Prof. Richard F. Johnson
Studies in Post-Colonial Discourse and Literatures

In his poem, "Under Ben Bulben," W.B. Yeats suggests that there are two major themes in literature: "That of race and that of soul." In the work of the post-colonial writers studied in this course, these two themes are seen to clash, often violently, with one another. This course will focus on representative works by five post-colonial authors from the Caribbean and Africa writing in English: Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Wole Soyinka, and Kofi Awoonor.

History and personal identity for these writers are framed by the brutal legacy of slavery and the annihilation of culture, custom, and tradition under colonialism. This course will examine the way each author deals with the individual conflict of establishing a personal identity in the vacuum of a greater historical and collective identity.

Primary Texts may include:

• Derek Walcott, Collected Poems: 1948-84
• V.S. Naipaul, Guerillas (novel)
• Ngugi wa Thiong'o, The River Between (novel)
• Wole Soyinka, Death and the King's Horseman (drama)
• Kofi Awoonor, Rediscovery and Night of my Blood (poetry)

Secondary Texts may include:

• Franz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
• Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind
• James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture
• Edward Said, Cultural and Imperialism
• Williams and Chrisman, eds., Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory
• Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tifflin, eds., The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures
• Rowland Smith, Exile and Tradition: Studies in African and Caribbean Literature

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