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135032 PS Postcolonial Literary Theory (2025W)
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
Es findet ein begleitendes Tutorium statt: Mi 14.15-15.45 Uhr, SR3.
Registration/Deregistration
Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).
- Registration is open from Mo 01.09.2025 00:01 to Sa 20.09.2025 23:59
- Deregistration possible until Fr 31.10.2025 23:59
Details
max. 25 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
- Dobrota Pucherova
- Antonia Zarth (Student Tutor)
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
Start date: October 6
Attendance at the first teaching unit is required (course introduction, allocation of remaining places if necessary, allocation of presentation topics).
Absence in the first unit results in automatic de-registration from the course, unless you provide a serious reason for your absence beforehand.
- Monday 06.10. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 13.10. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 20.10. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 27.10. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 03.11. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 10.11. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 17.11. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 24.11. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 01.12. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 15.12. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 12.01. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 19.01. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
- Monday 26.01. 15:15 - 16:45 Seminarraum 8 Sensengasse 3a 5.OG
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
-4 short response essays written at home on weekly topics, app. 600 words each (20%)
-participation in class discussion (10%)
-oral presentation and leading discussion (20%)
-seminar paper, 2500-3000 words (50%)
-expected attendance: maximum 3 absences allowed
-minimum requirements to pass the course: 50% of points
Permitted aids: AI tools not permitted for any written assignmentsThe four partial achievements are graded separately from each other on a scale of 1 to 5. All partial achievements must be positive.
-participation in class discussion (10%)
-oral presentation and leading discussion (20%)
-seminar paper, 2500-3000 words (50%)
-expected attendance: maximum 3 absences allowed
-minimum requirements to pass the course: 50% of points
Permitted aids: AI tools not permitted for any written assignmentsThe four partial achievements are graded separately from each other on a scale of 1 to 5. All partial achievements must be positive.
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
-minimum requirements to pass the course:
-regular attendance, no more than 3 absences
-submitting homework essays on time
-earning at least 60% of points
-the four partial achievements are graded separately from each other on a scale of 1 to 5. All partial achievements must be positive.Seminar paper: Topics will be given to choose from. Assessment criteria for the seminar paper:1) Contents (in particular detection of the central points; clear formulation, structure and organization of the argument, supported with evidence from primary and secondary sources; the ability to read text closely and interpret both form, content and context; the ability to reflect critically on the relations between primary and relevant secondary texts, instead of just citing secondary texts as a source of authority and interpretation; correctness of methodology; originality; creativity 60%2) Format (esp. layout, formatting, and citation practice): 20%3) Language (particularly scholarly terminology and correct use of technical terms; clear and understandable language; correct spelling, grammar, and sentence composition; style): 20%In all three areas at least 50% of the points must be achieved in order to obtain credit. The mark breakdown is as follows:(1) 90-100 %
(2) 80-89 %
(3) 65-79 %
(4) 50-64 %
(5) 49 -0 %
-regular attendance, no more than 3 absences
-submitting homework essays on time
-earning at least 60% of points
-the four partial achievements are graded separately from each other on a scale of 1 to 5. All partial achievements must be positive.Seminar paper: Topics will be given to choose from. Assessment criteria for the seminar paper:1) Contents (in particular detection of the central points; clear formulation, structure and organization of the argument, supported with evidence from primary and secondary sources; the ability to read text closely and interpret both form, content and context; the ability to reflect critically on the relations between primary and relevant secondary texts, instead of just citing secondary texts as a source of authority and interpretation; correctness of methodology; originality; creativity 60%2) Format (esp. layout, formatting, and citation practice): 20%3) Language (particularly scholarly terminology and correct use of technical terms; clear and understandable language; correct spelling, grammar, and sentence composition; style): 20%In all three areas at least 50% of the points must be achieved in order to obtain credit. The mark breakdown is as follows:(1) 90-100 %
(2) 80-89 %
(3) 65-79 %
(4) 50-64 %
(5) 49 -0 %
Examination topics
colonial and anti-colonial discourses
orientalism
postcolonial re-reading of imperial writing
writing back to the centre
re-reading and re-writing English literature
neocolonialism and globalization in literature
orientalism
postcolonial re-reading of imperial writing
writing back to the centre
re-reading and re-writing English literature
neocolonialism and globalization in literature
Reading list
Primary literature:
Chinua Achebe, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” (1977)
Chinua Achebe, “The African Writer and the English Language”, Transition 4.18 (1965): 27-30.
Chinua Achebe, “Politics and Politicians of Language in African Literature”, from Education of a British-Protected Child (2009)
Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place (1988)
Jamaica Kincaid, “On Seeing England for the First Time” (1991)
Karen Blixen, Out of Africa (1937) (pp. 32-42 and 269-271)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “Her Cook, Her Dog: Karen Blixen’s Africa” (1993)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “The Language of African Literature” from Decolonising the Mind (1986)
Chimamanda Adichie, Interview with Ada Azodo, Journal of the African Literature Association, 2:1 (2007): 146-151.
