This course introduces students to the work of authors from formerly colonized nations in the Caribbean, Africa, and South Asia. Focusing primarily, though not exclusively, on prose fiction, we will examine how postcolonial writers engage with issues of national identity and decolonization; negotiate the competing imperatives of English and vernacular literary traditions; and formulate both personal and collective strategies of self-representation. Possible texts include Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River, Wole Soyinka, Death and the King’s Horseman, Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place, Titsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, and Chris Abani, Graceland.
Same as ETHN 2761