Course Syllabus
Postcolonial Europe:Narrative, Nationalism, and Race |
 |
| Semester & Location: |
Spring 2020 - DIS Copenhagen |
| Type & Credits: |
Elective Course - 3 credits |
| Major Disciplines: |
Literature, History, Anthropology |
| Faculty Members: |
Birgitte Duelund Pallesen and Ditte Marie Egebjerg-Rantzau |
| Program Coordinator: |
Katrine Trolle - ktr@dis.dk |
| Time & Place: |
Mondays & Thursdays 11.40-13.00 in F24-206 |
Description of Course
In Europe, the colonial past has often been marginalized in the collective memory, as practices of imperialism and colonialism seldom fit into contemporary national narratives. Using the former Danish West Indies and Greenland as case studies, this course deconstructs colonial narratives in literature, film, art, advertisements, and historical works. Keeping a comparative perspective, we situate our discussions in current European debates about ‘the other.’
Learning Objectives of the Course
- identify colonial structures in today's society
- apply the methodology and theory of postcolonial studies
- identify colonial narratives via analysis of various cultural materials
- understand the interrelation between Europe's colonial past and current immigration issues
Faculty
Birgitte Duelund Pallesen
Cand.mag. in Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen 2013. BA studies in European Literature, Film and Philosophy, UCL, London, UK. Litteraturnu.dk (2009-2017), Gyldendal (2009-14), editor. With DIS since 2015. Also teaching Comparative Literature and Danish Language and Culture.
Email: birgitte.pallesen@dis.dk
Ditte Marie Egebjerg-Rantzau
Cand. mag. in Nordic Literature and French, University of Copenhagen 2001. BA studies in French Literature, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France. Vice Consul at the Royal Danish Consulate of Ethiopia 1999-2000. Educator in Danish Language and Culture at Mærsk and Novo Nordisk 2001-2006. With DIS since 2006. Also teaching Active Citizenship and Danish Language and Culture.
Email: deg@dis.dk
Approach to Teaching
Classes will begin with a lecture introducing the historical and/or theoretical framework of the particular theme studied during that class session. The remaining session will have an interactive and analytical approach. We will analyze movies, television series, literature, art, advertisement, and educational materials as well as historical works.
Expectations of the Students
This course is discussion-based and requires your active participation and engagement. You are expected to come well-prepared and ready to voluntarily contribute orally to each lesson by bringing the concepts discussed in class into play and sharing reflections on readings, how they relate to the real world, and how themes relate to topics you are exposed to through other courses or media sources. This also involves participating in online discussions (posted on the discussion site in Canvas).
Field Studies
We will be going on visits in the field, have guest lecturers in order to investigate key course themes within local community organizations and institutions.
Field Study 1
Guest Lecture and city-walk with Temi Odumusu, art historian, creative educator, and postdoctoral researcher for the Living Archives Research Project at Malmö University in Sweden.
Field Study 2
Reading seminar: Narrating Algeria - Albert Camus & Assia Djebar
Grading
| Assignment |
Percent |
| Participation |
30% |
|
Academic reflections |
10% |
|
Midterm |
20% |
|
Final paper (incl. draft) |
40% |
To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all of the assigned work.
Readings
Andreassen, Rikke: “Race Science and Racial Hierarchies” in Andreassen, Human Exhibitions, Race, Gender and Sexuality in Ethnic Displays, Ashgate 2015
Andreassen, Rikke “Humans on Display” in Andreassen, Human Exhibitions, Race, Gender and Sexuality in Ethnic Displays, Ashgate 2015, Rowman & Littlefield, 2017
Arens, Sarah: “From Mobuto to Molenbeek: Belgium and Postcolonialism”, in Jensen et al. (eds), Postcolonial Europe: Comparative Reflections after the Empires, Rowman & Littlefield, 2017
Bancel, Nicolas et al., “A Decade of Postcolonial Crisis: Fracture, Rupture and Apartheid (2005-2015), in: Bancel et al. The Colonial Legacy in France. Fracture, Rupture and Apartheid, Indiana University Press 2017
Bhambra, Gurminda K. “Postcolonial Europe: Afterword”, in Jensen et al. (eds), Postcolonial Europe: Comparative Reflections after the Empires, Rowman & Littlefield, 2017
Boëtsch, Gilles “From Cabinets of Curiosity to the ‘Hottentot Venus’” in Bancel et al. The Invention of Race: Scientific and Popular Representations, Routledge 2014
Djebar, Assia Children of the New World, The Feminist Press, 2015
Faden, Regina: “Museums and the Story of Slavery. The Challenge of Language”, in: Araujo, Politics of Memory: Making Slavery Visible in the Public Space, Routledge 2012
Frederiksen, Katti 100% eskimo inuk, Iperaq.Com, 2012.
Jensen, Lars: “Danishness and Whiteness in Crisis”, in Loftsdottir et al. Whiteness and Postcolonialism in the Nordic Region. Exceptionalism, Migrant Others and National identities, Routledge 2012
Martinsen, Lone Kølle “These Children of Nature : Cultural Exchange in Nineteenth-Century Danish Imaginings of Greenland.” In Romantic Norths: Anglo-Nordic Exchanges 1700-1850. Ed. Cian Duffy. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Said, Edward “Imaginative Geography and Its Representations: Orientalizing the Oriental” in Orientalism, Penguin, 2003.
Thisted, Kirsten ”Pioneering Nation: New Narratives about Greenland and Greenlanders Launched through Arts and Branding” in The New Arctic. Ed. Birgitta Evengård; Joan Nymand Larsen; Øyvind Paasche. Springer, 2015.
Young, Robert J. C.: “Colonialism”, in Young: Postcolonialism. An historical introduction, Wiley Blackwell, 2016
Academic Regulations
Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:
DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org
Course Summary:
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