922-202 LaTrobe-Postcolonial Identities

Special enrolment arrangements apply. Students must contact the Faculty of Arts Office for application forms and further details.

In this subject students will become familiar with the basic concepts of postcolonial theory and with recent developments in identity studies, to the extent to which these bear on specific textual study. Students will develop an appreciation of the processes by which such concepts have become central to the study of the literatures of several former colonies of Spain and Portugal. Students will acquire a critical understanding of how postcolonial narratives construct a sense of a distinct cultural identity, along with some knowledge of the cultural setting of the countries where these narratives were written (which may include Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Timor). Students will concentrate on a representative range of literary texts from these countries, written in Spanish or Portuguese and translated into English.

• enhanced analytical skills;

• enhanced observational skills;

• enhanced communication skills.

• enhanced critical skills.

One 2000 word essay written in English OR one 1500 word essay written in Spanish 40%; one 15-minute oral presentation equivalent to 1000 words 20%; four 30-minute class tests 40%.

• N. Caistor (ed), Columbus' Egg: new Latin American stories on the legacy of the conquest. Faber & Faber 1992.
• R. Young, Postcolonialism: a very short introduction. OUP 2003.