Ghosts of Colonialisms Past – The Uncanny and the Postcolonial

In this course, we will explore the idea of colonialism as the political root of Freud’s “Unheimlich,” or the Uncanny – meaning defamiliarization, the experience of home becoming unhomely, fractured selves and psyches – that is captured in contemporary literature across post-independence Latin America and South Asia. We will trace how the Uncanny and the hauntings from a colonial past inform the present as the afterlives of colonialism, and how colonial thought continues to design modern realities and politics. We will also think about the distinction between the Uncanny and horror and learn how these affective genres can help us articulate new postcolonial realities. Authors include Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Mariana Enriquez, Samantha Schweblin, and others. Films and other media also include the Netflix miniseries “Ghoul”, “Temporada de huracanes”, “La llorana” and more.