History, Exper. & Aesthetic Implications

Postcolonial Theory: History, Experience and
Aesthetic Implications
Postcolonial theory (also referred to as
anti-colonial theory) emerged as an activist and
cultural production in reaction to the violent
colonization processes carried out by European
imperial powers such as the UK and France during
the XIXth century. After decades of material,
discursive and political oppression at the hands
of Western countries that were economically
exploiting different African and Asian regions, a
series of thinkers start rendering their
experiences as colonized subjects visible,
analyzing the horrific effects on the colonized
subject of this mode of repression. Rather than
simply rejecting European culture, postcolonialism
focuses on the complex modes of hybridism
generated by the relationships between colonized
countries and the imperial powers they found
themselves tether to. Using as its point of
departure the cultures and ideas of those
liberated from or still resisting European
domination, this body of theory sheds light on the
effects and affects produced by this socioeconomic
phenomenon, whose consequences are of crucial
importance in today's geopolitical and global
landscape. This reflects the dynamic role the
cultures and ideas of the formerly colonized and
the still racialized and otherwise socially
dominated play in today's world. This class will
begin by examining some of the major theorists in
the field, including Aime Cesaire, Franz Fanon,
Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi K.
Bhaba, and others, while simultaneously looking at
different art works and practices that deal with
the consequences, circumstances and specificities
of colonial ruling over the cultures it
intervened. Other writers we will look into are
Simon Gikandi, Edwidge Danticat, Edouard Glissant,
Jamaica Kincaid, and Robin Coste Lewis.

Open Seminar is a series of seminars of special
topics chosen by the instructor.