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Reading Post-Colonial Texts (Q3072)

15 credits, Level 5

Autumn teaching

This module will introduce you to postcolonial studies. We will attend to the legacies of colonialism, and focus upon the ways colonial forces have affected writing and other forms of culture (for example film).

By the end of the module, we will be familiar with most of the key theoretical, methodological, historical and ideological issues raised in postcolonial writing. We will make ourselves aware of the importance of postcolonial discourse as a way of thinking about cultural production, circulation and reception, and be able to apply this understanding to the interpretation of texts discussed on the module. 

We will summarise some of the key critical concepts involved in the field, from ‘hybridity’ to ‘liminality’ and ‘spectrality.’

Some of the topics and issues we will explore include:

• travel
• difference
• language
• diaspora
• violence
• resistance
• gender
• sexuality
• memory
• haunting
• intertextuality
• canonicity
• orality
• nationalism
• belonging
• indigeneity
• ‘race’
• ecocriticism
• the touristic
• ‘native’
• globality
• solidarity. 

Writers may include Jean Rhys, Shani Mootoo, Abdulrazak Gurnah, J.M. Coetzee, Assia Djebar, Mourid Barghouti and NoViolet Bulawayo.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The Â鶹´«Ã½ may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.