230016 'Black' British Literature (S) (WiSe 2013/2014)

Britain's imperial legacy has turned the country into a multi-ethnic one. It was especially due to waves of immigrants since the late 1940s from the Caribbean, from India and Pakistan as well as from Africa that a tradition of 'black' writing developed in Britain. The term 'black' sometimes covers immigrants of both African and Asian descent, and is used in this sense here. In this seminar, we will explore the ways in which authors have discussed the identity politics of Black and Asian immigrants: their experiences as outsiders and their sense of self, their conditions of life, their search for roots, their concepts of home, and their travels to and from the 'mother country'. The core reading will be three novels, but we will also discuss some additional short stories, a theatre play and some poems. A reader containing this additional material will be available at the beginning of the semester

Please buy your own copy of the following novels (any edition):
Andrea Levy: Never Far From Nowhere
Caryl Phillips: Cambridge
Diran Adebayo: Some Kind of Black
Please note that every participant must be in possession of these texts.