HISTORY OF POSTCOLONIAL CULTURE

The course is part of the Core educational activities [B] for the English Studies and American Studies curricula of the LLEAP degree, and part of the Interdisciplinary activities [C] for the Literary Studies and Cultural Studies curricula of the Joint European Master Degree in English and American Literary and Cultural Studies. It aims at exploring diverse cultural phenomena in the English speaking world.

The final goal is to enable students to address cultural issues related to climate change from a theoretical perspective in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner.

Advanced reading, speaking and writing knowledge of English

“The climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination” writes Amitav Ghosh. This course will consider the current environmental predicament from the point of view of India and various cultural responses of prominent Indian writers, intellectuals and actvists. We will read history, fiction, non fiction, poetry and theoretical texts to understand the unprecedented ecological challenge we are facing. Students will be invited to develop independent thinking and judgment on the relevant ecocritical issues. They will be encouraged to improve their communication skills in relation to the cultural discourse of the environmental humanities and postcolonial studies.

Amitav Ghosh, THE GREAT DERANGEMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE UNTHINKABLE, The University of Chicago Press, 2016
Amitav Ghosh, GUN ISLAND, Hodder And Stoughton, 2019
Michael H. Fisher, AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF INDIA, Cambridge University Press, 2018 (selected chapters)
Poems by Arun Kolatkar, Meena Alexander, A.K. Ramanujan, Agha Shahid Ali (available on Moodle platform)
Essays by M.K. Gandhi, Vandana Shiva, Arundhati Roy, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Elizabeth DeLoughrey (available on Moodle platform)

The final written examination will include four open questions based on all assigned readings and class discussion. Students will be asked to briefly summarize the main ecocritical issues, and to recognize and define key concepts and terms associated with them. Students unable to attend classes (“non frequentanti”) are advised to see the instructor during his office hours or by appointment (not via email) for additional bibliography. The exam will contain specific questions for non-attending students.

Lectures and class discussion. Students are expected to attend regularly and to complete assigned readings before each class.

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development