Global and Postcolonial Literature
Online Encyclopedias
The following links will take you to online encyclopedias and reference manuals to help you get started on your research. Here you can find general background information, definitions, and history on many literary terms, concepts, works, and authors specific to global and post-colonial literature.
- Key Concepts in Postcolonial LiteratureProvides an overview of the main themes, issues, and critical perspectives that have had the greatest effect on postcolonial literatures.
- Routledge Literature Companions: The Routledge Companion to World LiteratureIn the age of globalization, the category of "World Literature" is increasingly important to academic teaching and research. The Routledge Companion to World Literature offers a comprehensive pathway into this burgeoning and popular field.
Print Encyclopedias
The library also has a number of print encyclopedias that can be found in the Reference section on the second floor of the library. Reference books cannot be checked out of the library but there are scanners available on the second floor that can be used to scan information from these texts into a PDF which you can email to yourself.
Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English by Call Number: Ref. PR9080.A52 E53 2005Post-Colonial Literatures in English, together with English Literature and American Literature, form one of the three major groupings of literature in English, and, as such, are widely studied around the world. Their significance derives from the richness and variety of experience which they reflect. This Encyclopedia documents the history and development of this body of work from A (Gemino Henson Abad) to Z (Fay Zwicky) and includes original research relating to the literatures of some 50 countries and territories. It explores the effect of the colonial and post-colonial experience on literatures in English worldwide. Includes bibliographical references.
Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies by Call Number: Ref. PN849.U43 E535 2016he Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies comprises nearly 400 authoritative, accessible entries on canonical writers, key texts, genres, literary debates, colonized regions, and related terminology, covering the period from 1492 to the present. Written by an international team of leading scholars and rising stars, it also includes entries on topics of contemporary and emerging significance, acknowledging the radical innovations brought by democratization and globalization, such as environmentalism, electronic mass media, and the transnational social justice movement. This state-of-the-art resource for students and scholars spans a broad range of disciplines, including literature, cultural studies, political science, sociology, and history.
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th CenturyCall Number: Ref. PN771.E5 1999
Finding Articles
Use databases to find academic articles to continue your research. Below are the most helpful databases for finding relevant articles for global literature and postcolonial literature topics.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowSubjects covered include literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory and criticism, and the dramatic arts.
- AfricaBib.org This link opens in a new windowTwo bibliographic databases covering Africana periodical literature (Bibliography of Africana Periodical Literature Database) and African Women's literature (African Women's Database). You will also find a comprehensive bibliography on women travelers and explorers to Africa (Women Travelers, Explorers and Missionaries to Africa: 1763-2004: A Comprehensive English Language Bibliography). Davis Bullwinkle from the Univ. of Arkansas produces and maintains the site.
- HLAS Online (Handbook of Latin American Studies) This link opens in a new windowLatin American works in social sciences and humanities. Produced by the Library of Congress.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowAn archive of important scholarly journals, eBooks and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Offers high-resolution, scanned images of journal issues and pages as originally published.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowIncludes 400 scholarly journals in humanities, social sciences, and mathematics and over 50,000 ebooks primarily from university presses.
Good Starting Journals for Global and Postcolonial Literature
The following are links to specific academic journals which are published and peer-reviewed by experts in the field. If you want to narrow your search to a specific time period or genre, finding a journal that publishes in that area can help.
- Comparative Literature StudiesComparative Literature "publishes comparative articles in literature and culture, critical theory, and cultural and literary relations within and beyond the Western tradition." Published by Penn State, the journal focuses on essays that range across the rich traditions of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
- Research in African LiteraturesResearch in African Literatures, the premier journal of African literary studies worldwide, serves as a stimulating vehicle in English for research on the oral and written literatures of Africa. Reviews of current scholarly books are included in every number, and a forum offers readers the opportunity to respond to issues raised in articles and book reviews.
- Transnational LiteratureThis journal focuses on the literatures of India, Africa, the Caribbean, Canada and Australia, and all parts of the world where literature in English has been written. Transnational Literature is an an open access, refereed international e-journal published twice a year by the Flinders Institute for Research in the Humanities, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
- Settler Colonial StudiesThis journal is an expansive project that aims to "respond to a growing demand for reflection and critical scholarship on settler colonialism as a distinct social and historical formation." Settler Colonial Studies covers not only literature, but also history, sciences, and many others.
Historical Resources
Literature and history are, and have always been, closely related. These online and print resources covering various historical topics can help you understanding literature and its times and contexts.
Postcolonialism by Call Number: JV51.Y67 2003Postcolonialism explores the political, social, and cultural effects of decolonization, continuing the anti-colonial challenge to western dominance. This account discusses its importance as an historical condition, and as a means of changing the way we think about the world.
Imperialism and Postcolonialism by Call Number: JC359.B876 2006This account of imperialism explores recent intellectual, theoretical and conceptual developments in imperial history, including interdisciplinary and post-colonial perspectives. Exploring the links between empire and domestic history, it looks at the interconnections and comparisons between empire and imperial power within wider developments in world history, covering the period from the Roman to the present American empire.The book begins by examining the nature of empire, then looks at continuity and change in the historiography of imperialism and theoretical and conceptual developments. It covers themes such as the relationship between imperialism and modernity, culture and national identity in Britain.
