15364

WiSe 18/19: Introduction into Postcolonial Theory and Critique

Sara Mohammadpur-Dehkordi

Comments

Colonialism as a political system has been defeated in most formerly colonized countries. As a discourse, it becomes reproduced and continues to exist. Postcolonial theory and criticism is dedicated to this continuation. It deals with the revealing and disentangling of remaining colonial and neo-colonial technologies of power and their interwovenness with the politico-economic systems of today. In confronting social injustice and inequality, it persistently alludes to the colonial project of the past and its new manifestations. Theorists of the postcolonial, also referring to themselves as decolonial theorists, discuss the colonial project as facilitator of discourse that cannot be invalidated without understanding the colonial conditions of knowledge and meaning-making. This course aims to introduce the different angles, from which theorists look at these conditions. Their concepts, debates and challenges will be subject of discussion and interaction. To understand the material base of postcolonial/decolonial theory and criticism, the course will elaborate present social conditions in the postcolony and set them in relation to the text. close

Suggested reading

Achebe, Chinua: Colonialist Criticism. in: Hopes and Impediments. New York 1988 - Ahmad, Aijaz: In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. London 1992 - Bhabha, Homi: The Location of Culture. London 1994 - Cesaire, Aimé: Discourse of Colonialism. New York 1972 - Fanon, Frantz: Black Skin, White Masks. London 2008 (originally published in 1952) - Guha, Ranajit: Dominance without Hegemony - History and Power in Colonial India. London 1997 - James: C.LR. Black Jacobins. New York 1989 (originally published in 1938) - Lalu, Premesh: The Deaths of Hintsa. Cape Town 2009 - Said, Edward: Orientalism. New York 1978 - Soyinka, Wole: New Imperialism. Dar es Salaam 2009 - Spivak, Gayatri: The Post-Colonial Critic. New York 1990 - wa Thiong'o, Ngugi: Decolonising the Mind. Harare 1987; Writing Against Neo-Colonialism. London 1986 - Wynter, Silvia: Unsettling the Coloniality of Being. in: The New Centennial Review. Volume 3, No 3. 2003 close

16 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Thu, 16:00 - 18:00 16 Class schedule

Thu, 2018-10-18 - Fri, 2018-10-19 16:00 - 18:00

Lecturers:
Dr. Sara Mohammadpur-Dehkordi