World Literature, Critical Approaches: Reading Postcolonial Environments

Professor Stacey Balkan Email: sbalkan@fau.edu Office: Bldg. 97, CU325 Fall 2023 office hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00pm – 2:00pm, Wednesdays 6:00pm – 7:00pm, and by appointment. English Dept. Office: 561-297-3830 LIT4225.001 World Literature: Critical Approaches Fall 2023 Topic: “Reading Postcolonial Environments” Tuesday & Thursday, 2:00-3:20pm, Forkas Alumni Center 104 “’Stories’ are simultaneously ‘maps’ in that they mobilize both histories and geographies of power”— M. Jacqui Alexander & Chandra Talpade Mohanty Land Acknowledgement: As participants in this class we recognize that Florida Atlantic University resides on the ancestral territories of the Apalachee, the Muscogee Creek, the Miccosukee, and the Seminole nations. This acknowledgement is not a memorial, but a testament to the ongoing histories of Indigenous peoples to whom we offer our gratitude as we work and live on these lands. Course Description: In this course, we will travel through historical moments guided by the stories that map our worlds and our political imaginations. We will seek to unsettle conventional categories of “world” as we carefully reorient ourselves in relation to the texts under study—novels, stories, and poems that demand a rearticulation of the so-called “archetype.” As we travel across continents, guided by Imbolo Mbue or Helena María Viramontes, we will consider the trajectories of power that they map and the aesthetic forms that are neither universal nor derivative, but persistently and indignantly local—that is, materially and historically situated. We will begin with a consideration of the political stakes of “worlding” literature before embarking on a three-pronged journey: texts that map empire; stories that illuminate the sacrifice zones of our contemporary petrosphere; and narratives that demand a consideration of the role of energy in the construction, dissemination, and interpretation of aesthetic form. Required texts: Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, ISBN-13: 978-1583670255 Patrick Chamoiseau, Slave Old Man, ISBN-13: 978-1-62097-588-6 Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, ISBN-13: 978-0312428594 Shailja Patel, Migritude, ISBN-13: 978-1885030054 Helena María Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus ISBN-13: 978-0452273870 *All readings appended with an asterisk (*) will be made available on Canvas. Grading policy: Critical Essays (40%): you will write two short (2-3 page) essays in which you synthesize the key terms of a particular unit while offering (at least) two close readings of demonstrative literary texts. The first essay will attend to “literary cartographies”; the second will focus on taxonomic imperialism and the “flowers of empire.” *complete assignments are posted on Canvas. Midterm Examination (25%): the midterm examination will consist of several close readings from assigned texts—exam to be completed at home. Final Project (20%): for your final project you will have the opportunity to build upon an existing assignment—i.e., a critical essay or a midterm question—through the application of additional primary texts to bolster your argument. The product need not be a conventional essay; you may instead construct a creative text, a podcast, or any of a number of artifacts. You will be required to submit a proposal several weeks ahead of the due date—see Canvas for additional details. Class participation (15%): Informal written assignments and other classroom projects. Attendance/Lateness Policy: Your presence is vital to our classroom community, so regular attendance is required. You will be permitted two absences after which your grade will be negatively affected. You are expected to come to class prepared to discuss assigned texts and to produce written responses both in class and at home. You are also expected to bring your textbook(s) to class every session. Grade Scale: Florida Atlantic University follows a plus/minus (+/-) grading system. Numeric Values for this course are as follows: 93-100 A:, 92-90 A-; 89-87 B+; 86-83 B; 82-80 B-;79-77 C+; 76-73 C; 72-70 C-· 69-60 D; 59-0 F FAU ATTENDANCE POLICY: Students are expected to attend all of their scheduled University classes and to satisfy all academic objectives as outlined by the instructor. The effect of absences upon grades is determined by the instructor, and the University reserves the right to deal at any time with individual cases of nonattendance. Students are responsible for arranging to make up work missed because of legitimate class absence, such as illness, family emergencies, military obligation, court-imposed legal obligations or participation in University- approved activities. Examples of University-approved reasons for absences include participating on an athletic or scholastic team, musical and theatrical performances and debate activities. It is the student’s responsibility to give the instructor notice prior to any anticipated absences and within a reasonable amount of time after an unanticipated absence, ordinarily by the next scheduled class meeting. Instructors must allow each student who is absent for a University-approved reason the opportunity to make up work missed without any reduction in the student’s final course grade as a direct result of such absence. STUDENT ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), students who require reasonable accommodations