Required Materials
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad (Third Norton Edition)
The Lover, Marguerite Duras
The Quiet American, Graham Greene
Heat and Dust, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga
Copy handouts

Course Description
The last half of the nineteenth century saw the height of European colonial power around the globe. France, Belgium, Germany, and especially Great Britain, controlled over half the world. Along with this achievement came a notable sense of pride and confident belief that European civilization was the best on earth and that the natives of the lands Europeans controlled would only benefit from colonial influence. However, in the twentieth century, as colonized people began to organize increasing resistance to colonial rule, Europeans themselves began to doubt and question the motives behind their rule.

How did European views of colonial people change? How did doubts about colonialism affect the way Europeans thought about their own culture? How did non-Europeans see the changes taking place in their native lands? We will also be looking at the role of the United States in colonial Indochina and explore the extent to which (if at all) the US can be said to be a "colonial" power. By the twentieth century, colonialism was so ingrained in the mindset of both Europeans and natives that its eventual demise profoundly altered the way people thought and lived around the globe. We will be looking at the literature that describes the uncertainties surrounding the colonial project as it began to falter in the twentieth century.

Course Requirements
Response papers 35%
Midterm 25%
Final 20%
Quizzes 10%
Participation 10%

Response papers
    Response One
    Response Two
    Response Three
    Response Four
 

Response Papers
There are also four response papers, one due about every third week. Every three weeks you will receive a response question handout with questions taken from the upcoming reading assignments. You are to respond to any one day’s questions from the list. Response questions must be typed, double-spaced and turned in on the day that you have selected. For example, answers to questions from September 14th’s reading must be turned in on that day.

Regular attendance of classes is absolutely expected for this course. Three or more unexcused absences will lower your participation grade significantly. Papers are due in class on the assigned date. Late papers will be subject to a reduction in grade. If you feel you have a good reason for requiring an extension, please come talk to me about it beforehand. However, after-due date extensions, except in the case of emergencies, will be difficult to obtain.

Avoid plagiarism (stealing the exact words or ideas of another) like the plague. In this class acts of plagiarism incur a zero and could also result in course failure.

Calendar

Week 1

August 31: Introduction

September 2: Gunga Din

Week 2

September 7: Gunga Din

September  9: Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

Week 3

September 14: Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

September 16: Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

Week 4

September 21:   "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness," Chinua Achebe (in the Norton edition, 251-262)

September 23: Bror Blixen letters (in packet)

Week 5

September 28: "Shooting an Elephant," George Orwell. (in packet)

September 30: Heat and Dust, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Week 6

October 5:  Heat and Dust, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

October 7: Heat and Dust, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Week 7

October 12: Heat and Dust, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

October 14: Mid-term

Week 8

October 19: The Lover, Marguerite Duras

October 21: The Lover, Marguerite Duras

Week 9

October 26: The Lover, Marguerite Duras

October 28: The Lover, Marguerite Duras

Week 10

November 2: The Quiet American, Graham Greene

November 4: The Quiet American, Graham Greene
 

Week 11

November 9: The Quiet American, Graham Greene

November 11: Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga

Week 12

November 16: Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga

November 18: Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga

Week 13

November 23: Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga

November 25: Thanksgiving break. Happy holiday.

Week 14

November 30: Salman Rushdie, "Imaginary Homelands" "Commonwealth Literature Does Not Exist"

December 2: Nadine Gordimer "What Were You Dreaming?"

Week 15

December 7: Selections, Derek Walcott (packet)

December 9: Selections, Derek Walcott (packet)

Some Useful Links:
Post-Colonial Literature