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Postcolonial Women Writers
Course Number ENG 277-01-LEC
Course Title Postcolonial Women Writers
Department English
Campus Smith College
Course Description A comparative study of 20th?century women writers in English from Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and Australia. We will read novels, short stories, poetry, plays and autobiography in their historical, cultural and political contexts as well as theoretical essays to address questions such as: how have women writers addressed the dual challenge of contesting sexism and patriarchy from within their indigenous cultures as well as the legacies of western imperialism from without? How have they combined feminism with anti?colonialism? How have they deployed the act of writing as cultural work on multiple counts: addressing multiple audiences; challenging different stereotypes about gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity? What new stories have they told to counter older stories, what silences have they broken? How have they renegotiated the public and the private, or called attention to areas often ignored by their male contemporaries, such as relations among women, familial dynamics, motherhood, bodily desire, or the gendered effects of migration and diaspora? Writers include Anita Desai, Kamala Das, Thrity Umrigar, Deepa Mehta, Ama Ata Aidoo, Bessie Head, Nawal el Saadawi, Jamaica Kincaid, Michelle Cliff, Zadie Smith, Sally Morgan. Prerequisite: a WI course.

Reg # Section Credits Instructors Meeting Times Location Notes
17529-F09 01 4 Ambreen Hai TTh 01:00-02:30 SEELYE 202

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