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As English majors, we need to know that "English" is not always British, and "American"--not necessarily the U.S. How about English Literature? British and U.S. literature? In the past, maybe, but now in the age of postcolonialism -- definitely no. English literatures are all the literatures written in English in 1.) the U.S. and U.K., and in 2.) the English-speaking countries in areas ranging from Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia (e.g. Hong Kong), South Pacific area (e.g. Australia & New Zealand), the Caribbean area, to North America (e.g. Canada). (See the Map below.) To distinguish the latter from the former, we call the latter -- world literatures written in English, or postcolonial (Third World) literature in English, or New English literatures. Since world literatures written in English cover so many nations with their distinct national/racial cultures, it is hardly possible to generalize about them, not to mention teaching them all in one course. These literatures, however, do have common concerns, their nations having all experienced imperialism and colonization, and their peoples, war, immigration and displacement, frequently more than once. Among the common concerns there are: influences of colonization, possibilities of decolonization and defining national identity, power relations (between the colonizer and the colonized, dominant group and minorities, different genders of different races). These national literatures, moreover, are linked to each other by the large flows of immigrants of Chinese, African and/or Indian descent--what is called Chinese, African and Indian diasporas (離散族群). To do a focused survey of world literatures in English, this course chooses literatures (short stories, novel excerpts and poems) in West and South Africa, South Asia (including Pakistan, India, Iran and Afghanistan), and the Caribbean area (including Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica), as well as those by diasporic/immigrant writers from these areas such as Salman Rushdie, Jean Rhys, Jamaica Kincaid, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, etc. Our central questions are:
In trying to find answers to these questions, we will especially focus
on experiences of children, women, and those of the intellectual
vs. the lower classes in order to find out how one’s gender, class
and age complicate one’s experience of While focusing on literary works (novels, short stories and poems) , we will make use of popular culture products-- e.g. films(e.g. Salaam Bombay, Wide Sargasso Sea), documentaries and popular songs (e.g. Bob Marley, rap music, Indian music) --to help us visualize, enter and understand their cultures. You are also encouraged to bring in other relevant texts from popular culture of these areas. As our horizons get broadened by entering these three worlds, we will learn in class to draw concept maps to sort out and relate the books, ideas and cultures we learned—all in an attempt to place ourselves in some meaningful relations with the world today!!!
-- Active participation and One group
report-- 20% |
