Postcolonial Studies Spring 2026

In this course, we will examine post-colonial critiques of the “Western tradition.” During the Enlightenment, starting with the project of a European “republic,” ideas of rationality and progress played key roles in shaping the Western consciousness and self-consciousness. Such postures of rationality and progress are often seen as essential parts of this tradition. However, it seems that these same viewpoints have been mobilized to justify the exclusion of non-western groups. Based on texts by thinkers such as Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, María Lugones, Charles Mills, Chandra Mohanty, Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak, we will look at critiques of the “Western tradition.” According to such critics, The West’s idea of itself is only possible by denying non-Western countries and peoples the same possibility. This course examines the variety of approaches to examine these critiques and to examine the legacy of forms of economic domination, slavery and colonialism that accompanied the colonial and postcolonial period. Finally, this course will asks how to deal with this legacy.