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“We are here because you were there.” This is often the explanations of migrants living in Europe and feeling rejected and denied citizenship despite of their clear link with the histories of European modernities which are deeply untangled with that of colonialism.
Postcolonial studies is an exciting interdisciplinary field which engages with different histories and perspectives, unearthing silenced stories and marginal positions while accounting for alternative notions of agency and political participation. To explore ‘what lies beneath’ the official history and the dominant mainstream narrative of conquest and domination is often essential in order to understand the roots of present conflicts, based on territorial, identitarian or religious disputes. It contests the notion of the clash of civilization between East and West, and explores the entanglement of history and politics through space and time. It does so also through the work of literature, art and media, which reflect upon contemporary patterns of migration, forms of representation, racial discourses, gender structures and questions of language and identity.
Postcolonial criticism aims, therefore, at analyzing the relation of power and resistance among different cultures, groups and subjects by providing alternative tools and methodologies that contest dominant forms of narration, representation and knowledge production.
How does postcolonial criticism help to unearth the problems of contemporary global society? What are the advantages of reading texts, films and societal events through a postcolonial lens? What are the limits and pitfalls of postcolonial theorizing and how do recent developments redirect the field towards new areas of studies?
In order to answer these questions the first part of the course focuses on the principles of postcolonial criticism, by reviewing major theorists (i.e. Fanon, Said, Bhabha, Spivak, McClintock, Hall, Gilroy among others) and crucial debates (orientalism, hybridity, subalternity, cosmopolitanism). We engage with critical texts, literature and visual material, combining theory with applied analysis. We will do so by using critical essays, reading novels, watching movies, questioning world photography, engaging with the news, exhibitions and so forth.
In the second part of the course we focus on how postcolonial criticism makes an intervention into current issues such as transitional justice (conflict and terrorism), environmental issues and climate change (ecocriticsm and the anthropocene), cultural industry (literary awards, film adaptations and ethnic branding) and digital media (social networks and political activism), which trespass the boundaries of the nation-state and affect the globe in unequal and uneven ways.
Format
First of the week devoted to lecturing and presentation of the major issues at stake. Second session of the week devoted to films screenings, presentations, visit to exhibition, participation to possible masterclasses and lectures by guest speakers in the related field.
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