“Rethinking the Caribbean:
An Introductory Course on Caribbean Literature”IRSC Students: In Spring 2022, I will be teaching an exciting course: “Introduction to Caribbean Literature (Lit 2190);” we will follow the synchronous model (online), and the class will meet online on Tuesdays, from 5:30 PM-6:45 PM. This course is an exploration of Caribbean literature within the cultural context and historical events (i.e. slavery, colonization, imperialism) that have shaped the Caribbean nations and their people.

“Rethinking the Caribbean:
An Introductory Course on Caribbean Literature”

#IRSC Students: In Spring 2022, I will be teaching an exciting course: “Introduction to Caribbean Literature (Lit 2190);” we will follow the synchronous model (online), and the class will meet online on Tuesdays, from 5:30 PM-6:45 PM. This course is an exploration of Caribbean literature within the cultural context and historical events (i.e. slavery, colonization, imperialism) that have shaped the Caribbean nations and their people.

We will be reading novels, poetry, plays, and academic essays to inform our understanding of the birth and development of Caribbean literature, as well as to get a better perspective on issues relating to regional identity and culture, nationalism, postcolonialism, poverty, economic challenges, environmental issues, etc. The course will explore different theories of Caribbean Literature. We will be reading both classic and contemporary Caribbean writers and explore the major ideas of the Caribbean thinkers and theorists that have shaped our understanding of the Region and its literary expression.

Since this is a survey course, students will be introduced to the works of the most influential Caribbean writers, including Claude McKay, C. L. R. James, Aimé Césaire, Patrick Chamoiseau, Frantz Fanon, Earl Lovelace, Sylvia Wynter, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, George Lamming, Jean Rhys, Wilson Harris, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, René Philoctète, René Depestre, Edwidge Danticat, Myriam J.A. Chancy, Sam Selvon, Jean Price-Mars, Jacques Roumain, V.S. Naipaul, Jan Carew, Edouard Glissant, Maryse Condé, Paul Marshall, Antonio Benitez-Rojo, Nicolás Guillén, Junot Diaz, Julia Alvarez, Silvio Torres-Saillant, etc.

Required Texts for the Course:

1. Allison Donnell and Sarah Lawrence Welsh, editors, “The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature, (Routledge, 1996). ISBN-13 ‏: ‎ 978-0415120494
2. Edwidge Danticat, “The Farming of Bones” (Soho Press, 2013). ISBN-13 ‏: ‎ 978-1616953492

• There will be several essays assigned and two films to watch.
  *The course is open to non-IRSC and transient students.