This course on Postcolonial Fiction will introduce students to many of the foremost, yet often neglected writers in twentieth-century literature, and open up fresh perspectives on the racist, sexist, class-centred ideology that underpinned the British and European imperial project. While the first three texts focus on the malignity and condescension of the colonisers towards those they had quelled by military means and by fostering what one famous theorist refers to as 'false consciousness', the novels from week four onwards alter the perceptual angle, by exposing the extreme poverty, powerlessness and resentment of those under colonial heels.
Postcolonial Fictions: An Introduction
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Overview
Programme details
Courses starts: 23 Jan 2024
Week 1: Introduction to the course and to concepts in Postcolonial Theory, which will refer to The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oluadah Equiano (1789), an important early expose of the Transatlantic slave trade. Extracts will be provided by the tutor
Week 2: Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness (1902)
Week 3: George Orwell Burmese Days (1935)
Week 4: Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart (1958)
Week 5: Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart (1958
Week 6: Jean Rhys The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)
Week 7: Jean Rhys The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)
Week 8: Tsitsi Dangarembga Nervous Conditions (1988)
Week 9: Tsitsi Dangarembga Nervous Conditions (1988)
Week 10: Jamaica Kincaid A Small Place (1988). Extracts will be provided by the tutor.
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Availability of titles on the reading list (below) can be checked on SOLO, the library catalogue.
Preparatory reading
- The Empire Writes Back / Ahcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin
- The Location of Culture / Bhabha, Homi
- The Wretched of the Earth / Fanon, Frantz
- Colonialism/ Postcolonialism / Loomba, Ania
- The Bakhtin Reader / Morris, Pam
- Postcolonial Literatures: A New Casebook / Parker, Michael and Roger Starkey. eds
- Culture and Imperialism / Said, Edward
- Orientalism / Said, Edward
- Out of Place / Said, Edward
- Postcolonial Literatures in English: History Language Theory / Walder, Dennis
- Key Concepts in Postcolonial Literature / Wisker, Gina
Digital Certification
To complete the course and receive a certificate, you will be required to attend at least 80% of the classes on the course and pass your final assignment. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £257.00 |
| Take this course for CATS points | £10.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Tutor
Prof Michael Parker
Michael Parker has worked in Continuing Education since 2016, and, before that, taught in UK, European and US universities. The author/ editor of ten books to date on Irish/ Northern Irish, English and Postcolonial Literature, his next publication explores Seamus Heaney's poetry and translations.
Course aims
The course will examine and evaluate how writers from diverse cultures have engaged with issues of race, identity, politics, history, gender and class. A common thread will be the cruelties and injustice of the colonial enterprise and the deep psychological and cultural scars it inflicted.
Course objectives:
- To analyse, evaluate and appreciate a range of remarkable texts.
- To develop an understanding of the political, historical, and cultural contexts from which they have emerged.
- To consolidate the students' sense of confidence in their own authority as readers of texts.
Teaching methods
The course will be taught by means of seminars, to which everyone will be expected to contribute. Tasks will be assigned weekly to pairs or small groups whose findings will provide a basis for general discussion. This is intended to foster an active, participatory, independent approach to learning, developing the students' critical faculties and confidence, and consolidating and developing written and oral skills. Students will regularly receive preparatory reading material from the tutor, designed to enhance their understanding of the primary texts.
Time will be allocated by the tutor to give feedback to each individual student on their formative piece and to discuss the topic of their final essay.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
- convey through their oral and written work a sound understanding of the selected texts, demonstrating their ability to analyse and evaluate their concerns and formal qualities;
- recognise the significance of the particular cultural, political and historical contexts in which these novels have been produced;
- understand the value and limitations of some of the theoretical models that have been applied to Postcolonial literary texts.
Assessment methods
Assessment will take the form of a formative essay in week 4, which will involve a close analysis of a short section from one of the early texts. This will then be followed by an end-of-course essay of c.1500 words, which might involve a focus on an aspect of a single text or a comparison of two texts and how they have explored a common theme.
Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form
Application
To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).
Level and demands
No special background knowledge required.
Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.
To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.
Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.