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G45.1990.002

The Francophone Routes of Postcolonial Thought

J.M.Dash - Fall 2008

One of the more striking omissions from the founding theoretical work of postcolonial studies, The Empire writes Back (1989), is Francophone writing in general and the Francophone Caribbean in particular. For instance, the Republic of Haiti, which has presumably been postcolonial since 1804, inexplicably gets short shrift. Nevertheless, the Francophone Caribbean maintains a shadowy yet powerful presence in postcolonial thought. Frantz Fanon, in particular, is central to postcolonial theory because of his insight into the binary nature of colonialist discourse and the appeal of his theory of radical deracination. The course sets out both to resituate francophone writing in the blindspots of postcolonial theory and to explore the way in which a postcolonial approach liberates writing in French from what some see a the neocolonial label of francophonie. The major preoccupations of postcolonial critics, such as the interrogation of identity, the anti-essentialist thrust of notions of hybridity and creolisation as well as the decentering process begun with decolonisation which permits new global networks of inter-relating to be imagined will be examined in the work of major French Caribbean and West African writers and theorists. 

Founding texts: Fanon’s Peau noire masques blancs, Alexis’ Du realisme merveilleux des haitiens.

Postcolonial Haiti- Glissant’s Monsieur Toussaint

Nomadism and its discontents – Glissant’s Introduction a une poetique du divers

Resiting resistance – Chamoiseau’s L’esclave vieil homme et le molosse.  Chauvet’s Amour colere folie

Migrant literature – Mabankou’s Bleu blanc rouge. Laferriere’s Cette grenade dans la main du jeune negre…

The above readings will be supplemented by extracts from essays by Glissant, Bonjie, Hallward etc.