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Postcolonial ecocriticism is a subfield of ecocriticism that pays attention to the particularities of postcolonial societies. The main objective of this introductory course is to equip students with the central arguments that brought about the intersection of ecocriticism and postcolonialism, leading to the category of postcolonial ecocriticism in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Major theoretical and analytical concepts of postcolonial ecocriticism will be discussed. At the end of the course, students are expected to have basic knowledge of the ideas that constitute postcolonial ecocriticism, the current status of the subfield, and its future prospects.
Materials for this course consist of literary and media texts, and theoretical texts.
Literary & Media Texts
- Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh (a novel)
- “We Thought It Was Oil but It Was Blood” by Nnimmo Bassey (a poem)
- Beyond the Oil Age: The Real Cost of Cobalt Mining in the DRC by Fatima Lianes (a docu-film)
(Students are encouraged to get their own copy of Gun Island and read it before classes. The poem and a link to the film will be supplied electronically in May. Students are encouraged to watch the film before classes as only clips will be shown during the lecture).
Theoretical Texts
- Vital, Anthony. “Toward an African Ecocriticism: Postcolonialism, Ecology, and Life and Times of Michael K.” Research in African Literatures. 39.1 (2008): 87-106.
- Huggan, Graham, and Helen Tiffin. Postcolonial Ecocriticism: Literature, Animals, Environment. Routledge, 2010. (The first chapter of the book)
- Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard UP, 2011. (The third chapter of the book)
(These texts will be supplied electronically during our pre-meeting session in May).
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