230218 Caribbean Poetry (S) (SoSe 2019)

The course surveys the work of distinct Anglophone Caribbean poets in relation to the political, cultural, and aesthetic traditions that have influenced literary production across the multilingual Caribbean archipelago. The relationship between written tradition, oral tradition and performance (dub poetry, among other) will have a fundamental role during the course, as well as ‘Nation Language’ and the influence of Creole languages in the content and (musical) forms of Anglophone poetry. The course shall furthermore look beyond the Anglophone archipelago and explore Caribbean female poetry from Central America in order to approach the question: “where does the Caribbean lie?”. Main foci include

• Poetry and History
• Poetry and National/Postcolonial Identity
• Poetry and Cultures of Resistance

Students are expected to participate in class discussions and carry out text analyses with reference to language varieties and (cross-)cultural contexts.