A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies
This article reviews the experiences with teaching Jill Ker Conway’s autobiography The Road From Coorain (1989). The two weeks of lectures and seminars were part of a six-week introductory course to Postcolonial Studies for first year undergraduates at the English Department at the University of Cop...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Groningen Press
2015-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Life Writing |
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| Online Access: | https://ejlw.eu/article/view/31454 |
| _version_ | 1818352454711902208 |
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| author | Astrid Rasch |
| author_facet | Astrid Rasch |
| author_sort | Astrid Rasch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article reviews the experiences with teaching Jill Ker Conway’s autobiography The Road From Coorain (1989). The two weeks of lectures and seminars were part of a six-week introductory course to Postcolonial Studies for first year undergraduates at the English Department at the University of Copenhagen. The lectures provided a theoretical and historical framework and the seminars consisted of close reading and discussion of the texts. I describe how four concepts which are central to postcolonial theory, discourse, identity, representation and agency, were used in readings of the text. The article takes its point of departure in discussions about the post-imperial time of writing, the creation of individual identity in dialogue with one’s context, the ambiguous representation of Aboriginal people and the agency involved in writing a life story which goes against the expected narrative. I discuss the difficulties of the course and provide recommendations for improvements for future iterations of the course. Despite occasional difficulties, I argue that autobiographies are useful sources for an introduction to Postcolonial Studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:53:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-24266649c24342c28107aa38c853c08b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2211-243X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T18:53:54Z |
| publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Groningen Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Life Writing |
| spelling | doaj.art-24266649c24342c28107aa38c853c08b2022-12-21T23:34:52ZengUniversity of Groningen PressEuropean Journal of Life Writing2211-243X2015-12-014TL13TL2210.5463/ejlw.4.16931454A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial StudiesAstrid Rasch0University of CopenhagenThis article reviews the experiences with teaching Jill Ker Conway’s autobiography The Road From Coorain (1989). The two weeks of lectures and seminars were part of a six-week introductory course to Postcolonial Studies for first year undergraduates at the English Department at the University of Copenhagen. The lectures provided a theoretical and historical framework and the seminars consisted of close reading and discussion of the texts. I describe how four concepts which are central to postcolonial theory, discourse, identity, representation and agency, were used in readings of the text. The article takes its point of departure in discussions about the post-imperial time of writing, the creation of individual identity in dialogue with one’s context, the ambiguous representation of Aboriginal people and the agency involved in writing a life story which goes against the expected narrative. I discuss the difficulties of the course and provide recommendations for improvements for future iterations of the course. Despite occasional difficulties, I argue that autobiographies are useful sources for an introduction to Postcolonial Studies.https://ejlw.eu/article/view/31454postcolonial studiesautobiographyteachingdiscourse |
| spellingShingle | Astrid Rasch A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies European Journal of Life Writing postcolonial studies autobiography teaching discourse |
| title | A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies |
| title_full | A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies |
| title_fullStr | A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies |
| title_short | A Postcolonial Education: Using End of Empire Autobiographies to Introduce Postcolonial Studies |
| title_sort | postcolonial education using end of empire autobiographies to introduce postcolonial studies |
| topic | postcolonial studies autobiography teaching discourse |
| url | https://ejlw.eu/article/view/31454 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT astridrasch apostcolonialeducationusingendofempireautobiographiestointroducepostcolonialstudies AT astridrasch postcolonialeducationusingendofempireautobiographiestointroducepostcolonialstudies |