Handbook

The course will travel in the wake of empire from Canada and Ireland to the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia and finally Oceania in order to explore some of the most compelling literary works of the last 50 years.  As we trace the turbulent legacies of empire from Global North to Global South, we will focus on the uses of literary language and form in novels, plays and poems written in English. Through this dynamic range of cultural and aesthetic texts and contexts, we will consider representations of both homeland and displacement from home, including diasporic and migrant writing and writing from the war zone. We will discuss key texts in light of debates about race, gender, class, First Nations cultural production and the current significance of decolonial thinking. Representing some of the most influential intellectual work since WWII, the key terms and concepts of postcolonial theory will direct and deepen our interest in working beyond Eurocentrism.