Sunday, January 10, 2010

Course Description

This course will introduce students to key African, Indian, Caribbean, and Latin American oral and written narratives from about 3000 BCE to the present day. While paying special attention to historical specificity, we will consider the ways in which literatures from various sites around the world suggest varied and dynamic relationships among power, violence, gender, race, ethnicity, and identity formation before, during, and since the imperial incursion. In this context, we will consider the specific material conditions necessary to precipitate organized resistance, as well as the various forms resistance may take. The resulting key questions we will keep before us are: in what ways have power and violence shaped contemporary notions of “the world”? What are some potential responses to past injustices? In what ways can we envision ourselves as productive citizens of our world community? Readings and films are from or are set in Algeria, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia (formerly British Malaya), Martinique, Mexico, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Palestine, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States.

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