HL90ba: England After Empire History & Literature, Fall 2013 Wednesdays, 1:00 3:00, Barker Center 118 Timothy Wientzen, Ph.D. With the conclusion of the Second World War, the sun began to set on the British Empire, the largest empire in human history in terms of both geography and population. The progressive dissolution of British colonial powers mandated a broad reimagining of the English nation, as longstanding cultural and political institutions, including the imperial economy, were dismantled. In the decades that followed, tensions about race, class, and gender that had been held in check by two world wars were unleashed, definitively changing England s image of itself. Looking at key cultural and political changes that emerged in the wake of empire, this course seeks to introduce students to the network of social and political movements that defined post-imperial English culture. We will begin by looking at the rise of multicultural England as a literary and historical phenomenon, examining primary and secondary documents in the legislative history of colonial emigration, as well as novels by George Lamming and Jean Rhys. We will also consider how the new economics of the welfare state influenced gender relations and class dynamics; looking at historical and literary documents, from British feminism to punk rock, we will consider how the influx of new, largely non-white immigrants into England configured the political movements of the post-imperial moment. This course will conclude with a critical examination of English identity and multiculturalism by looking at Salman Rushdie s Satanic Verses and the race riots of the 1980s. Ultimately, this course attempts to map the ways in which the loss of colonial power demanded new aesthetic forms and the reorganization of English national identity. REQUIREMENTS: Short papers: Students will write three short papers over the course of the semester, each running to about two pages. In these papers, students will be asked to perform close readings on literary or cultural texts, trace a footnote back to its source, and put the primary and secondary text we read together in an argumentative fashion. Each of these papers should run to about two pages. These responses are each worth 5% of your final grade and will be used to help structure conversation during class. Essays: Over the course of the semester, students will write three essays of 6-8 pages, concentrating on specific historical, thematic, and formal aspects of the issues we will explore. I encourage students to craft paper topics that suit their interests, and they are welcome to draw from and expand upon idea they elaborate in their response papers. These essays, however, must take an argumentative position and put literary and historical material into conversation by using close reading techniques. 1
Engagement with the Intellectual Community: Students will also be evaluated on their overall contribution to the intellectual community of the class. Your reflections on the common reading, your critical responses to your peers writing, and your active participation in class discussions will all factor into your grade for the course. I expect you to come to every single meeting ready to speak your mind about the topic of the day. GRADING Short papers (2 pages): 5% - Close reading a literary/cultural text 5% - Follow the footnote exercise 5% - Response paper Essays (6-8 pages): 20% - First essay 20% - Second essay 25% - Third essay Participation: 20% - Quality of class involvement, including engagement with the work of your peers. I assign letter grades to essays. If you turn in a late draft for one of the major essays, your grade on that major essay will drop one letter for each day late. (I consider essays a day late as soon as the deadline passes.) I may grant extensions for extenuating circumstances if you request an extension at least 24 hours prior to the due date. Absentee Policy The seminar-style nature of this course makes your presence in class imperative. I expect you to attend all scheduled class meetings, but I understand that conflicts inevitably arise. I allow each student two absences without penalty. Each absence after the second will result in a partial-step drop in your final course grade (e.g. an A- becomes a B+, a B becomes a B-, and so on). If severe illness or an emergency causes you to miss more than two class meetings, it is your responsibility to discuss the situation with me. Missing a scheduled meeting with me also counts as an absence. Policy on Collaboration Unlike in some courses, collaboration is highly encouraged in this class. This means that you are welcome to assist each other however you see fit, whether by discussing assignments outside of class, peer-reviewing each other s work, or by sharing information about research. However, all written work should be entirely your own and must use appropriate citation practices to acknowledge the use of books, articles, websites, lectures, discussions, etc., that you have consulted. Information about properly citing sources can be found at the Harvard Guide to Using Sources: http://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do. 2
Required Texts Please do your best to use the editions listed here. George Lamming, The Emigrants (1954) [ISBN: 0472064703] John Osborne, Look Back in Anger (1956) [ISBN: 0140481753] Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) [ISBN: 0393960129] Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979) [ISBN: 0415039495] Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine (1979) [ISBN: 1559360992] Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses: A Novel (1988) [ISBN: 0812976711] Paul Gilroy, There Ain t No Black in the Union Jack (1991) [ISBN: 0226294277] 3