Salman Rushdie, “The Empire Writes Back with a Vengeance”(1982)
P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins (1934)
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (1610-1611)
Michel de Montaigne, Of Cannibals (1580)
Aimé Césaire, Une Tempête (1968)
W. A. Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782)
NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names (2013)
Amy Tan, “Two Kinds”, from The Joy Luck Club (1989)
Hanif Kureishi, “My Son the Fanatic”, from Love in a Blue Time (1997)
Chika Unigwe, “The Secret” from The Caine Prize for African Writing (2005)Secondary literature:
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, The Empire Writes Back (1989)
John McLeod, Beginning Postcolonialism (2000)
Edward Said, Orientalism (1978)
Justin Edwards, Postcolonial Literature (2008)
Peter Childs, Postcolonial Theory and English Literature (1999)
Kai Wiegandt, ed. The Transnational in Literary Studies (2020)
Chielozona Eze, Ethics and Human Rights in Anglophone African Women’s Literature (2016)
Chinua Achebe, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” (1977)
Chinua Achebe, “The African Writer and the English Language”, Transition 4.18 (1965): 27-30.
Chinua Achebe, “Politics and Politicians of Language in African Literature”, from Education of a British-Protected Child (2009)
Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place (1988)
Jamaica Kincaid, “On Seeing England for the First Time” (1991)
Karen Blixen, Out of Africa (1937) (pp. 32-42 and 269-271)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “Her Cook, Her Dog: Karen Blixen’s Africa” (1993)
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “The Language of African Literature” from Decolonising the Mind (1986)
Chimamanda Adichie, Interview with Ada Azodo, Journal of the African Literature Association, 2:1 (2007): 146-151.
Salman Rushdie, “The Empire Writes Back with a Vengeance”(1982)
P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins (1934)
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (1610-1611)
Michel de Montaigne, Of Cannibals (1580)
Aimé Césaire, Une Tempête (1968)
W. A. Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782)
NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names (2013)
Amy Tan, “Two Kinds”, from The Joy Luck Club (1989)
Hanif Kureishi, “My Son the Fanatic”, from Love in a Blue Time (1997)
Chika Unigwe, “The Secret” from The Caine Prize for African Writing (2005)Secondary literature:
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, The Empire Writes Back (1989)
John McLeod, Beginning Postcolonialism (2000)
Edward Said, Orientalism (1978)
Justin Edwards, Postcolonial Literature (2008)
Peter Childs, Postcolonial Theory and English Literature (1999)
Kai Wiegandt, ed. The Transnational in Literary Studies (2020)
Chielozona Eze, Ethics and Human Rights in Anglophone African Women’s Literature (2016)
Association in the course directory
BA M3
Last modified: Mo 27.07.2026 09:26
Content (Inhalt):
Postcolonial theory, which developed in the 1980s, has been central in transforming comparative literature studies from a Eurocentric to a more global discipline. By contributing new methods and instruments to Comparative Literature, it has not only expanded comparative opportunities but also re-framed the questions around which literature is discussed, redefining identity, literariness, and inter-literary relations. Its focus on social relations, cultural exchanges, economies of knowledge and power, which emerged from the experience of the colonial and postcolonial citizen, has changed the way we read literature and cultural expressions more generally. Through a close reading of literary and visual texts (films, images), the course will study colonialism as a textual enterprise of domination and postcolonialism as a new discursive practice of speaking about these phenomena. It introduces the most representative English-language postcolonial writers and theorists from Africa, East Asia, the Caribbean, United States and Europe, showing how literary texts have been the source of postcolonial literary theory. The texts will be used as the basis for the explication of key terms of postcolonial theory such as “orientalization”, “manicheanism”, “hybridity”, “otherness”, “postcolonial appropriation”, “mimicry”, “ambivalence”, “self-colonization”, “dislocation”, and “subaltern”. The topics to be covered are imperial (colonial) writing, anti-colonial discourses, postcolonial re-writing of canonical English literature, postcolonial historical revisionism, orientalism, the language of postcolonial literature, migrancy and displacement, neo-colonialism and globalization. In addition, we will explore how postcolonialism has been superseded in the 21st century by the discourses of transnationalism and transculturalism.Aims (Ziele):
• identify, analyse and understand the key aspects, contexts and the practice of postcolonial literary theory
• apply close reading skills and critical thinking to a variety of literary texts
• reflect critically on the relations between primary texts and relevant secondary texts
• discriminate between ideas and justify personal positions
• produce well-structured, relevant arguments with an appropriate intellectual frameworkMethod: Lecture, discussion, written work, oral presentation