Decolonisation and the Discourse of Nationalism.
Lecture 10 -Sonnets of Henry Derozio.
Lecture 11 -Raja Rao's Kanthapura (I).
Lecture 12 -Raja Rao's Kanthapura (II).
Lecture 13 -Critics of Nationalism : Rabindranath Tagore and Frantz Fanon.
Lecture 14 -Homi Bhabha and the concept of Cultural Hybridity.
Lecture 15 -Caribbean Poetry: Derek Walcott.
Lecture 16 -Diasporic Literature: Selections from Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies.
Lecture 17 -Gayatri C. Spivak: Answering the question Can the Subaltern Speak?.
Lecture 18 - Mahasweta Devi's Pterodactyl (I).
Lecture 19 -Mahasweta Devi's Pterodactyl (II).
Lecture 20 - Conclusion: Postcolonial Futures.
Taught by
Postcolonial Literature
