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Negotiations: Memory and Identity in Caribbean literature

Vak
2017-2018

Toegangseisen

BA opleiding.

Beschrijving

D'This beautiful damned island!' exclaims one of the protagonists in Doubleplay, a novel from the Dutch Caribbean author Frank Martinus Arion. And he continues: 'Dreamers, we are dreamers on this damned island'. Such ambivalence and critique is not an exception in the self-representation of the Caribbean.
The colonial history and the multi-cultural character of the area makes for a complex relation to local and national identity. The course takes a twofold stance vis-a-vis Caribbean literary texts. They are considered to be both reflections on Caribbean identities, and producers of such identities.
The 20th century texts that we will study in this course are strongly rooted in the Caribbean, and similtanuously connected to the history of Africa, South-America and Europe: to a history of slavery and diaspora. The hybrid forms of writing that this brings forth, could be used as a model for understanding and ‘reading’ diversity in the rest of the globalizing world.
We will therefore analyze the hybrid Caribbean identity in Dutch texts in a comparative perspective: confronting them with French and English novels and -Theory. Globalization theory and contemporary theory from the Caribbean (Edouard Glissant, Wilson Harris, Antonio Benitez-Rojo, Kamau Brathwaite, Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy) will be read for understanding the multiplicity of Caribbean identity and culture. The question is not only how to understand and frame the works under scrutiny, but also how we may evaluate these theories for our purpose.

This means that we will be focusing on two central questions:
1. what is the role and influence of colonial and post-colonial memory production and trauma on these representations of Caribbean identity?
2. Which theories can we use that do justice to the multi-cultural character of Caribbean identity and culture?

Leerdoelen

  • Acquiring knowledge of and insight in Caribbean literature in a comparative perspective and in the theories provided for the framing and analysis of the texts.

  • Learning how to apply and evaluate such theories to works of literature.

  • Designing and performing an academic research project into a case of Caribbean literature.

  • Analyzing and interpreting literary texts and presenting the results of these analysis orally and in writing. Learning how to evaluate such interpretations.

Rooster

See Rooster MA Neerlandistiek

Onderwijsvorm

  • Werkcollege (1 X 3 uur per week)

Studielast

Study load: 280 hours

  • Seminars: 3 hours per week x 12 weeks = 36 hours

  • Writing assignments = 24 hours

  • Studying compulsory readings for seminars = 74 hours

  • Reading primary literature (novels) = 60 hours

  • Preparing oral presentation = 10 hours

  • Writing of final course paper, 5.000 words = 80 hours (rereading texts, collecting research material, searching and reading additional literature, composing and writing of paper)

Toetsing

Toetsing

Written and oral assignments (50%- no resit possible). In the second half of term, the assignment consists of the development and teaching of one topic to the rest of the class.
-Final paper (50%). May 21st : Deadline and presentation first draft. Final deadline on June 1st.

Weging

Zie hierboven

Herkansing

Nabespreking

Blackboard

Informatie, literatuur en bronnen worden via Blackboard bekend gemaakt, zoveel mogelijk met verwijzingen naar (digitale) vindplaatsen.

Literatuur

Deze werken zullen we in ieder geval bespreken:

Cola Debrot, Mijn zuster de negerin (1935)
Boeli van Leeuwen, Schilden van Leem (1985)
Albert Helman, De laaiende stilte (1952)
Tip Marugg, De morgen loeit weer aan (1986)
Frank Martinus Arion, Dubbelspel (1973)
Astrid Roemer, Lijken op Liefde (1997)
Karin Amatmoekrim, De man van veel (2013)
Anton de Kom, Wij slaven van Suriname (1934/ 1971)

Aanmelden

Inschrijven via uSis is verplicht.
Algemene informatie over uSis is te vinden op Nederlands en English

Let op: studenten die geen MA Neerlandistiek studeren dienen voor goedkeuring c.q. toelating eerst contact op te nemen met de studiecoördinator

Aanmelden Studeren à la carte en Contractonderwijs

Niet van toepassing

Contact

Voor inhoudelijk vragen omtrent deze cursus kun je contact opnemen met Prof.dr. Yra van Dijk

Voor praktische vragen kun je je wenden tot het secretariaat van de Opleiding Nederlandse Taal en Cultuur/Neerlandistiek. Dit valt onder de Onderwijsadministratie P.N. van Eyckhof 4, kamer 101A. Tel. 071 5272 2144. Het e-mail adres is ndd@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Opmerkingen

(werkstukken en opdrachten mogen in het Nederlands geschreven worden).