Tags
HD
Admissions requirements
What is Culture? and a relevant 200-level course within the Human Diversity Major.
Description
This course introduces students to postcolonialism: its politics, ideas, and creations. It reviews the themes and legacies of colonialism in its aftermath in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. These histories and products are approached through a variety of texts, images, and video. The scholarly texts that frame this exploration are drawn from anthropology, comparative literature, and history.
The course structure is thematic, with an emphasis on historical, comparative, and political aspects. The reading material explores demands for recognition and redistribution in societies transformed through colonial and imperial formations. Class discussion will evaluate questions of voice and visibility, of justice and mobility, as manifested in film, music, literature and related mass culture in postcolonial societies. The texts explore colonialism’s psychic consequences in such creations, and the alternative imaginaries unearthed in them.
Course objectives
Skills:
Students will learn how to utilize the conceptual vocabulary within the humanities and social sciences in regards to colonialism and its afterlife in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They will enhance their comprehension of interpretive and comparative humanistic inquiry, and, through their writing, improve their analytical capacities. Finally, an emphasis on class discussion will improve verbal argumentation abilities.
Knowledge:
After engaging with the course lectures and readings, students can expect to:
Become familiar with humanistic approaches to the study of colonialism and imperialism, and its psychological, political, religious, and gendered impacts.
Understand the importance of discourses, ideas, and images in postcolonial politics, history, and culture.
Evaluate colonialism’s imprint in the creations produced by societies after independence, in a historic, comparative, and political framework.
Timetable
Once available, timetables will be published in the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
Two weekly seminar meetings comprise the course. Lectures that contextualize and elaborate the assigned material will be supplemented by intensive classroom discussion that explores distinct themes.
Assessment
In-class participation – 10% – Ongoing
Midterm Exam – 25% – Week 4
Portfolio – 35% - Comprised of 7 Weekly Reading Reflections & Summary Statement due in Week 7
Final Essay – 30% – Week 8
Blackboard
There will be a Blackboard site available for this course. Students will be enrolled at least one week before the start of classes.
Reading list
The Blackboard site of the course will contain the course readings and serve as the repository for reflections.
Registration
This course is open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator. Interested non-LUC students should contact course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Ajay Gandhi (a.gandhi@luc.leidenuniv.nl)