HENB0114DU English - Elective 3, topic 1: Contemporary Multicultural British Literature

This class defines multicultural British literature as literature that responds to and engages in the lived realities of British multiculture – or what is nowadays often called super-diversity. The class will introduce you to socio-political multicultural theories, which will be read in tandem with a wide variety of literary expressions. When we discuss this literature, we will ask whether the socio-political theory is a helpful lens through which to read literature or whether the literature goes about multicultural Britain in a different way than the theory does. We will read poetry, short stories and novels and discuss topics such the politics of recognition, the role of culture and religion, the conflict between the group and the individual, multicultural locations, the layering of new diversity upon old diversity, whether multiculturalism is bad for women, and much more.