English 344 - Revolution and Postcolonialism

Revolution-as foundational event, symbolic aspiration, or failed aftermath-has been central to postcolonial thinking. In this seminar, we will consider contested ideas on revolution and its multiple dimensions across an archive of literary, visual, and theoretical sources. While our focus will be on the twentieth century, we will think broadly about how echoes of revolutionary pasts inform postcolonial understandings of the present, including practices of independence, solidarity, globalization, nonviolence, the strike, etc. Readings may include works by Fanon, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Luxemburg, Ngugi, Gordimer, amongst others, with possible films by Pontecorvo, Pathwardhan, Eisenstein.

This course is open to juniors and seniors