1.  The Other Writes Back English 2900 T03: CRN 15398  Dr. Fernando de Toro  Office: Fletcher Argue Building Room 628  e-mail: Fernando.Detoro@umanitoba.ca  Telephone: 474-8141  Academic Term: Fall 2015  Day, Time and Location: MWF 14:30-15:20 - TIER 313  Office Hours: MTWTHF 13:30-14:30  http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~fdetoro/E2900/ http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~fdetoro/E2900/

2.  Introduction  When Bill Ashcroft, Gereth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin wrote in 1989 The Empire Writes Back, something changed in the theoretical and critical landscape of former Colonial Studies, by replacing them by Post- Colonial Studies. However, the former had already been introduced by Orientalism by Edward Said (1978).  The objective of this course is to introduce students to Post-Colonial Studies and to literary works of the ‘Other’ in order to explore issues pertaining to alterity and identity in the literary practices of different peoples around the globe who write in English.

3.  Introduction  At the same time our aim is to establish a dialogue between the various pot-colonial theories and the fictional texts to be considered in order to re-think how we interpret significant fictional works written within a new, third space, cultural activity.  Thus, the theoretical and literary corpus selected reflects this in-between space produced in different geographies in different cultural formations, and many locations of knowledge production, resulting in a whole array of issues pertaining to race, gender, and representation.

4.  II. Method of Evaluation  Number of Assignments: 3  Dates, length and value:  1) October 23: A 800 word essay – 25%  2) November 20: A 900 word essay – 35%  3) December 9: A1300 word essay - 40%

5.  II.Readings: Fiction  Coetzee, J.M. (1980). Waiting for the Barbarians. London: Vintage Books.  Farah, Nuruddin. (1986). Maps London: Penguin Books  Holmström, Lakshmi. (1990). The Inner Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women. London: Virgo Press.  Lahiri, Jhumpa. (1999). Interpreter of Maladies. Boston – New York: Houghton Mifflin.  Morrison, Tony. (2008). A Mercy. New York: Knopf Canada.  Ondaatje, Michael. (2008). Divisadero. Toronto: Vintage Canada.  Rushdie, Salman. (1996). East.West. Toronto: Vintage Canada.

6.  II.Readings: Fiction  Vassanji, M.G. (2007). 2007). The Assassin’s Song. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.  Walker, Alice. (1982). The Color Purple. New York: Washington Square Press.

7.  IV. Reading Schedule  September 11: Course Outline presentation  September 14: Essay Writing / Notes / Bibliography  September 16: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 18: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 21: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 23: Introduction to Post-Coloniality  September 25: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  September 28: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  September 30: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  October 2: Introduction to Globalisation and Culture  November 6: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple

8.  IV. Reading Schedule  October 5: Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and HelenTiffin. The Empire Writes Back  October 7: Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back  October 9: Coetzee, J.M: Waiting for the Barbarians  October 12: Thanksgiving Day  October 14: Coetzee, J.M: Waiting for the Barbarians  October 16: Coetzee, J.M: Waiting for the Barbarians  October 19: Farah, Nuruddin: Maps  October 21: Farah, Nuruddin: Maps  October 23: Farah, Nuruddin: Maps  October 23: First Paper

9.  IV. Reading Schedule  October 26: Morrison, Tony: A Mercy  October 28: Morrison, Tony: A Mercy  October 30: Morrison, Tony: A Mercy  November 2: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple  November 4: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple  November 6: Walker, Alice: The Color Purple  November 9: Rushdie, Salman: East. West  November 11: Remembrance Day  November 13: Rushdie, Salman: East. West  November 16: Rushdie, Salman: East. West

10.  IV. Reading Schedule  November 18: Vassanji, M.G.: The Assassin’s Song  November 18: Voluntary Withdrawal (VW) deadline  November 20: Vassanji, M.G.:The Assassin’s Song  November 23: Vassanji, M.G.:The Assassin’s Song  November 25: Holmström, Lakshmi: The Inner Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women  November 27: Holmström, Lakshmi: The Inner Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women  November 30: Holmström, Lakshmi: The Inner Courtyard. Stories by Indian Women  December 2: Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies

11.  IV. Reading Schedule  December 7:Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies  December 9:Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies

12.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  1. VW Date: Last day for withdrawal from Fall, Winter or Fall/Winter courses: November 18th  2. Attendance (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 7.1): Regular attendance and participation are critical to student success. An instructor may initiate procedures to debar a student from attending classes and from final examinations and/or from receiving credit where unexcused absences exceed those permitted by the faculty or school regulations.

13.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  A student may be debarred from class and examinations by action of the dean/director for persistent non-attendance or for failure to produce assignments to the satisfaction of the instructor. Students so debarred will have failed that course.  3. Plagiarism (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 8.1): To plagiarize is to take ideas or words of another person and pass them off as one’s own.

14.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  Plagiarism applies to any written work, in traditional or electronic format, as well as orally or verbally presented work. Students are expected to appropriately acknowledge the sources of ideas and expressions they use in their written work, whether quoted directly or paraphrased. This applies to diagrams, statistical tables and the like, as well as to written material, and materials or information from Internet sources. Plagiarism or any other form of cheating in examinations, term tests or academic work is subject to serious academic penalty.

15.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism in a written assignment, test, or examination is F on the paper and F for the course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as the purchase of an essay or cheating on a test or examination, the penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from registration in courses taught in a particular department in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized, to Internet sites designed to detect plagiarism.

16.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarized work please consult your instructor and Sections 8.1 of the Undergraduate Calendar.  4. Grade Appeals (Undergraduate Calendar, Section 6.1): Students are responsible for ensuring that they are familiar with the University's policy on grade appeals. The appeal of term work returned or made available to students before the last day of classes shall be subject to the policies and procedures established by faculty or school councils.

17.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  If a student has good reason to believe a mistake has been made in the assessment of the original grade, an appeal of the assigned grade may be made. A student may enter an appeal, through the Registrar’s Office, for assessment of one or more grades following the posting of grades by the faculty/school/department.  5. Unclaimed Term Work: Any term work that has not been claimed by students will be held for four (4) months from the end of the final examination period for the term in which the work was assigned.

18.  THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA  DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FILM, and THEATRE  Standard Course Policies  At the conclusion of this time, all unclaimed term work will be destroyed confidentially.