In this contemporary epoch marked by violence, when the failure of decolonization has
resulted in unresolved and ongoing conflict; when goods, bodies and identities are constantly
in flux; and when questions about the impact of over-consumption on the environment are at
their most worrying, the presence of Western imperial ideology can be discerned more than
ever before. This module blends the reading of a range of contemporary literary texts
addressing these challenges and produced in the twenty-first century with that of recent
critical trends emerging from the ever-expanding field of Postcolonial theory as it explores
the relationship between writers and socio-political and cultural histories in the making.
Topics may include: the post 9/11 condition; refugee, migrant and diasporic cultures; the
relationship between the local and the global; trauma and memory.
