Skip to main content

Studies in Contemporary Literature (461-0-20)

Topic

Ecologies of the Global South

Instructors

Evan M Mwangi

Meeting Info

University Hall 418: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

This course examines the interface of ecology and literary form in literatures of the global south within the larger contexts of post-1945 global literary production. These literatures are rarely examined from either ecocritical or stylistic/narratological perspectives. Yet legacies of and globalization continue to alter local environments, and contemporary literary artists have used unique formal techniques to capture these changes and activate political consciousness toward ecological conservation. As we discuss what constitutes the "contemporary" in literature today from thematic and stylistic perspectives, we will particularly examine the legacies of modernism and post-modernism in literatures of the present that thematize ecologies of the global south and the impact of climate crisis on non-Western societies. The class will also discuss the perils and thrills of studying texts and themes that might be considered too contemporary and non-canonical. What are the best methodologies of studying and teaching these texts, most of which are comparatively not well known? We will study and comment on the various techniques individual contemporary texts (or sets of such texts) use to represent contemporary ethical and political concerns, including their allusion to older texts. We will also discuss the invocation of ecological metaphors in the various texts of postcolonial theory (e.g., the comparison of the preservation of indigenous languages and cultures with conservation of biodiversity). The course's primary premise is that formalist analysis of texts (ala Robert Langhaum) is where all good criticism begins, not where it ends. While avoiding the shortfalls of purely functionalist/instrumentalist approaches to literature that drive much of criticism of non-Western literatures about the environment by attending to the literary techniques that artists use, we will discuss the interventionist imperatives in contemporary writing and criticism about the environment and climate crisis.