The Other Writes Back English 2900 T03: CRN 15398

Dr. Fernando de Toro

Office: Fletcher Argue Building Room 628 e-mail: Fernando.Detoro@umanitoba.ca 

Telephone: 474-8141 Academic Term: Fall 2015

Day, Time and Location: MWF 14:30-15:20 - TIER 313 Office Hours: MTWTHF 13:30-14:30

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~fdetoro/E2900/

Introduction

  When Bill Ashcroft, Gereth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin

wrote in 1989 The Empire Writes Back, something changed in the theoretical and critical landscape of former Colonial Studies, by replacing them by Post-Colonial Studies. However, the former had already been introduced by Orientalism by Edward Said (1978).

The objective of this course is to introduce students to Post-Colonial Studies and to literary works of the ‘Other’ in order to explore issues pertaining to alterity and identity in the literary practices of different peoples around the globe who write in English.

Introduction

  At the same time our aim is to establish a dialogue

between the various pot-colonial theories and the fictional texts to be considered in order to re-think how we interpret significant fictional works written within a new, third space, cultural activity.

Thus, the theoretical and literary corpus selected reflects this in-between space produced in different geographies in different cultural formations, and many locations of knowledge production, resulting in a whole array of issues pertaining to race, gender, and representation.

II. Method of Evaluation

Number of Assignments: 3

  Dates, length and value: 1) October 23: A 800 word essay – 25% 2) November 20: A 900 word essay – 35% 3) December 9: A1300 word essay - 40%

II. Readings: Fiction Coetzee, J.M. (1980). Waiting for the Barbarians. London:

Vintage Books. Farah, Nuruddin. (1986). Maps London: Penguin Books Holmström, Lakshmi. (1990). The Inner Courtyard. Stories

by Indian Women. London: Virgo Press. Lahiri, Jhumpa. (1999). Interpreter of Maladies. Boston –

New York: Houghton Mifflin. Morrison, Tony. (2008). A Mercy. New York: Knopf

Canada. Ondaatje, Michael. (2008). Divisadero. Toronto: Vintage

Canada. Rushdie, Salman. (1996). East.West. Toronto: Vintage

Canada.

II. Readings: Fiction

Vassanji, M.G. (2007). 2007). The Assassin’s Song. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.

Walker, Alice. (1982). The Color Purple. New York: Washington Square Press.

IV. Reading Schedule

September 11: Course Outline presentation September 14: Essay Writing / Notes / Bibliography   September 16: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 18: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 21: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 23: Introduction to Post-Coloniality September 25: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  September 28: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  September 30: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  October 2: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  November 6: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple

IV. Reading Schedule

October 5: Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and HelenTiffin. The Empire Writes Back 

October 7: Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back 

October 9: Coetzee, J.M: Waiting for the Barbarians October 12: Thanksgiving Day  October 14: Coetzee, J.M: Waiting for the Barbarians  October 16: Coetzee, J.M: Waiting for the Barbarians  October 19: Farah, Nuruddin: Maps  October 21: Farah, Nuruddin: Maps October 23: Farah, Nuruddin: Maps  October 23: First Paper

IV. Reading Schedule

October 26: Morrison, Tony: A Mercy   October 28: Morrison, Tony: A Mercy  October 30: Morrison, Tony: A Mercy  November 2: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple November 4: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple   November 6: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple  November 9: Rushdie, Salman: East. West  November 11: Remembrance Day  November 13: Rushdie, Salman: East. West  November 16: Rushdie, Salman: East. West

IV. Reading Schedule

November 18: Vassanji, M.G.: The Assassin’s Song  November 18: Voluntary Withdrawal (VW) deadline  November 20: Vassanji, M.G.:The Assassin’s Song  November 23: Vassanji, M.G.:The Assassin’s Song  November 25: Holmström, Lakshmi: The Inner

Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women  November 27: Holmström, Lakshmi: The Inner

Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women  November 30: Holmström, Lakshmi: The Inner

Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women  December 2: Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies

IV. Reading Schedule

December 7:Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies  December 9:Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

1. VW Date: Last day for withdrawal from Fall, Winter or Fall/Winter courses: November 18th

2. Attendance (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 7.1): Regular attendance and participation are critical to student success. An instructor may initiate procedures to debar a student from attending classes and from final examinations and/or from receiving credit where unexcused absences exceed those permitted by the faculty or school regulations.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

A student may be debarred from class and examinations by action of the dean/director for persistent non-attendance or for failure to produce assignments to the satisfaction of the instructor. Students so debarred will have failed that course.

3. Plagiarism (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 8.1): To plagiarize is to take ideas or words of another person and pass them off as one’s own.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

Plagiarism applies to any written work, in traditional or electronic format, as well as orally or verbally presented work. Students are expected to appropriately acknowledge the sources of ideas and expressions they use in their written work, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. This applies to diagrams, statistical tables and the like, as well as to written material, and materials or information from Internet sources. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating in examinations, term tests or academic work is subject to serious academic penalty.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism in a written assignment, test, or examination is F on the paper and F for the course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as the purchase of an essay or cheating on a test or examination, the penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from registration in courses taught in a particular department in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized, to Internet sites designed to detect plagiarism.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarized work please consult your instructor and Sections 8.1 of the Undergraduate Calendar.

4. Grade Appeals (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 6.1): Students are responsible for ensuring that they are familiar with the University's policy on grade appeals. The appeal of term work returned or made available to students before the last day of classes shall be subject to the policies and procedures established by faculty or school councils.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

If a student has good reason to believe a mistake has been made in the assessment of the original grade, an appeal of the assigned grade may be made. A student may enter an appeal, through the Registrar’s Office, for assessment of one or more grades following the posting of grades by the faculty/school/department.

5. Unclaimed Term Work: Any term work that has not been claimed by students will be held for four (4) months from the end of the final examination period for the term in which the work was assigned.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE

Standard Course Policies

At the conclusion of this time, all unclaimed term work will be destroyed confidentially.