due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with Student Accessibility Services (SAS)—in Boca Raton, SU 133 (561-297-3880); in Davie, LA 203 (954-236-1222); or in Jupiter, SR 110 (561799-8585) —and follow all SAS procedures. For more information, see http://www.fau.edu/sas/ COUNSELING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES (CAPS) CENTER: Life as a university student can be challenging physically, mentally and emotionally. Students who find stress negatively affecting their ability to achieve academic or personal goals may wish to consider utilizing 2 FAU’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Center. CAPS provides FAU students a range of services – individual counseling, support meetings, and psychiatric services, to name a few – offered to help improve and maintain emotional well-being. For more information, go to http://www.fau,edu/counseling/ CODE OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to maintain the highest ethical standards. Academic dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical standards, because it interferes with the university mission to provide a high quality education in which no student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Academic dishonesty is also destructive of the university community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and individual responsibility. Harsh penalties are associated with academic dishonesty. For more information, see: http://wise.fau.edu/regulations/chapter4/Reg_4.001_5-26-10_FINAL.pdf Course schedule (subject to change depending on class progress): Week 1: Introductions & Literary Cartographies (8/22, 8/24) Gloria Anzaldúa, “To live in the Borderlands means you…”* Derek Walcott, The Sea is History* Week 2: World Literature & Postcoloniality (8/29, 8/31) Caroline Levine, “For World Literature.” Public Books. 6 Jan, 2014.* Pheng Cheah, “Introduction: Missed Encounters: Cosmopolitanism, World Literature, and Postcoloniality” from What is a World?: On Postcolonial Literature as World Literature* Imre Szeman, “Conjectures on World Energy Literature,” from Oil Fictions: World Literature and our Contemporary Petrosphere* Week 3: Mapping Empire (9/5, 9/7) John Locke, “On Property” from Two Treatises of Government* John Stuart Mill, “To What Extent Forms of Government are a Matter of Choice” from Considerations on Representative Government* Lisa Lowe, “The Intimacies of Four Continents” from The Intimacies of Four Continents* Edward Said, “Empire, Geography, and Culture” in Culture and Imperialism* Thomas De Quincey, “Ceylon”* Week 4: Cultural Identity, Diaspora, and Négritude (9/12, 9/14) Stuart Hall, “New Ethnicities”* Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism -----from A Tempest* *Critical Essay 1 DUE Friday 9/17—see Canvas. Week 5: Diaspora and Migritude (9/19, 9/21) Micheal Rumore, from Black Water: Race and the Human Project in the Indian Ocean Imagination* Shailja Patel, Migritude 3 Week 6: Indian Ocean Cosmopolitics (9/26, 9/28) Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies *I will be speaking at the “Capitalism, Climate, and Cultural Study” Symposium in Chicago on Thursday and Friday 9/27-9/28; class on Thursday 9/27 will be conducted via Zoom in real time. Week 7: (10/3, 10/5) Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies Week 8: (10/10, 10/12) Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies *Midterm Examination shall be distributed this week. *I will be attending the After Oil School this week (10/11 – 10/15); class on Thursday 10/12 will be conducted via Zoom in real time. Week 9: Sacrifice Zones (10/17, 10/19) Macarena Gómez-Barris, from The Extractive Zone: Social Ecologies and Decolonial Perspectives* Françoise Vergés, “The Racial Capitalocene”* Jamaica Kincaid, “The Flowers of Empire”* Patrick Chamoiseau, Slave Old Man Week 10: (10/24, 10/26) Patrick Chamoiseau, Slave Old Man Week 11: (10/31, 11/2) Geology, Race, and Matter Kathryn Yusoff, “Geology, Race, and Matter” from A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None* Shouhei Tanaka, “Fossil Fuel Fiction and the Geologies of Race”* Helena María Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus *I will be attending the ASA this week (11/2-11/5); class on Thursday 11/2 will be conducted via Zoom in real time. *Final paper proposals DUE Thursday 11/2—see Canvas. Week 12: (11/7, 11/9) Helena María Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus *Midterm Examination is due this week. Week 13: Extractivism, Dispossession, and World Energy Literatures (11/14, 11/16) Rob Nixon, "Pipedream: Ken Saro-Wiwa, Environmental Justice and Micro-Minority Rights" from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor* Kan Saro-Wiwa, “Ogoni! Ogoni!”* Wendy W. Walters, “’We are Pipeline People: Nnedi Okorafor’s Ecocritical Speculations,” from Oil Fictions: World Literature and our Contemporary Petrosphere* Nnedi Okorafor, “Spider the Artist”* *Critical Essay #2 DUE Thursday 11/16—see Canvas. 4 Week 14: Reading World Energy Literature (Thanksgiving is Thursday 11/23; the university is closed on Wednesday 11/22 & Friday 11/24) Stacey Balkan, “Can Solarpunk Save the World”* Kate V. Bui, “Deer, Tiger, Witch”* Natsumi Tanaka, “A Life With Cibi”* Week 15: (11/28, 11/30) Elizabeth Carolyn Miller, “We Do Not Fight for a Piece of Diamond,” from Extraction Ecologies and the Literature of the Long Exhaustion* Rokeya Hossein, Sultana’s Dream *Final Projects DUE Thursday 12/7—see Canvas. 5