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World Literatures in English世界英文文學與電影中的
South-East
Asia
South Asia
Africa
The
Caribbean
移民
Fall, 2017 Kate Liu
Outline
Post/Colonialism? Let’s start with three
pictures & a chart. . .
What are “World Literatures in English”?
Main Concerns:
– (de-)colonization;
– Migration: civil war & diaspora;
– identity Stories of Growth
Difficulties and Relevance
2 examples
References
Post/Colonialism: Basic
Definition
Colonialism ?
– One people’s forceful control and
exploitation of another people, deprivation
of their land, culture and identity, using
military, financial and cultural power.
Decolonization as historical
phenomena after WW II (Crash Course0:57~)
Post – (1) “after, against & beyond” or
(2) “after & because of”
Q: What do you think about
these three images?
• Are they to do with
Colonialism, Postcolonialism or
Decolonization?
• If so, how?
Chiang Kai-shek
(中正紀念堂〉,《台北謠言》
阮義忠先生
攝 (1988)
慈湖雕塑公園 ; since 2000 (see explanation here)
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall or
台灣民主紀念館 (2008)
聯合報記者曾吉松/攝影 http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS3/4162779.shtml
Check this page
雙重殖民的悲哀與抵抗台灣大地文教基金會
Taiwanese Soldiers
in and after WWII
Wars No. of Taiwanese Soldiers
太平洋戰爭台籍日本兵
Pacific War (for Japan)
207,083
國共內戰台灣兵(國民黨軍)
Chinese Civil War (KMT)
約15,000
國共內戰台灣兵(共產黨軍)
Chinese Civil War (Communist)
約3,000
古寧頭大戰台灣兵
Battle of Guningtou
不詳
韓戰台灣兵
Korean War
不詳
八二三砲戰台灣充員兵
823 Artillery Bombardment
將近40,000
Numbers of Taiwanese Soldiers
in Different Wars
source
Yes and no.
Yes, because they mark three important
changes in the usages of a sign of political
(colonial?) authority and a group of people’s
sense of identity.
No, because
– KMT is not from a “foreign” country, while Japan is.
– De-colonization is either impossible—or an ongoing
process, and Taiwan’s democratization is not yet
well-developed.
Are we/you still “colonized”?
How is studying English literature connected
with colonization?
Ref. 20150825
有話好說:日本曾經是祖國?台灣未對日抗戰?17:30
Controversies around the 70th
Anniversary of End of WW II
When and Why was “China”
involved in WW II? (1937/7/7 or
1939/6?)
On which side?
– Former President Lee – on the
Japanese side
– Former Vice President Lien – ?
English literature and Colonial
Education
1. Colonial Education/Civilization = done thru’
missionary, medicine and literature, etc.
2. The purpose of colonial education: Macaulay:
"We must at present do our best to form a
class who may be interpreters between us
and the millions whom we govern; a class of
persons, Indian in blood and colour, but
English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and
in intellect." (source)
3. In India: first the Bible, and then English
literature, were promoted by the East India
Company.
Examples of
Colonialism &
Partition of
India 39:00
Relevance to US:English literature and Colonial Education
-- “Studying English literature was seen as a way of
'civilising' the native population. By 1835, this tactic was
made law by the English Education Act, which officially
required Indians to study in English and to study English
literature. ” (Eaglestone 11)
-- In Taiwan: translation of American Modernist
literature in the 60’s. (reference:美援文化傳播下的現代主義文學)
(or neo-colonialism) is inevitable, but
we can be self-aware and selective in receiving its influences.
One way to do it is to broaden our perspective and avoid
US/Japan/Korea fever by understanding more cultures than
just the dominant ones.
Basic Concepts in a postcolonial
vein:
English ≠ British
American ≠ US
English (King’s English, Queen’s
English) englishes
Q: What are World
Literatures in English?
Two kinds of
misunderstanding --
a. English literature and
b. World literature
Definitions (see course
intro.)
Colonial World 1914: The Areas Covered?