Empire: The British Imperial Experience from 1765 to the Present by Call Number: DA16 J88 2001At its height, the British Empire governed over a quarter of the human race and more than a fifth of the globe. While it gave the English profits and purpose, it also represented arbitrary power, gunboat diplomacy, and the disruption of ancient customs and governments. A highly acclaimed single-volume study of the most influential imperial enterprise of the modern era.
Arab Spring: The End of Postcolonialism by Call Number: JQ1850.A91 D33 2012This pioneering elucidation of the Arab Spring will define a new era of thinking about the Middle East. In this landmark book, Hamid Dabashi argues that the revolutionary uprisings that have engulfed multiple countries and political climes from Morocco to Iran and from Syria to Yemen, are driven by a "Delayed Defiance" - a point of rebellion against domestic tyranny and globalized disempowerment that signifies no less than the end of Postcolonialism. Dabashi shows how the Arab Spring has altered the geopolitics of the region so radically that we must begin re-imagining the moral map of "the Middle East" afresh.
A Separate Country: Postcoloniality and American Indian Nations by Call Number: E78.W5 C575 2012Essays questioning the academic notion that "postcoloniality" is the current condition of American Indian communities. Argues that American Indians remain among the most colonized people in the modern world; revises the popular view of the American West and explores the forgotten history of Indigenousness in America.
Search the entire library catalog here.
Materials on Literature topics are found under the "P" category more generally. These books are found on the third floor of the Chester Fritz Library.
| PN45-57 | Literary Theory. Philosophy. Esthetics |
|---|---|
| PN851-(884) | Comparative literature |
| PJ | Oriental Languages and Literature |
| PK | Indo-Iranian Languages and Literature |
| PL | Languages and Literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania |
| PM | Hyperborean, Indian, and artificial languages |
Featured Books
Looking for an interesting research topic? Currently, the featured books section holds some of the newest additions to the library's collection of research-worthy, literary texts on global and postcolonial literature.
A Concise Companion to Postcolonial Literature by Call Number: PR9080 .C595 2010Taking an innovative and multi-disciplinary approach to literature from 1947 to the present day, this concise companion is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking an authoritative understanding of the intellectual contexts of postcolonial literature and culture.
Postcolonialism: A Guide for the Perplexed by Call Number: PN56.P555 N39 2010Ǹayar's close attention to literary figurations, the politics of postcolonial theory and the continued relevance of postcolonial approaches to terrorism, cybercultures and globalization--all carefully Illustrated and evidenced from texts from Africa, Asia, South American and other formerly colonized nations - makes this book at once an indispensable Introduction to the field and a critical evaluation of the literary-political discipline of "postcolonial studies."
Francophone Afropean Literatures by Call Number: PQ3980.5 .F73 2014What does Afro-Europe signify? This volume explores the concept and possibility of a black European community by analysing the ways in which contemporary Francophone African writers articulate and interrogate their complex relationships with European society, culture and history.
Postcolonial Literary Studies by Call Number: PR9080 .P54 2011Internationally recognized for its superior scholarship, Modern Fiction Studies was one of the first journals to publish articles on postcolonial studies. Since postcolonialism's inception, scholars have defined, clarified, and enriched its conceptions and theoretical development in the pages of MFS. This anthology collects the best and most important articles on postcolonial literary studies published in MFS in the past thirty years.
Postwar British Literature and Postcolonial Studies by Call Number: PR478.I53 M33 2011Places literary developments within an expanded conception of the legacy of imperialism and decolonisationThis radical reassessment shows how, after the Second World War, British national identity and culture was shaped in ways that still operate today. As empires declined, globalisation spread, and literature responded to these influences.As Graham MacPhee explains, postwar writers blended the experimentalism of prewar modernism with other cultural traditions. In this way, they reveal both the pain and the pleasures of multiculturalism, as they seek to cope with the shock of post-imperial downsizing.
Movie/TV Adaptations
The library has a DVD collection which includes many film and television adaptations of global and postcolonial works. The following are some of our featured DVD editions. The DVD's are on the the third floor of the library and can be checked out with your student ID just like books! (Make sure to check out the popular releases when you're there, too!).
Apocalypse NowCall Number: PN1997.2 .A663 2001 DVDA United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War. Based on the novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad.
ChocolatCall Number: PN1997 .C4652 2000b DVDA young woman returns to Cameroon to trace her past. Soon the sights, sounds and smells sweep her back to her childhood and memories of the people who populated her youth.
A Doll's HouseCall Number: PT8861 .A3314 2003 DVDNora is sheltered first by her father and then by her husband. All her life, she has been protected like a fragile possession ... like a doll in a doll's house. After she marries, Nora becomes frustrated, realizes that under the dominance of her husband she will never have an identity of her own, and leaves to find a new life for herself. Based on the play by Henrik Ibsen.
Kristin LavransdatterCall Number: PT8950 .K757 2004 DVDEpic love story set in the 14th century, a remarkable adaptation of Sigrid Undset’s 1928 Nobel prize-winning novel.
La bataille d'Alger/The battle of Algiers.Call Number: PN1997 .B347 2004 DVDForeign film. Dramatizes the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France. Recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed.
Les MiserablesCall Number: PN1997.2 .L47 2006 DVDThe story of Valjean, the ex-convict who rises against all odds from galley slave to mayor, and the fanatical police inspector who dedicates his life to recapturing Valjean. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo.
