Worried About Theory?

No need to be! You might be asking yourself this question: What does theory have to do with a literature course? The answer to that question is: IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH LITERATURE! Throughout the Fall Semester you will have an interesting encounter with postcolonial theory. This term may be new and unfamiliar to most of you. However, do not worry. We will do our best to make theory as acessible as possible for you.

Are you expecting nice, quick, clear and easy definitions to memorize? If your answer to this question is YES, then forget about it. Some advice we give our students about the field of theory is to be open and remain flexible. At times theory may be frustrating and that is a good sign because we do not expect you to understand it completely. Remember that theory asks us to challenge our values. It breaks down walls which we considered to be fundamental to us.

Our advice is:

DON'T RESIST IT, LET IT SEEP THROUGH YOUR MIND,OPEN YOUR MINDS TO THEORY.

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The articles selected:

Edward Said, "From Orientalism"

Barbara Christian, "The Race for Theory"

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse"

With these three articles I will know everything there is to know about Postcolonial Theory.

NO!

Rationale for studying these three artilces:

We decided to begin our exploration in to the field of theory with Edward Said's article, From Orientalism Said's essay is fundamental to postcolonial theory. His questions began to revolutionize reading and literature, hence, we would like to give the students another perspective which they may eventually use to interpret a certain novel or short story. We will introduce Said's concept of Orientalism and attempt to make students aware that Said is one of the influential critics of postcolonial theory who identifies the long term images and stereotypes of the 'Orient' as the 'Other'.

The second article which we shall explore is Race for Theory This is an accessible article, so students will not be intimidated by the language of this critic. Lastly, we will examine Chandra Talpade Mohanty's essay. It discusses the need of Western feminists to recongnize the power of their discourse of generalizations. Here are some of the questions which the instructors will attempt to answer: How do we control or modify the "homogenizing" tendency? Define who is part of the "The West" in relation to feminism. Are Western feminist scholars essentially using Third World women for their own purposes? For example, to protray ourselves more as educators and protectors?

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Teaching Concerns:

We do not want to steer our students away from theory. We want to introduce them to postcolonial theory, the main concepts, critics and terms. Our central concern is that students come out of High School believing that a Professor's primary task is to tell students what to memorize and learn. However, students attending a first year University course will soon realize that especially in an English Literature course this is not the case. Students often feel frustrated and annoyed because the theoretical concepts will not always be accessible to them. Our task is to make students aware that a complete understanding of any concept, a totalizing meaning is often unattainable. At times theory is unaccessible to those who have been conducting research on it for years.

Students must realize that when studying theory their desire to define will not be satisfied. It is important in this field to be open and remain flexible with definition. Most students will realize that if they cannot define 'postcolonial', then that fundamentally challenges everything they have been tought. We do not want to confuse students, therefore we believe that this method gradual introduction to theory will not steer them away from studying theory in the future.

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Need more information on theory? Check out this site. This is a detailed site that relates to many theories in English studies. Through this site you will be able to track down helpful information about Postcolonial Studies. Suggestions for further links to explore are:

More Theory For Me Please!

Check out this site. Very helpful for those of you who want to do some more research on Edward Said.

Edward Said