Convenor: Dr Mike Niblett; Tutors: Dr Mike Niblett, Dr. Alírio Karina, Dr. Emily McGiffin

Module Delivery: 1 x 1hr lecture and 1 x 1hr Seminar

Aim:

Writers from the 'postcolonial' world today confront a (prospectively) global audience. This module aims to introduce students to the diverse and exciting range of contemporary work being produced by writers from locations such as the Caribbean and the Africa continent, and to situate it in terms of the historical circumstances that have engendered it and to which it constitutes a response. The module will examine the various ways in which different writers negotiate and represent social conditions -- local and global -- in their work, and the ways in which they incorporate and work with domestic and foreign literary forms and conventions. The works will be read comparatively, in relation to one another, and as contributions to particular literary and cultural traditions. Social issues under review will range very widely: for example, race, violence, and resistance, land, ‘development’ and the environment, sex and gendered identity, nation and state, memory, trauma and prolepsis, and cultural/linguistic imperialism.

Method of Assessment

Intermediate Years:
2 x 3500-word essays (50% each)
Final Years:
2 x 4000-word essays (50% each)

Essays will be due Term 2, Week 1; Term 3, Week 1. For more information, see Assessments tab above.

Attendance: Attendance at each seminar is mandatory. If for some reason you need to miss a seminar, please do email your seminar tutor to let them know your reason before the seminar.

Seminar Participation: Seminars generally succeed or fail because of the quality of group participation. This means that you must keep on top of the required readings—reading thoroughly, carefully and in a timely manner. In order to prepare for the seminar, you should a) attend the lecture to formulate a question or response to any aspect of it; b) formulate a question and a point for discussion for each reading. One useful way to do this is to focus on a specific part of the lecture or a reading.

Syllabus, 2024/25

See Set Texts Reading List (Talis)Link opens in a new window and links below for buying / e-copy options

TERM ONE: The Caribbean

Week One: Introduction to the Module

Week Two: Olive Senior, "Meditation on Yellow"Link opens in a new window from Gardening in the Tropics (1994) / Diana McCaulay, "Bridge over the Yallahs River" (2022)

Week Three: Erna Brodber, MyalLink opens in a new window (1988)

Week Four: Dionne Brand, InventoryLink opens in a new window (2006)

Week Five: Nalo Hopkinson, The Salt RoadsLink opens in a new window (2003)

Week Six: READING WEEK

Week Seven: Nicole Dennis-Benn, Here Comes the SunLink opens in a new window (2017)

Week Eight: Shivanee Ramlochan, Everyone Knows I Am a HauntingLink opens in a new window (2017)

Week Nine: Xavier Navarro Aquino, VelorioLink opens in a new window (2022)
Hurray for the Riff Raff, "Pa'lanteLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" from The Navigator (ATO Records, 2017)

Week Ten: Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, eds. Reclaim, Restore, Return: Futurist Tales from the CaribbeanLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window (Caribbean Futures Institute, 2020)

TERM TWO: Africa

Week 1: Introduction to the Term

Week 2: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow SunLink opens in a new window (2006)

Week 3: Scholastique Mukasongo, KibogoLink opens in a new window (2006)

Week 4: Binyavanga Wainaina, How to Write About AfricaLink opens in a new window (2022)

Week 5: Film: Bamako (dir. Abderrahmane Sissako 2006)

Week 6: READING WEEK

Week 7: Eloghosha Osunde, Vagabonds!Link opens in a new window (2022)

Week 8: Sulaiman Addonia, Silence is My Mother TongueLink opens in a new window (2020)

Week 9: Anwuli Ojogwu, A Mind to Silence and Other StoriesLink opens in a new window (2022)

Week 10: ‘Gbenga Adeoba, ExodusLink opens in a new window (poetry) (2020)