Decolonial South Asia’s Speculative Futures
The “Global South” is an umbrella term referencing the emergence of “post-colonial nations” after a wave of decolonization that occurred in the middle of the twentieth century.This course investigates the global connections between politics, development and literature sparked by this mid-century paradigm-shift. Taking up South Asian decolonization as an exemplary case study, we will read speculative fiction from the region, paired with historical, political, theoretical essays on Global South histories of decolonization, development, and political radicalism. Through an exploration of how the British Empire’s “crown jewel” shook off the yoke of settler colonialism and sought to define its place in the mid twentieth century’s decolonizing world, we will formulate and debate larger questions about the meaning of the “Global South” and the cultural, political, economic importance of the six decades following the end of colonialism. What did decolonization mean, politically and culturally? What kinds of literary and cultural movements did it inspire? How did dreams of political freedom influence theories of utopia and experiments in fiction?