Postcolonial
Literature and Film
Dr.
Yifen Beus
beusy@byuh.edu Office Hours:
T, TH: 9-11
(excluding devotionals & faculty meetings)
McKay
Faculty Bldg. 207
(O) 293-3618 F:
10-11
Course
Description and Objectives:
Welcome
to the study of postcolonial literature and film. In this class, we will be looking
at films and literary works of authors who come mostly from previously colonized
countries as well as theoretical works that formulate the (post)colonial discourse.
We will explore a variety of postcolonial issues manifested in these works,
including the writing of history, nationalism, identity, gender, and race. Through a close examination of these issues,
we hope to develop a keen insight into and an analytical attitude towards the
continual process of political, economic and cultural struggle of power between
the divided "self" and "other."
Course
Requirements:
Text: Ashcroft,
Ashcroft,
Achebe,
Things Fall Apart
Soyinka, The Lion and the Jewel
Other
reading materials on the Black Board (Course Documents or External Links)
Films
(shown in class):
Silences
of the Palace or Season of Men (Moufida Tlatli, 1996/2000,
Tunisia, 127/124 mins.)
Sugar
Cane Alley (Euzhan
Palcy, 1984, Martinique, 107 mins.)
Surname
Viet Given Name
The
Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
(Djibril Diop Mambety, 1999, Senegal, 45 mins.)
Xala
(Ousmane
Sembene, 1974, Senegal, 119 mins.)
Project
A
Part II (Jackie Chan, 1983, Hong Kong,
105 mins.)
Whale
Rider (
Black
Board:
Frequent
use of email and the course site is mandatory. Many reading assignments will be posted
for downloading on the site before the reading assignments are due. Reminders
and announcements will also be posted here. Check the site daily. The URL for the site is: http://courseinfo.lib.byu.edu/. To log in, use your NET ID (http://www.byuh.edu/netid/)
and your password.
Powerpoint
Presentation: (please time it carefully)
Each
student will present to the class his/her research on one specific area or culture
we will study. The presentation should be around 15 to 20 minutes long. First,
you will provide geographical, socio-political (most importantly, colonial history)
information about the area/culture. Second, based on the assigned articles
we will read related to the area/culture, you will present to the class some main
ideas or key concepts of these works that will be important in class discussion.
Feel free to call on classmates to contribute insights.
The purpose of this presentation is to provide the class a useful introductory
background of the target areas and cultures we study by familiarizing the class
with the history and key cultural aspects/characteristics of these areas. Information
may include, but is not limited to, geography, ethnicity, language(s), customs,
history, and the significance of studying them for this class. Third, it
should also give some biographical information about the author/filmmaker.
Weekly
Critical Entries:
You
will write an entry for each week (starting
from the week of 1/9). Thus, there
should be at least 10 entries total (1.5-2 pages each); that is, you may choose
to skip up to 4 entries. They should be critical response to the assigned readings/films,
succinct and to the point. Each entry is due on each Thursday by
1)
Critique a text by isolating one or two points/ideas/images you find provocative
for their postcolonial implications.
2)
Explore one or two points/ideas/images from the text that relate (or do not relate)
to your own lived experience.
3)
Note parallels between texts.
4)
Extend a class discussion.
5)
Comment on a writer’s/director’s craft, the way s/he writes/directs and how effective
you find it.
Critical
Questions & Participation:
You
are expected to actively participate in the class discussion as this class is
designed as a seminar, whose success depends highly on your input and preparedness.
Always come to class prepared and be ready to express your comments or understanding
of the materials assigned. In order to achieve this level of preparedness and
participation, you are required to turn in 3 critical questions based on
the readings due each day (each time we meet except for the days when we show
films only). We will use these questions for class discussion. These can be questions you have about
the readings/films, or ones that you think will be helpful in teasing out some
issues we will discuss in class. They need to be typed or neatly written and turned
in at class time. They are
treated as in-class quizzes, and thus late questions will not be accepted. Pop
reading quizzes will also be given in class.
Grade
Breakdown:
100
points Midterm
100
points Final exam
100
points Journal of critical entries (weekly,
total of at least 10)
30 points Powerpoint presentation
40 points Critical questions/participation
30 points Reading quizzes
Brigham
Young University-Hawai'i is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere,
which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities.
If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this
course successfully, please contact the students with Special Need Coordinator,
Leilani A'una at 293-3518. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for
all students who have qualified documented disabilities.
