| Kommentar |
The sprawling wealth of different approaches in the field of postcolonial theory is daunting to say the least. Indeed, the current state of the field shows how its raison d’être is as much indebted to current as to past events across the globe. In a sense, we will never be done with delimiting the object and concerns of postcolonial theory. Neither is there a consensus in the growing community of postcolonial scholars about what its long-term aims should be. One distinct tendency in this discussion deserves the attention of literary scholars. This is the tension between so-called “textualist” approaches and their materialist counterparts. Wary of the turn to a culturalism that is heavy on theory and post-structuralistically dismissive of historicizing rigors, materialist approaches call for a return to contexts. The worry that “the material impulses to colonialism, its appropriation of physical resources, exploitation of human labour and institutional repression, have receded from view” (Parry 2004, 3) guides this interrogation of postcolonial theory. The seminar will engage both sides of the question, reading across fifty decades of postcolonial criticism. Featured on the reading list is the work of Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Vivek Chibber and Nivedita Majumdar. The Lektürekurs sessions will be dedicated to the associated reading of a choice of primary literature.
Credits according to programs:
MA English Literatures (Modul 7 Texts and Theories): 8 LP (4+4) and 2 LP (MAP: a term paper or a take-home-exam)
MA European Literatures (Modul 9 Literaturtheorie): 4 LP and 2 LP (MAP: oral examination) |
