166-450 Postcolonial Theories and Futures

Formerly available as 166-064. Students who have completed 166-064 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth-year honours in political science, or postgraduate coursework programs in political science.

The aim of the subject is to think about Third World futures, how we might approach them and how others have. Our starting-point will be postcolonial studies but we will examine this discourse critically and ask how it might be applied to concrete issues of international change and exchange. The course will also draw on material from globalisation, development studies and international relations. Throughout the course we will endeavour to ground theoretical elaborations by reference to particular issues and episodes in Third World/First World interaction. Students who complete this subject should be able to interrogate postcolonial theory and assess its utility; and evaluate alternative conceptions of third world futures.