If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated
against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established
grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Human Resource
Services at 780-8875.
Title
IX of the education amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any
participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds,
including Federal loans and grants. Title
IX also covers student-to-student sexual harassment. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment
or gender-based discrimination, please contact the Human Resource Services at
780-8875 (24 hours).
All
students should be aware of the BYUH policy that there are no early final exams.
An exception to this policy is the case of a school sponsored activity which takes
an individual or a team away from the University at the time an examination is
scheduled to take place. Faculty
and Administration who are responsible for scheduling official University activities
attempt in every way to avoid scheduling activities in conflict with the scheduled
examinations. Students must plan
travel, family visits, etc., in a way that will not interfere with their final
exams. Emergency situations should
be presented in writing as soon as possible to the Dean of the college or school
of the student’s major.
Less
expensive fares, more convenient travel arrangements, and any other non-emergency
reasons are not considered justification for early or late final exams.
Students are responsible for making sure that family or friends who may
supply tickets or make travel arrangements for a student are aware of the student’s
need to complete courses by taking the final examinations as scheduled.
Schedule
(texts should be read before the designated class time):
1/5 Introduction: explain syllabus,
class structure and requirements; define terms, scope, and limits.
| |
|
| What
is Postcolonialism? KC:
Commonwealth literature, post(-)colonialism, post-colonial state, post-modernism | |
| 1/12 | Orientalism
and Colonial Writing Reading:
Said, "Orientalism" (Reader: 87-91); Macaulay, “Minute on Indian Education” (Reader:
428-430); Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” (EL: Folder 3) KC:
colonialism, colonial discourse, imperialism |
| 1/17 | |
| 1/19 | The
Notion of Homeland and Cultural IdentityFilm:
|
| 1/24 | Discussion/Presentation
of KC:
ambivalence, liminality, diaspora |
| 1/26 | Hybridity
and Cultural Imperialism KC:
hybridity, mimicry, neo-colonialism |
| 1/31 | Patestine
and Isreal: IReading:
Rushdie, “On Palistinian Identity: A Conversation with Edward Said” (CD); Said,
excerpts from Power Politics (CD) KC:
exile, Orientalism, Euro-centrism |
| 2/2 |
|
| 2/7 | “Other’s”
Women Film:
Silences of the Palace or Season of Men (Moufida Tlatli, 1996/2001,
127/124 mins.) KC:
allegory, alterity, subaltern feminism & post-colonialism |
| 2/9 | Discussion/Presentation
of Silences of the Palace or Season of Men KC:
subject/subjectivity (psychoanalysis) |
|
| 2/14 | History Play
(video recording): Pantomime (Walcott,
Derek) Walcott,
“The Muse of History” (Reader: 370-374)& “The KC:
Caribbean/West Indian, Creole, creolization | |
| 2/16 | Language
& Creolized Identity Film: Sugar Cane Alley, or Rue Cases-Nègres
(Euzhan Palcy, 1984, Martinique, 107 mins.) KC:
mulatto, syncretism |
|
| 2/18 | Midterm
Due in Office before |
|
| 2/21 | |
|
| 2/23 | Discussion/Presentation
of Sugar Cane Alley |
|
| 2/28 | Soyinka,
Wole. The Lion and the Jewel |
|
| 3/2 | Political
Reality and The New Bourgeoisie Film:
Xala (Ousmane
Sembene, Senegal 1974, 119 mins.) |
|
| 3/7 | Discussion
of Xala |
|
| 3/9 | Film:
The
Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
|
|
| 3/14 | The
Other Story |
|
| 3/16 | |
|
| 3/21 | Achebe,
"Colonial Criticism," "Named for Victoria,
Queen of KC:
decolonization |
|
| 3/23 | “ Film:
Surname Viet Given Name
|
|
| 3/28 | Discussion/Presentation
of Surname KC:
|
|
| 3/30 | Oriental’s
OrientalismFilm:
Project A II (Jackie
Chan, 1987, 102 mins) KC:
exotic/exoticism, essentialism |
|
| 4/4 | Can
the Subaltern Speak? Film:
Whale Rider
(Niki
Caro, 2002, 101 mins.) |
|
| 4/6 | Discussion/Presentation
of Project A II
|
|
| Discussion/Presentation
of Whale Rider KC:
magic realism, going native |
| |
| 4/13 4/18 | Who
Makes and Sells the Books Then?Altbach,
“Literary Colonialism: Books in the |
|