Teaching code

4S002911

Teacher

Annalisa Pes

Coordinatore

Annalisa Pes

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

I semestre (Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 28, 2020 al Jan 9, 2021.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars

Learning outcomes

The course is meant to introduce students to postcolonial literature in English by reading and analysing representative critical works and literary texts. Upon the completion of this course, students will be able to: - read postcolonial literary texts closely, with focused attention to language, content, and form, and analyze the relationship between literary texts and the particular historical, social, and cultural contexts that produced them; - demonstrate independent critical thinking in their analysis of literary texts - demonstrate an ability to structure ideas and arguments in a logical, sustained, and persuasive way, and to support them with precise and relevant examples.

Program

Islands and/as Identities in Postcolonial Literature
Besides introducing postcolonial studies and literatures, the course aims to investigate the relation between the island as a liminal and fluid place and the construction and redefinition of the postcolonial identity of its inhabitants. In the colonial imagination the island is often associated to an exotic and savage place appropriated by the West. In the texts that will be analyzed in this module, instead, the island is represented by postcolonial writers as a place in metaphorical relation with the (re)construction of precarious and continually transforming identities, on which the effects of the imperialist past are still reflected.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A) PRIMARY TEXTS

-Sia Figiel, Where We Once Belonged (1999)
-Andrea Levy, Small Island (2004)
-Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place (1988)

B) REFERENCES
-J. McLeod, Beginning Postcolonialism (Manchester University Press, 2000), Ch. 1-2-7
-R. Edmond and V. Smith (eds.), Islands in History and Representation (Routledge, 2003): Introduction, pp. 1-18.
-C. Duboin, Contested Identities: Migration Stories and Liminal Selves in Adrea Levy's 'Small Island', Obsidian Literature in the African Diaspora, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2011), pp.14-33.
-Bruce Woodcock, Small Island, Crossing Cultures, Wasafiri, 23, 2, 2008, pp. 50-55
-April Henderson, The I and the We: Individuality, Collectivity, and Samoan Artistic Responses to Cultural Change, The Contemporary Pacific, 2016, vol. 28, 2, pp. 316-345.
-Corinne McLeod, Constructing a Nation: Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, Small Axe, 12, 1, 2008, pp. 77-92
-Suzanne Gauch, A Small Place: Some Perspectives on the Ordinary, Callaloo, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Summer, 2002), pp. 910-919

PLAESE BE ADVISED:
-Lectures will be held in English
-The programme is valid until February 2023

Examination Methods

EXAM METHOD
Oral exam in English at the end of the course. The exam will assess:
- the knowledge of primary and secondary texts
- the ability to articulate effectively the information and critical assessments concerning texts and topics discussed in class
-The use of an appropriate vocabulary
PLEASE BE ADVISED:
-Students will have to bring their own primary texts at the exam.
-The programme will be valid for two academic years (i.e. until February 2023)
-Students are admitted to the exam ONLY after passing English Language 1 and English Literature 1.