Walder, Dennis
(2007).
Decolonizing the (Distance) Curriculum.
Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 6(2),
pp. 187–196.
Abstract
Postcolonial theory remains part of the challenge of literary theory to curriculum development. As the author's personal history suggests, it is more than simply another way of reading and interpretation, but enables an engagement with, a bearing witness to, the gross inequalities of the world today. Drama is a good examle, evidenced by the production and impact of Athol Fugard's work - introduced as a set text for the first time in an Open University course, whiule becoming part of the author's published research. The positive response to Fugard made possible the inclusion of substantial new areas of literature in a modern literature course coinciding with the global changes of the late 1980s, in turn aiding the inclusion of postcolonal writings and theory in the departmental curriculum and raising awareness of issues outside the students' immediate experience. The texts studied demand an understanding beyond merely formal or 'close' critical readings, and it is the teacher's responsibility to be alive to the claims of contemporary history and politics.
| Item Type: |
Journal Article
|
| ISSN: |
1474-0222 |
| Keywords: |
bear witness, canonical, Eurocentric, Fugard, global, interpretation, literary theiry, postcolonial, reading(s) |
| Academic Unit/Department: |
Arts > English |
| Item ID: |
8980 |
| Depositing User: |
Dennis Walder
|
| Date Deposited: |
01 Oct 2007 |
| Last Modified: |
02 Dec 2010 20:03 |
| URI: |
http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/8980 |
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