Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Investigates cross-cultural interactions between European or North American traditions and those of the "global South." May explore themes such as empire, globalization, and modernity, or examine how the artistic achievements of Africa, Oceania, Latin-America, or South Asia influence other traditions. This course may be repeated once for credit when different tonics are offered. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

NORTH / SOUTH: The Other Sun: Writing the Global South  

The “global south” is sometimes understood to be the nations of Latin America, Africa, and Asia.   If the term has validity, would we not then expect that the forms and themes of contemporary cultural expressions from the southern hemisphere would be different from those of the north?  By looking at fictions and plays from several southern nations and, as a point of comparison, Japan, this course investigates how the nations of the world perform cultural values in relation to a presumed north/south divide  To this end, we read a South African play, Kawabata’s gorgeous novel of an affair in a winter resort, Indonesian fictions of colonialism and “magic realism,” and Ondjaki’s comic vignette of an African childhood.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Comprehension of World Literature as a field practice.
Continuing development of the terms & concepts of cultural criticism.
Awareness of global literary domains and cultural conformities.
Introductory understanding of literary and cultural performativity.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: