GOVT 4265 - [Postcolonial Theory]

(GB) (CA-AS)

Spring. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Student option grading.

B. Adalet.

This seminar presents an overview of postcolonial thought. We will start by situating the emergence of postcolonial theory in the context of anti-imperialism and decolonization struggles during the early and mid-twentieth century. We will then read scholars of subaltern studies and orientalism in order to understand their approach to questions of agency and representation within a broader “cultural turn” in the literature. Finally, we will turn to contemporary debates in postcolonial studies about race, class, and settler colonialisms, with attendant conversations about anti-imperialist internationalist imaginaries and political economy. Possible readings include C.L.R James, Aimé Césaire, Amilcar Cabral, Edward Said, Ranajit Guha, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Gayatri Spivak, Lila Abu-Lughod, Ella Shohat, Vivek Chibber, and Steven Salaita. (PT)