HENK0386LU English - Free topic 14: Hybridity in Postcolonial Theory and Text (exam form A + B)

Volume 2015/2016
Content

This course pivots on the notion of hybridity as a perspective from which to discuss contemporary postcolonial literature. It is divided into three sections: firstly, we will explore the notion of hybridity, trace its history and how it is bound up in a contrasting discourse of purity and essentialism, and discuss why it has had such impact on postcolonial theory and literature. We will ground our discussion in writers such as Charles Darwin, Robert Young, Homi Bhabha, Nikos Papastergiadis, etc. Then we will read Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1988) as well as a selection of his essays. Our discussion of this controversial book will of course also include a consideration of the so-called Rushdie affair and how the author, the text and the reader become caught up that sticky hybridity/purity discourse. Lastly, we will read Nigerian-American Teju Cole’s two novels, Open City (2011) and Everyday for the Thief  (2007/14) in order to bring into our exploration a potentially very different way of activating hybridity that somehow seems to transcend the borders of the area of study we call postcolonialism.

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 176,75
  • Total
  • 204,75