POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES IN GENDER PERSPECTIVE Summer 2023

Academic Year 2022/2023

Mgr. et Mgr. Tereza Jiroutová Kynčlová, Ph.D.

tereza.jiroutovakynclova@fhs.cuni.cz

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Columbus became famous for his discoveries. Specifically, the discovery that you can discover a continent with millions of people already living on it that had also been visited by Vikings about 500 years earlier.

(Columbus Day - How Is This Still A Thing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKEwL-10s7E, 1:35-1:46.)

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Office hours: Monday 9-10, Tuesday 10-11, room 2.40 OR online via MST upon request. Please, do let me know via MST chat or email that you are interested in meeting for a consultation of an issue or a topic and we will agree on a date and time for an online meeting. I will set up a meeting for us to meet.

Semester Logistics:

-All instruction will be conducted in person. MS Teams will serve as a tool for submitting assigniments.

-All reading materials are uploaded in the respective files in the SIS.

-All submissions (only in word document format, please) must be uploaded through the MST Assignment features.

-All course-related communication should be conducted via MST chat, or by contacting me via email at tereza.jiroutovakynclova@fhs.cuni.cz.

-Should you not be able to attend a course session, please inform me in advance.

COURSE ANNOTATION

The course showcases postcolonial studies as a discipline within literary theory and cultural studies in the scope of which it historically developed, as well as within critical analyses of historical and contemporary power structures, social norms and cultural representations of the so-called globalized world, and international relations. The course sees into cultural and social practices relating to diversity, difference and othering from the positions of the center and the margin, it dissects the concepts of objectification of „the other“ while employing feminist theories and gender as an analytical category, it contrasts universalist and relativist thought. Besides the parallels between postcolonial and decolonial theories, the course aims to expose the contribution of feminism to the said modes of thinking.

FAIR ACADEMIC CONDUCT

Failure to acknowledge and properly reference sources of any kind used in assignments, papers and/or presentations is a breach to academic integrity and ethics. At all times, avoid plagiarism of any sort as it is a disciplinary offence and – upon the Faculty of Humanities Disciplinary Committee ruling – may result in termination of study. Presenting some else’s work or ideas as your own and failure to provide credits, acknowledgement, and references to all relevant sources falls under the definition of plagiarism. Should you experience uncertainty about correct ways of quoting and referencing, consult any citation manual and feel free to contact your teachers for advice. We are ready to help you. Also, be advised that the necessity to reference other people’s work and ideas applies equally to published texts (journals, books, articles, newspapers etc.) as well as unpublished texts (lectures, presentations, seminars, student papers, diploma theses etc.). Further, other forms of conveying information besides text are also subject to crediting and referencing, such as video material, audio material, computer code, photographs, graphs, illustrations, sheet music, web sites etc.

STUDENT ACCOMMODATIONS: If you have learning disabilities or you are struggling with the current pandemic-related situation and need more time to think, write and work, feel free to let me know anytime and we will find a way to make you feel comfortable while taking the course and meeting its requirements. Thank you.

REQUIREMENTS:

NOTE: Students must complete all requirements listed below in order to receive a grade for the course.

1. Active participation in class discussions – 25%

Students are expected to log into online instruction prepared after having read the mandatory readings for the given class. Students will showcase and discuss representations/examples of orientalist discourse encountered in the media, popular culture, daily experience and/or academic disciplines. This activity constitutes a part of participation grade.

2. One short paper, 500-words in length – 25% each reaction paper (Date due: March 20, 2023) - SEE ASSIGNMENT IN MS TEAMS!

3. Group presentation on topic/artifact of choice – 20%

Students will be asked to make teams of 3 during the FIRST WEEK. In order to contact your peers, you may use the MST team or in-person contact after/before class. Further, you may use week 5 and the reading week (when the class does not meet) to elaborate on your presentations and topics. The team finds a topic to present of their own choice. In a 7-minute long presentations, students will provide a gender sensitive postcolonial/decolonial studies-informed analysis (i.e. NOT a description) of a cultural representation of their choice. Such cultural representation can be an artifact, painting, film scene, image, PC game, advertisement, music video clip, newspaper article, museum exhibition, theatrical performance, cultural custom, or any relevant source of feminist and postcolonial/decolonial inquiry. The analysis contained in the presentation needs to be carried out from post/de-colonial perspectives and employ gender-sensitive, feminist methods and paradigms. Part of the presentation is an executive summary of major arguments and key points for discussion via which students may receive feedback to be incorporated in the final paper should they choose to pursue the selected topic further. If this be the case, the chosen artifact/topic discussed in presentation can be (but does not have to be) analyzed in a greater depth in the final paper. Please note, however, that final paper is an individual assignment, not a group assignment.

4. Final paper – 30% (Due date: June 18, 2023)

Final paper is an academic essay that analyzes a selected artifact, movie, exhibition, painting, literary work etc. through post/de-colonial perspectives and discusses the intersections with feminist theories and gender studies and, ideally, establishes a critical statement about social justice. It is vital the paper be analytical, not descriptive in its structure. The paper is to be between 1500 to 2000 words in length (excluding bibliography). As it is an academic paper, it needs to list the works cited, use inter-textual/parenthetical references and follow proper academic language. The paper may be, but does not have to be an in-depth, analytical elaboration of the student’s presentation. Final papers are individual papers, not group projects as presentations. Students may, of course, opt for a new topic as well; any initiative is welcome and appreciated! Due date: June 18, 2023.

SESSION TOPICS AND DATES

Week 1 - 14.2. Course overview

Course structure, introduction of class participants, course expectations, course overview, post/de/coloniality in selected artifacts

TESTIMONY / Food for thought and debate: Adichie Ngozi, Chimamanda. The Dangeer of a Single Story. Accessible here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

Week 2 – 21.2. Orientalism, major concepts

Orientalism, the Orient as a construct, orientalism as a discourse. Postcolonialism, colonialism, imperialism.

MUSEUM / Food for thought and debate: Fota, Ana. “What’s Wrong With This Diorama? You Can Read All About It.“ The New York Times, 20 March, 2019, online. Accessible here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/arts/design/natural-history-museum-diorama.html

Required reading:

Young, Robert. “What is the Postcolonial?” Ariel, Vol. 40 (1) 2009: 13-25.

Said, E. “Introduction.” In Orientalism: Western Conception of the Orient. London: Penguin, 2003, 1-28.

Additional Reading:

Loomba, Ania. “Situating Colonial and Postcolonial Studies” in Colonialism/Postcolonialism. London and New York: Routledge, 2005, 19-39.

Shohat, Ella. “Notes on the "Post-Colonial.” Social Text, No. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues (1992), 99-113.

Week 3 – 28.2. Gender, sexuality and colonial discourse

Student presentations