This course introduces students to literary and other cultural perspectives from the postcolonial world. In the first semester, we will read and discuss selected texts from postcolonial Africa; in the second semester, we will investigate selected texts from postcolonial Asia. Our course will begin by examining the concept of “decolonization”--that is, the process of questioning colonialism and insisting, as Kwame Nkrumah wrote in 1945, on “the rights of all peoples to govern themselves.” We will then turn to fictional writings and other cultural texts that come out of various decolonization struggles in Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, and South Africa. We will ask ourselves: why should these texts and ideas matter to us today?

Students are expected to attend regularly, to read with care and curiosity, and to bring an open mind to course assignments and class discussion. Please note that no prior knowledge of postcolonial studies is required for this course. But we will reflect on our previously held commonsense ideas and test them against our course readings.