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This course focuses on the problems of interpretation encountered in the first world classroom when reading novels and poetry from the so called third world, in this case Africa, India, and the Middle East. We shall work from two premises: a) The artifacts of any given culture are embedded in their local context --social and political history, traditions, aesthetics, etc. ---and thus are not transparent in their meaning or significance. b) Secondly, we cannot recognize the humanity of the "other" --the culturally strange, the foreign, the alien--- without examining ourselves and how we impose meaning on the incomprehensible.
We shall try to come to terms with these two factors by a) researching as much as we can of the local context --we shall use films and music to supplement our quest; b) by performing the texts we shall we be reading in class as a means of reflecting about cultural gaps; and c) maintaining a consciousness journal.
Required Texts
Africa:
Chinweizu ed. Voices from Twentieth Century Africa
Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart (Nigeria)
Ferdinand Oyono Houseboy (Cameroon)
Ama Ata Aidoo Changes (Ghana)
India:
*Anjana Appachana short stories from Incantations (photocopy)
*Rabindranath Tagore short story (photocopy)
Sunetra Gupta Memories of Rain
Shashi Tharoor Show Business
Middle East:
Manny Shirazi The Siege of Azadi Square (Iran)
*Naguib Mahfouz short story from The Time and the Place and Other Stories (Egypt) (photocopy)
Essays:
*Edward Said excerpt from Orientalism
*Peter Fryer excerpt from Black People in the British Empire
*Ngugi Wa Thiong'O essays from Moving the Center: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms
Titles preceded by * indicates that this will be photocopied for you.
Requirements
Three papers, six responses to the novels assigned for this course, a journal, and participation in class performances and discussions.
Absences will not be excused.
The Papers:
The first paper should be devoted to a discussion and analysis of one of the novels assigned for this course. You may do a close reading of the novel focusing on any textual aspect, for instance: you may consider the construction of the novel --its overall plan and genre; the delineation of the characters and their motivations; the notion of time and history in the novel; the use of oral tradition and folk tales, etc. Details will be discussed in class and can also be discussed individually during office hours.
The second paper should be less textual and more theoretical. In other words, based on your reading of Chinweizu, Ngugi, Fryer, Said and other cultural critics, your task will be pose a pertinent socio-political question about the issues discussed and raised by these writers. This is of course a more difficult assignment as it requires some active attempts at political and polemical thought on your part, but again, we hope that this course will be an exercise in learning to pose questions.
The third paper should be a research paper. You must read at least one novel on your own from the third world: preferably Africa, India or the Middle East. I shall be providing you with suggestions in the second week, but you need not feel confined by my list. The paper should attempt a synthesis of the first two approaches: it should be both textual and theoretical. Try to do some research on the author, and take up an issue addressed in the novel and do some research on the topic. It is best to begin working on this paper as soon as possible.
The Responses:
Your responses to the novels should be brief and relatively informal. These can be focused discussions of aspects or issues in the novel that were either not dealt with in class, or were inadequately attended to. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate that not only have you read the novel in question with care, but that you have thought about it and have processed it in some way. The only requirement is that you show the general quality of your mind and your ability to think about cultural difference.