Postcolonial Literature + Thought in the Middle East and North Africa

This course examines postcolonial literature and thought in the ME and North Africa through literature, theory and film. During the early and mid-20th century, anticolonial movements transformed the region’s cultural landscape, igniting new intellectual circles and literary scenes. We will study these movements as a launching ground for regional culture, interrogating local anti-colonial thought in works by writers such as Memmi and Fanon, and examining its evolution from the 1960’s-1990’s in work from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Morocco and Palestine. How did intellectuals and artists articulate issues like national liberation, Westernization, radical culture, feminism, Marxism and Orientalism?