Literatura del sXX de otros países de habla inglesa Introduction

Important literary concepts Let’s consider only the “meanings” of the following words: AUTHENTIC/AUTHENTICITY BINARISM COLONIZATION COMMONWEALTH COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE CULTURAL DIVERSITY DECOLONIZATION DOUBLE COLONIZATION RACE POSTCOLONIALISM

AUTHENTIC/AUTHENTICITY: not false, genuine, real. BINARISM: the involvement of two parts or things. COLONIZATION: to establish a colony in; to settle. COMMONWEALTH: the people of a nation or state seen as a political unit; a group of sovereign states and their dependencies associated by their own choice and linked with common objectives and interests: the British Commonwealth. COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE: Commonwealth Literature, Post- Colonial Literature in English, New Literature in English, World Writing in English – these are just some of the terms being used to describe the writings of ‘members’ of the former British Empire. CULTURAL DIVERSITY: is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural decay. The phrase cultural diversity can also refer to having different cultures respect each other's differences. DECOLONIZATION: to allow to become self-governing or independent; to release from the status of a colony.

DOUBLE COLONIZATION: The status of women in the countries which were colonized was even more complicated. The women belonging to the colonized countries, however much they try to, can not have a standing for the entire community they represent because they can never be isolated in their experience, either as a woman or as a member of a colonized community. RACE: a type or classification of humans into groups, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on certain observed physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on certain genetic differences POSTCOLONIALISM: of or pertaining to the period following a state of colonialism.

Narrowing down these concepts What would be your idea of an authentic culture? Is there such a thing? Think about these binary oppositions: sun/moon, black/white. What do they represent symbolically? Can you think of other examples? What “literatures” would you include in the concept Commonwealth Literature? What’s cultural diversity to you? Give examples from our everyday life, from our province, country or the world. Double Colonization entailed the Empire and patriarchy combined. What examples of patriarchy do we see present nowadays?

race For next class, read and summarise pages 180 to 186 of the book Post Colonial Studies – The Key Concepts. Bring the rest of the copies of this book since we’ll work with them in class. (pages 17 to 19 / 46 to 48 / 53 to 57/ 69 to 72 / 181 to 186)