Introduction to postcolonial studies (5)

13 Fevereiro 2017, 14:00 • Ângela Fernandes

February 1st, 2017

Introduction to postcolonial studies (4)

13 Fevereiro 2017, 13:00 • Ângela Fernandes

Indian writing in English. Gandhian Literature. The founding fathers (Narayan, Anand, Rao). Partition novels. Female fiction (Hosain, Saghal, Desai).
"Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie (1981). History and fantasy. Magical realism.
The poetics of the crowd. Rushdie's novel and subaltern studies. Analysis of the first page of the book. Rushdie's language.
Screening of the documentary film: "A Tall Tale. How Salman Rushdie Pickled All India".
Discussion.

Introduction to postcolonial studies (3)

13 Fevereiro 2017, 12:00 • Ângela Fernandes

Migrant Literature. Language problems, dislocation, displacement.
Linguistic creolization. Orality, repetition, circular narration, lists.
Post colonial historical fiction. Rewriting  history from the viewpoint of the colonial subjects. Correction of official versions to create new mythologies.
A bit of history: from 1492 to 1757 (Clive's victory at Passey; East India Company in Bengala). From a mercantile phenomenon to colonialism as a manifestation of industrial capitalism. Macaulay' Minute.

Introduction to postcolonial studies (2)

13 Fevereiro 2017, 11:00 • Ângela Fernandes

January 27th, 2017

Screening and discussion of the Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie's Ted Talk.Language question and problems of identity in Postcolonial literatures.Edouard Glissant's poetics of Relation and his theories on multilingualism, hybridity, and "chaos World".The three stages of Postcolonial literatures (copy; refusal; cultural anthropophagy). Difference between settler and invaded colonies.

Introduction to postcolonial studies (1)

13 Fevereiro 2017, 10:00 • Ângela Fernandes

Trying to answer the question: "What is postcolonial literature", we discussed Edward Said's final remarks in his seminal work, "Culture and Imperialism": "No one today is purely one thing". Then we tackled Salman Rushdie's essay "Commonwealth Literature Does Not Exist" and reflected on his ideas, namely that we must discuss literature in terms of its real groupings, which may also be international groupings, based on imaginative affinities; and that we must remember that the English (and the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese ...) language ceased to be the sole possession of the English (French, Spanish, Portuguese...) people some time ago.Then, we talked about the term "postcolonial" and what we mean by colonialism and imperialism. Lastly, we talked about postcoloniality as a process of decolonization of the mind (Ngugi wa Thiongo)