Source: Atlas of colonialism
Mapping World Literatures in English
South-East Asia?
South of China, east of India, west of New
Guinea and north of Australia (Wikipedia)
Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia, North and South Vietnam,
Malaya (Malaysia & Singapore), the
Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of the
Philippines.
Influences of India, China, France,
Holland and the UK (earlier: Portugal and
Spain)
ASEAN, formed in 1967
World Literatures in English:
Major Concerns
1. (De-)Colonization
2. Civil War, Migration,
Diaspora
3. Identity + Language, Nation,
Racial & Gender Stories of
Growth
Major Concerns (1)
Colonization
What is it?
Colonization= one
nation/people’s exploitation,
control and possession of
another nation/people on the
levels of culture, politics and
economy.
e.g. Triangle Trade; Slavery and
Racism
World Literatures in English
Major Concerns (1): Physical and Cultural
Colonization
Slavery & Racism
World Literatures in English
(Left) a boat for the Middle Passage;
Image source: Identity and Difference
323
Example:
(slavery)
Mansfield Park
History of European Colonization
in Brief –Beginning
From exploration to trade and invasion/settlement.
Columbus’s ‘discovery’ – 1492(Before him, some Vikings.) – One in three of the indigenous
population of Hispaniola were dead within two years of Columbus’s arrival; in 30 years they had all been wiped out. (causes: disease [small pox], torture, imprisonment and mass suicide, Walder25)
(image source)
The Effects of Smallpox Decimated The
Americas When The Europeans Helped
Spread the Disease in the 16th Century, As
Depicted In This, The Florentine Codex
Physical and
Cultural Colonization
Slavery & Racism
World Literatures in English
(Right and Left) evidence for scientific
racism; recent example The Bell
Curve (1994) Image source: (right) Identity and
Difference 308 (left) “scientific racism”
Major Concerns (1):
Effects of Colonization
Unequal Power Relations
– caused by and/or related to the
two above
– between different cultures, men
and women, the colonizer and
the colonized, the haves and
have-nots, etc..
Stereotyping or Objectifying the
Other influencing children
World Literatures in English
Example (skipped):
--The English Patient
-- Sheltering Sky,
-- Out of Africa,
-- Heart of Darkness
Major Concerns (1): Effects of Colonization –
Ref. Stereotyping the natives
We were wanderers on prehistoric earth, on an earth
that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could
have fancied ourselves the first of men taking
possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued
at the cost of profound anguish and excessive toil. But
suddenly, as we struggled round a bend, there would
be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a
burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands
clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes
rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless
foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of
a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric
man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us –
who could tell? (Heart of Darkness –to be cont’d)
World Literatures in English
Major Concerns (1): Effects of Colonization --
Ref. Stereotyping the natives
We were cut off from the comprehension of
our surroundings; we glided past like
phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled,
as sane men would be before an
enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We
could not understand because we were too
far and could not remember, because we
were travelling in the night of first ages, of
these ages that are gone, leaving hardly a
sign – and no memories. (Heart of
Darkness 68 – 9)
World Literatures in English
Major Concerns (1): Implicit
Colonization
Dominance of English people (e.g. A Passage to India –The Bridge Party that
creates a gap)
Narrow definitions of English and Eng. Literature– white man’s burden (assimilationism)
(e.g. My Fair Lady—English Language)
“The Empire Writes back” --with englishes, parodies, distinct or a mixture of cultures.
World Literatures in English
Jamila
Lyiscott: 3
ways to speak
English
Major Concerns (2): Civil War,
Migration and Diaspora (離散族群)
Civil Wars– Post-Emancipation (between poor
whites and ex-slaves)
– Post- WW-II-Independence
Movements because of unfair racial distribution of power
government corruption
neo-colonial intervention (Russia vs. US)
religious conflicts and fundamentalism
World Literatures in English
Major Concerns (2): Civil War,
Migration and Diaspora (離散族群)
Five kinds of Diaspora:– Victim(e.g. Jews, Africans,
Armenians),
– Labour (e.g. Indian, Chinese),
– Trade (e.g. Chinese and Lebanese),
– Imperial (e.g. the British),
– Cultural diasporas—most of our
literary writers & some of our relatives
and friends.
