Winter Term 2002/2003

Vera Alexander, M.A.:
PS: Short Stories by Indian Migrant Writers
This course will examine short stories by writers of Indian origin who have emigrated to anglophone centres such as Britain, the United States and Canada as well as other former colonies, such as South Africa or various East African countries. In the course of this global narrative tour, we will discuss issues of immigration and transcultural encounters, e.g. language, difference of social customs, dislocation etc., as well as look at formal aspects of the short story. We shall be reading works by V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Rohinton Mistry, Moyez G. Vassanji among others.

Course evaluation will be based on a short oral presentation and a term paper of 2,500 words. Master copies of the stories will be made available in a folder in the I

Soenke Zehle, M.A.:
PS: Introduction to Post-Colonial Theory: Concepts & Conflicts
Everything you ever wanted to know about postcolonial "theory" but were afraid to ask? Well, not quite everything, but we will at least attempt to a) explore some of the major concepts in contemporary literary and postcolonial theory and b) situate them in the context of the history of decolonization as well as ongoing controversy over the features and implications of a 'postcolonial condition.' This is an introductory course, no prior knowledge of literary or postcolonial theory is required.

Required Texts: You will be asked to purchase a dictionary of literary terms if you do not already own one (introductory: Chris Baldick, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001, advanced: Vladimir Bliti, Literatur- und Kulturtheorie: Ein Handbuch gegenwärtiger Begriffe , Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2001) a 'conceptual' dictionary (Bill Ashcroft et al, eds., Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts, New York: Routledge, 2000) a course reader (ca EUR 15-20) that will be made available in class.