SCHEDULE September 4: Welcome to the shrinking island. The 1950s September 11: A New England: Beveridge and the Welfare State o Executive summary of the Beveridge Report: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1942beveridge.html o Peter Clarke, Hope and Glory: 216-224 ( Cradle to Grave ), 248-55 ( A Consumer Culture ), 272-282 ( Angry ) o Bronstein and Harris, Empire, State, and Society: Britain Since 1830: 222-258 ( Winds of Change and Building a Welfare State ) o John Osborn, Look Back in Anger (1956) September 18: Civis Britannicus Sum: National Identity & The Empire Windrush o George Lamming, The Emigrants (1954) [Part 1] o Mike Phillips and Trevor Phillips, Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain (1998): 1-8 ( A Part of Britain ), 53-71 ( A Happy Ship ), 72-80 ( New Labour: New Nation ). o Kathleen Paul, Whitewashing Britain: Keeping Britain White, pp. 111-130. o Wendy Webster, Imagining home: gender, "race" and national identity, 1945-64 (1998): 25-44 (Chapter 2, Unbelongings ). Close reading response papers, Group A September 25: Riot: Keep Britain White o George Lamming, The Emigrants (1954) [Parts 2 & 3] o George Lamming, The Occasion for Speaking, The Pleasures of Exile (1960): pp. 23-50. o Kathleen Paul, Whitewashing Britain: Tinkering at the Edges of Nationality, pp. 131-169. o Mike Phillips and Trevor Phillips, Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain (1998): 158-188 ( The Nottingham and Notting Hill Riots and Aftermath ). Close reading response papers, Group B First essay due (via email): Monday, September 30 by noon The 1960s October 2: Rivers of Blood o Enoch Powell. Rivers of Blood speech http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643826/enoch-powells-rivers-of-bloodspeech.html o Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1968 [~4 pages] o Amy Whipple. Revisiting the Rivers of Blood Controversy: Letters to Enoch 4
Powell. Journal of British Studies Vol. 48, No. 3 (July 2009), pp. 717-735 o Peter Brooke. India, Post-Imperialism and the Origins of Enoch Powell s Rivers of Blood Speech. The Historical Journal, 50.3 (2007), pp. 669-687 (2007) o Paul Gilroy, There Ain t No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation, pp. 72-113. o Trip to Houghton Library to meet with Susan Halpert, 2:00-3:00. Close reading response papers, Group C October 9: The Politics of Race and Gender o Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) [~192 pages] o Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Wide Sargasso Sea and a Critique of Imperialism, in Norton Critical Edition of Wide Sargasso Sea. o Judith Raiskin, England: Dream and Nightmare, in Norton Critical Edition of Wide Sargasso Sea. o Wendy Webster, Imagining home: gender, "race" and national identity, 1945-64 (1998): 149-182 (Chapter 7, Domestic Identities ). o Stephanie Spencer, Gender, Work and Education in Britain in the 1950s (2005): 22-48 ( Women and the Welfare State ) Follow the Footnote response papers, Group A The 1970s October 16: Post-imperial Feminism o Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine (1979) [~85 pages] o Susan Kingsley-Kent, Gender and Power in Britain (1999): 311-334 ( War, welfare, and the postwar consensus ), 335-355 ( The end of consensus: permissiveness and Mrs. Thatcher s reaction. ) Follow the Footnote response papers, Group B October 23: Class, Gender, and the Politics of Youth Culture o Peter Clarke: 283-293 ( Youth ) o Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1991): 1-70. o Ruth Adams, The Englishness of English Punk: Sex Pistols, Subcultures, and Nostalgia. Popular Music and Society 31.4 (2008): 469 488 o Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber, Girls and Subcultures, in The Subcultures Reader (1997) o Caroline O Meara, The Raincoats: Breaking Down Punk Rock s Masculinities, Popular Music 22:3 (Oct. 2003), 299-313. o Musical Selections Follow the Footnote response papers, Group C 5
October 30: Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? : Race & Youth Culture o Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1991): 71-180. o Jon Savage, England s Dreaming. From White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race (2011): 154-170. o Timothy Brown, Subcultures, Pop Music and Politics: Skinheads and Nazi Rock in England and Germany, Journal of Social History 38.1 (2004), 157-78. o Worley, Shot By Both Sides: Punk, Politics and the End of Consensus, Contemporary British History 26.3 (2012), 333-354. o Film: This Is England (2006) o Paul Gilroy, Ain t No Black in the Union Jack: 114-135. o Musical selections Second essay due (via email): Monday, November 4 by noon The 1980s November 6: Multicultural England? o Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses (1988) [pp. 1-208] o David Feldman, Why the English like Turbans: Multicultural Politics in British History, in Structures and Transformations in British History (2011): 281-302. o Elizabeth Buettner, Going for Indian : South Asian Restaurants and the Limits of Multiculturalism in Britain, Journal of Modern History 80: 4 (2008): 865-901. Response papers, Group A November 13: Riot Reprise o Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses (1988) [pp. 209-407] o John Solomos: Black Youth, Racism and the State: The Politics of Ideology and Policy (1988): 175-233 ( The social time-bomb explodes and The Enemy Within ) o Black Audio Film Collective, Handsworth Songs (1986) http://blip.tv/stoffel/handsworth-songs-akomfrah-1986-5316575 Response papers, Group B November 20: The Rushdie Affair o Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses (1988) [pp. 408-561] o Talal Asad, Multiculturalism and British Identity in the Wake of the Rushdie Affair, Politics and Society 18.4 (1990): 455-480. o Baucom, Ian. The Riot of Englishness: Migrancy, Nomadism, and the Redemption of the Nation. From Out of Place: Englishness, Empire, and the Locations of Identity (1999): 190-218. o BBC documentary, The Satanic Verses Affair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqmvrajbjk Response papers, Group C December 4: Final Class workshop Third essay due by December 9. 6