Two Thursdays: May 4 and 11 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET Online
Lecture and Discussion
The toppled statue of a 17th-century slave trader, Edward Colston, in Bristol, by BLM protesters sparked a global conversation about Britain’s attitude to race, identity, empire, and belonging. This has also led to a renewed debate about the moral and ethical underpinnings of the British Empire. While apologists for Empire no longer ignore or challenge the exploitative nature of imperial rule, they often do offer a counter argument that the British left behind values, ethics, and institutions that were immensely beneficial to the erstwhile colonies and protectorates.
In this 2-week class, we will consider the complex historical and political trans-Atlantic legacies of Empire by pairing V.S Naipaul’s Miguel Street, a collection of stories set in Trinidad during World War II, with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, the only fictional account of Nigeria’s Biafran War.
Two Thursdays: May 4 and 11 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET Online
Reading Schedule:
5/4: V.S Naipaul, Miguel Street (9780375713873)
5/11: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun (9781400095209)
Supriya Goswami teaches courses in literature, culture, and politics at Georgetown University. She is the author of Colonial India in Children’s Literature (Routledge, 2012), which is the first book-length study to explore the intersections of British, Anglo-Indian, and Bengali children’s literature and defining historical moments in colonial India. She is currently working on a wide-ranging second book, which looks at connections between children’s literature and history-writing, particularly focusing on the two World Wars and the wars in Afghanistan. She has also published in such scholarly journals as the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, South Asian Review, and Wasafiri.
REFUND POLICY: Please note that we can issue class refunds up until seven (7) days before the first class session.