World Literatures in English
Source: Global
Diaspora: An
Introduction ix
Major Concerns (3):
Identity --Who am “I”?
1. National, Cultural/Racial, & Gender Identities-- are all influenced and challenged by colonization, civil wars and (multiple) migration
– e.g. multiculturalism & double identity
– e.g. “What is Worth Knowing”
– “van Gogh’s ear”--meaning? (1) the signs of Indian culture;
(2) the “Western” signs of displacement
(3) the relatively innocent knowledge of science and climate
(4) colonial influences
World Literatures in English
Major Concerns (3):
Identity --Who am “I”?
2. Asserting one’s Identity thru’
– Language, Literature as well as Different Ways of Living and Acting.
– e.g. Caliban ““You taught me language, and my profit on 't /Is I know how to curse.”
– e.g. “Situation” (Ka. Naa. Subramanyam)
Note: allusions Max Mueller Bhavan -- All the institutes in India, is known as Max Mueller Bhavan – in honourof Max Müller (1823-1900), a scholar of comparative religion and co-founder of modern Indian studies. (author of Sacred Books of the East)
World Literatures in English
Situation
By Ka. Naa.
Subramanyam
-- Upanishads印度哲學書-- The Dance in India
By Faubion Bowers
1953
“Sailing to
Byzantium” (below)
Review: Course Title: (1) World
Literatures in English
(see syllabus)
English ≠ UKAmerican ≠ USForeign Film ≠ Hollywood FilmForeigners ≠ Americans englishes ≠ King’s English
Postcolonial Literature: Main
Concerns?
1. Cultural Colonization and its
Impact on Race, Gender and Class
Relations
2. Civil War, Diaspora and Global
Migration
3. Identity --& its definitions thru’
Nation, Race, Gender, Class,
Language & Social Action
World Literatures in English: Possible Difficulties & Relevance
Difficulties1. Language
2. Culture and History
3. Some “Postcolonial” Styles
RelevanceChinese Diaspora and Taiwan’s
experience of multiple colonization
Course Title: (2)
Stories of Growth
1. Children:
vulnerable and receptive to influences of
their environment
like an innocent mirror posed to society
2. Experience of growth(genre:
“bildungsroman”)
“turning points,” rite of passage (first day of
school, most embarrassing
moment/lessons, wedding)
with thoughts and needs we can relate to.
Points of Access:
Sameness &
Difference
Building a
context to connect
Example 1: The Peace Tree
Festival of lights: Diwali (in
Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism),
Hanukkah (Judaism) and
Christmas
Ramadan (齋月)
Peace Tree – a child’s way of
wishing for peace in the world
But can the world’s conflicts be
solved thru’ celebrating different
festivals together?
Concept Map (1)
Issues of Post/Colonialis
m
Colonization
Slavery
Middle Passage
Racism
Cultural
Stereotyping
Orientalism
Global Marketing
Exoticism
Scientific Physical,
Neo-Colonialism
De-Coloniazation &
Migration
Civil War
Child Soldiers & Refugees
Diaspora
Identity
Race/Nation
Folk Culture
Witch craft & Voodoo
Racial conflict Hybridity
Gender/Class Language
Stories of
Growth
Compare and Contrast
What to compare? For instance, choose one of the themes
– Main themes: colonialism, civil war, race/gender/sex/class
relations, childhood experience of family, education, folk
belief, and migration.
– and compare the characters’ similarities and differences in
their experience, responses, interpersonal relations, as well as
the text’s symbolic treatments of them.
--the focus can be on the characters, or a scene, or the texts’
language & skills.
How to compare: (1) parallel arrangement of two texts, point by point,
text by text;
(2) Bring in two texts in your introd and then narrow it down to one of
them, referring back to the non-selected text in the conclusion.
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