PENS VERSUS GUNS: CHALLENGING COLONIALISM
Dr Rohan Quince, author; Jillian Vigrass, teacher, International Baccalaureate programme
Saturday 1 February 10.00 am–12.00 pm COURSE FEES R220; Staff and students R110
PENS VERSUS GUNS: CHALLENGING COLONIALISM
Dr Rohan Quince, author; Jillian Vigrass, teacher, International Baccalaureate programme
Saturday 1 February 10.00 am–12.00 pm COURSE FEES R220; Staff and students R110
By the end of the nineteenth century the British Empire stretched around the world. Then a shift occurred in the perception of colonisation. This lecture-performance examines changing attitudes in the British Empire, reflected in literature from various parts of the empire. First, nineteenth century writers like R.M. Ballantine and Charlotte Brontë represented the colonised as savage and dangerous. But at the turn of the twentieth century Joseph Conrad exposed the abominable treatment of colonial subjects. After World War I, authors like W.B. Yeats, Sean O’Casey and Elizabeth Bowen witnessed the Irish War of Independence. Meanwhile, in India, writers like E.M. Forster and George Orwell scrutinised the British colonials and saw them as bigoted and ludicrous. Increasingly, writers from the colonised societies seized the viewpoint, answering the colonial narratives with their own versions of their societies and their experiences of colonialism: R.K. Narayan and Sadat Hasan Manto in India and C.L.R. James in Trinidad. After World War II the push for independence increased. V.S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys and Derek Walcott in the Caribbean, Chinua Achebe in Nigeria, Kwabena Annan in Ghana, Ngugi wa Thiong’o in Kenya, Bessie Head in Botswana, and Peter Abrahams in South Africa all challenged colonial narratives in their writings. Meanwhile Louise Bennett, Samuel Selvan and Wole Soyinka, who moved to study or work in London, completed the reversal of the colonial gaze.
The historical events are presented in lecture form. The literary excerpts are performed.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/performance.aspx?itemid=1554768982
By the end of the nineteenth century the British Empire stretched around the world. Then a shift occurred in the perception of colonisation. This lecture-performance examines changing attitudes in the British Empire, reflected in literature from various parts of the empire. First, nineteenth century writers like R.M. Ballantine and Charlotte Brontë represented the colonised as savage and dangerous. But at the turn of the twentieth century Joseph Conrad exposed the abominable treatment of colonial subjects. After World War I, authors like W.B. Yeats, Sean O’Casey and Elizabeth Bowen witnessed the Irish War of Independence. Meanwhile, in India, writers like E.M. Forster and George Orwell scrutinised the British colonials and saw them as bigoted and ludicrous. Increasingly, writers from the colonised societies seized the viewpoint, answering the colonial narratives with their own versions of their societies and their experiences of colonialism: R.K. Narayan and Sadat Hasan Manto in India and C.L.R. James in Trinidad. After World War II the push for independence increased. V.S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys and Derek Walcott in the Caribbean, Chinua Achebe in Nigeria, Kwabena Annan in Ghana, Ngugi wa Thiong’o in Kenya, Bessie Head in Botswana, and Peter Abrahams in South Africa all challenged colonial narratives in their writings. Meanwhile Louise Bennett, Samuel Selvan and Wole Soyinka, who moved to study or work in London, completed the reversal of the colonial gaze.
The historical events are presented in lecture form. The literary excerpts are performed.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/performance.aspx?itemid=1554768982