230421 Beginning Postcolonial Studies - in Bielefeld (S) (WiSe 2025/2026)

This reading-intensive course offers a critical introduction to postcolonial studies. Rather than understanding postcolonialism simply as “after colonialism,” we will examine how colonial power relations, knowledge structures, and cultural representations continue to shape the present. Drawing on key texts by Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Frantz Fanon, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and others, we will discuss concepts such as Orientalism, hybridity, the subaltern, and decolonisation. In addition to these canonical texts, we will also engage with alternative sources of knowledge, for instance novels, artistic works, activist perspectives, or locally situated practices of resistance.
The course is structured around three perspectives – colonialism, postcolonial theory, and decolonial theory – and links theoretical debates to everyday life: How do colonial legacies shape media, language, education, or pop culture today? What traces can we find locally, for instance in Bielefeld and in our own everyday life? Students are encouraged to bring in their own observations and examples to critically engage with the material.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Acquire knowledge of central concepts, key texts, and debates in postcolonial theory. - Critically analyze literary, media, and cultural texts through the lens of postcolonial approaches. - Reflect on postcolonial questions within their own everyday life and broader societal contexts.
- Develop methodological skills to apply postcolonial perspectives in academic work and practical contexts.
- Strengthen their ability to critically examine their surroundings and recognize the impact of colonial legacies in contemporary culture.
- Engage with diverse forms of knowledge production beyond canonical theory, including artistic, activist, and local perspectives.

Requirements for participation, required level

Students should be well-acquainted with the basics of literary studies; they should be able to analyse and interpret Anglophone literary texts by drawing on the genre-specific analytical categories. This knowledge and expertise is usually acquired through the successful completion of Basic Module 2.
Students enrolled in FsB 2022: successful completion of Basic Module 1 (LPT)

Bibliography

Recommended Reading:
Gandhi, Leela. Postcolonial Theory.
McLeod, John. Beginning Postcolonialism.
Check 'Lernraum' for further information on the (theoretical) reading material.