ARTH 379 Postcolonial Theory in Art History

• Tuesdays, 11:45 am-14:15 pm
• Course delivery TBA
• Instructor: Dr. Marco Deyasi

This course is an introduction to the field of postcolonial theory, including some of the postmodern (i.e. poststructuralist) theories upon which it is based. Instead of a course on pure theory, this class will focus on how theory can used to better understand and study history. A major goal of the course is to help students grasp the complex and counter-intuitive ideas that characterize postcolonial theory today.

Have you heard of Orientalism by Edward Said and want to know more?
Have you heard of “Can the Subaltern Speak?” by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and want to know more?
This course is for you.

The first several classes will be a quick overview of postructuralist theory, including Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, and Butler. Because the goal of many of these authors is to disrupt conventional ways of thinking about the world, these readings will be challenging. But they became the basis of the postcolonial theory that is the center of the course. And their authors’ efforts to encourage new ways of thinking will be rewarded when we turn to the major intellectual trajectory of the class: from the origins of Said’s Orientalism in Foucault, to the radical challenges presented by Homi K. Bhabha’s ideas. Instead of trying to “balance” the colonial narratives with their supposed opposite, we will instead discover that colonialism created entangled cultures and histories.

Readings will also include works by historians and art historians who have integrated postcolonial theory into their works, such as Catherine Hall, Ruth Phillips, Penny Edwards, and Gary Wilder. With a similar focus on the application of theory, the term paper will ask students to choose a contemporary artist and try and apply the ideas from the course to art works. No previous experience or study of art, art history, or postcolonial theory is required.