POSTCOLONIAL SOCIETY AND CULTURES

The course is part of the Core educational activities [B] of the literature and culture and of the international politics curricula of the Bachelor's Degree Programme in
Language, Civilisation and the Science of Language

Students will be provided with a general overview of the main themes, concepts, and debates in contemporary postcolonial studies, with specific reference to literature and migration. They will acquire a basic knowledge and understanding of postcolonial theory and its specialized language. They will be able to apply selected concepts, terms, and perspectives to literary and other cultural texts. They will be invited to develop independent thinking and judgment and will be encouraged to improve their communication skills in relation to the issues at stake. The final objective will be to enable students to address migration (and more generally postcolonial) literary texts from a theoretical perspective in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner, and to have a better understanding of the importance of migration in today's world.

Advanced reading, speaking and writing knowledge of English

POSTCOLONIAL VENICE There is a city that is far from England and at the same time occupies a central place on the map of the English – and Western - imaginary. From Shakespeare to Byron, from Ruskin to James, there is an uninterrupted literary tradition which has contributed to the Venice’s mythical status. This course explores an important alternative tradition that has explored, against the grain, the colonial and postcolonial subtexts of Venice, its involvement in global trade, its multicultural relations, its ethnic diversity, its cosmopolitan entanglements, ecological challenges, and racial histories. By way of a number of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry texts, we will be looking at Venice from a different vantage point, bringing a postcolonial perspective on one of the earliest western colonial powers.We will also be looking at other art forms, such as photography, Reggae music, and the visual arts, with special emphasis on how contemporary African artists have engaged with Venice to decolonize its imaginary and articulate novel visions of the city.

Primary texts
Amitav Ghosh, *Gun Island* (any edition, 2019)
Poems by Meena Alexander, Stephen Gray, Tony Mochama, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Vikram Seth, Derek Walcott (available on the Moodle page)
Essays by Stanley Gazemba, Caryl Phillips, Maaza Mengiste, Igiaba Scego, Mayank Austen Soofi, Arnold Zable (available on the Moodle page)

Mandatory Critical Readings (available on the Moodle page)

Pramod K. Nayar, The Postcolonial Studies Dictionary. Chichester, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2015 (excerpts).
Chantal J. Zabus (ed.), The Future of Postcolonial Studies, New York: Routledge, 2015: 1-16

Students will be asked to join reading groups, meeting regularly (in person or online) to discuss the texts. Their final mark will be based on a continuous assessment system based on three group assignments and a 90-minute final individual written exam where key passages from the readings.
Students who are unable to attend and cannot participate in the group work are required to write a final research paper (12.000-20.000 characters) based on a list of given topics and obligatory additional readings that will be made available on the Moodle page.

Lectures, class discussion, online activities. Students are required to attend regularly and to complete the assigned readings before each class.

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development