GBL 2325 Postcolonial Sri Lanka at the Global Crossroads

This course introduces you to the politics, history, culture, and lived experiences of postcolonial Sri Lanka through a study of Anglophone literature. During the three-week period, we will visit four locations in the northern, western, central, and southern provinces that are key to understanding global and postcolonial Sri Lankan politics. While putting the literary texts in dialogue with the socio-political contexts of our travel destinations, we will wrestle with the following questions: How do the literary texts enable us to critically investigate the residual legacies of the Portuguese, Dutch, and English colonialism that radically shifted the island’s economic, social, cultural, and political spheres from 1505 to 1948? How does literature contest official memories and histories of postcolonial nationalist politics? How does literature constitute testimonies to postcolonial violence that reached a zenith in the 1980s with the outbreak of the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)? How does the postwar era politics (since 2009) inform the public consciousness as captured by writers? How does literature constitute “alternative nonhegemonic sites for justice” (Schlund-Vials) where official institutions of justice have failed victims, survivors, and their descendants? How does literature engage with Sri Lanka’s multiple crises of democracy that are muddled in British postcolonialism, Western neoliberalism, and regional (Chinese and Indian) expansionism? You will pose these questions while reading the texts and visiting the locations that are relevant to the events that unfold in the fictional narratives.

Credits

4

Prerequisite

GBL:1325 (pre-departure course that is specific for this class) Note GBL:1325 is currently under review as well.

Course Types

Core Curriculum - Literature

Offered

• Winter

1. 1) Gain a nuanced understanding of postcolonial Sri Lankan literature and culture.
2. 2) Engage with multiple works of fictional literature that draw from events and experiences from the recent history of Sri Lanka.
3. 3) Increase their understanding of the long-term effects of European colonialism on South Asia.
4. 4) Explore the specific ways in which Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonialism modified Sri Lanka’s political, cultural, and religious trajectories.
5. 5) Begin to develop an understanding of, and appreciation for, the immense complexity and diversity of postcolonial Sri Lankan society.
6. 6) Consider the role of language in creating structures of power and privilege.
7. 7) Develop and practice cultural humility and flexibility.