Introductory description

An engagement of the key thinkers that have given shape to the tradition of postcolonial theory. To also explore the different themes that this theoretical body attends to: racialisation, Orientalism and culture, capitalism and global economics, feminism, secularism and religion, war and violence, nation and nationalism.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Introduction: the postcolonial perspective and situation the history of colonialism
Fanon on racialisation and subjectivity
Said on Orientalism and discourse
Postcolonial challenge to sociology
Postcolonial Marxism on capitalism
Postcolonial Feminism
Postcolonialism on nationalism and cosmopolitanism
Postcolonalism on war and violence
Postcolonialism on religion and secularism

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• be familiar with contemporary debates in postcolonial theory and politics.
• have developed advanced skills in reading and presenting primary texts in postcolonial theory.
• understand the importance of different theoretical frameworks in postcolonial accounts of substantive contemporary political issues.
• be able to critically examine major contemporary political, social, and cultural issues.

Indicative reading list

Appiah, Kwame Antony, 1991, ‘Is the post- in postmodernism the post- in postcolonial?’ Critical Inquiry 17 (Winter), pp336-57
Ali, N., Kalra, V., and Sayyid, S., eds. (2006) A Postcolonial People: South Asians in Britain, London: Hurst and Company (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Ashcroft, Bill, Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen, 1989, The Empire Writes Back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures, Routledge: London
Ashcroft, Bill, Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen, Key Concepts in post-colonial Studies, London: New York
Chambers, I and Curtis, L. (Eds), The post-colonial question. Common skies, divided horizons
Childs, P. and Williams, P., 1997, An introduction to post-colonial theory, London: Harvester Wheatsheaf
Loomba, A, 1998, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, Routledge, London
Simon, D, 1998, ‘Rethinking (post) modernism, postcolonialism and post-traditionalism: South-North Perspectives’ in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, (16), p219-245
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, 1990, The post-colonial critic: interviews, strategies, dialogues (edited by Sarah Harasym), New York: Routledge
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, 1999, A Critique of Postcolonial Reason, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press
Lewis, Reina and Mills, Sara (Eds.) 2003, Feminist Postcolonial Theory. A Reader, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press
Loomba, A. 2005,Colonialism/Post-colonialism, London: Routledge
Sian, K., 2014, Conversations in Postcolonial Thought, London: Palgrave
Prashad, V. 2007, The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, London: The New Press
Young, Robert, 2001, Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction, Oxford: Blackwell

Interdisciplinary

incorporates perspectives from across the humanities - with english/literary theory thinkers in particular

International

Postcolonial theory assumes an explicitly global perspective and awareness.

Subject specific skills

Engaging close readings of formative theoretical texts

Transferable skills

Close engagement of complex written material
Written skills involved in converting complex theoretical texts into accessible written presentation
Debate and verbal skills involved in workshop activity.