The Specialization in Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature and Culture, which is administered by the Department of English, is available as an elective to all students who are enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs at Michigan State University.
The Specialization in Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature and Culture is designed to enhance the student’s understanding of the literatures that have arisen out of the colonial experience and decolonialization, and the critical theory that is concerned with those experiences. In general, students will have an opportunity to study one or more of the following literatures: African, African-American, Asian, Asian-American, Latino, Latina, Chicano, Chicana, and South American literatures and other diaspora literatures, and the literatures of native peoples. While the focus is generally upon non-Western areas, those aspects of American, British, and Irish literature that fall under this rubric will also be included.
Students who plan to complete the requirements for the specialization must contact the undergraduate advisor for postcolonial and diaspora literature and culture in the Department of English and sign a statement of interest in the specialization. The student’s program of study for the specialization must be approved by that advisor.
Students who elect the Specialization in Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature and Culture are encouraged to complete one or more of the following courses in partial fulfillment of the university Integrative Studies requirement: Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities 211A, 211B, 211C; Integrative Studies in Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences 215, 315, 330A, 330C, 335, 336.
With the approval of the department and college that administer the student’s degree program, the courses that are used to satisfy the requirements for the specialization may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the bachelor’s degree.
Requirements for the Specialization in Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature and Culture
| 1. | The following course (3 credits): | ||||||
| ENG | 360 | Postcolonial Literature and Theory1 | 3 | ||||
| 2. | Courses in Diasporic and Postcolonial Literature.2 Three courses from the following two categories, with not more than two courses in a literature in foreign languages (9 or 10 credits: | ||||||
| Diaspora and Postcolonial Literatures | |||||||
| ASN | 464 | Studies in the Literature of Asia and the Asian Diaspora (W) | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 349 | African-American Literature I | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 350 | African-American Literature II | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 351 | Chicano and Latino Literatures in English | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 352 | Asian American Writing | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 354 | Native American Literature | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 361 | Asian Literature in English or in English Translation | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 363 | African Literature | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 405 | Language Use in the African-American Community | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 426F | Comparative Drama: Indian Subcontinent | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 436B | Comparative Fiction: Non-Western | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 450 | Studies in African American Literature | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 460 | British Literature in the Age of Empire | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 463 | Studies in the Literature of Africa and the African Diaspora | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 464 | Studies in the Literature of Asian and the Asian Diaspora (W) | 3 | ||||
| ENG | 471 | Third World Cinema | 4 | ||||
| Literature in Foreign Languages2 | |||||||
| FRN | 480 | Literature of Quebec | 3 | ||||
| FRN | 485 | Francophone Literatures of the Third World | 3 | ||||
| PRT | 340 | Topic in Luso-Brazilian Language and Culture | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 350 | Introduction to Reading Hispanic Literature (W) | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 415 | Survey of Spanish American Literature I | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 416 | Survey of Spanish American Literature II | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 475 | Spanish American Literature through the 19th Century | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 480 | Spanish American Literature of the 20th Century | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 485 | Topics in Hispanic Literatures of the Americas | 3 | ||||
| 3. | Courses in Nonliterary Areas.2 Two of the following courses, at least one of which must be related to one of the geographic areas represented in the courses that the student selected to meet requirement 2. above (4 to 8 credtis): | ||||||
| ANP | 280 | The Anthropological Film | 4 | ||||
| ANP | 330 | Race, Ethnicity, and Nation: Anthropological | 3 | ||||
| Approaches to Collective Identity | |||||||
| ANP | 410 | Revolution and Social Change in Latin America | 3 | ||||
| ANP | 411 | North American Indian Ethnography | 3 | ||||
| ANP | 412 | Social and Cultural Status of Latinos in the U.S. | 3 | ||||
| ANP | 414 | Anthropology of South Asia | 3 | ||||
| ANP | 415 | China: Culture and Society | 3 | ||||
| ANP | 416 | Anthropology of Southern Africa | 3 | ||||
| ASN | 401 | East Asian Cultures (W) | 3 | ||||
| FRN | 440 | Francophone Cultures and Civilizations | 3 | ||||
| HA | 270 | Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas | 3 | ||||
| HA | 444 | Latin American and Latino Art | 3 | ||||
| HA | 470 | Art of West Africa | 4 | ||||
| HA | 471 | Art of Central, Southern and Eastern Africa | 3 | ||||
| HST | 210 | Modern East Asia | 4 | ||||
| HST | 281 | Immigrants, Minorities, and American Pluralism | 4 | ||||
| HST | 310 | African American History to 1876 | 3 | ||||
| HST | 311 | African American History since 1876 | 3 | ||||
| HST | 312 | African American Women | 3 | ||||
| HST | 319 | Asian American History | 3 | ||||
| HST | 327 | History of Mexican Americans in the United States | 3 | ||||
| HST | 361 | African History since 1800 | 3 | ||||
| HST | 362 | West Africa and the African-American Connection | 3 | ||||
| HST | 363 | East Africa and Its Neighbors | 3 | ||||
| HST | 364 | South Africa and Its Neighbors | 3 | ||||
| HST | 379 | Native Americans in North American History from 1830 | 3 | ||||
| HST | 380 | Colonial Latin America | 3 | ||||
| HST | 381 | National Latin America | 3 | ||||
| HST | 382 | Modern Brazil | 3 | ||||
| HST | 383 | The Caribbean | 3 | ||||
| HST | 384 | Modern Mexico | 3 | ||||
| HST | 385 | Modern Spanish Central and South America | 3 | ||||
| HST | 393 | History of India | 4 | ||||
| MC | 320 | Politics, Society and the Economy in the Third World | 4 | ||||
| MC | 372 | African American Political Thought | 4 | ||||
| MC | 377 | Culture, Politics and Postcolonialism (I) | 4 | ||||
| MUS | 425 | Music of South Asia and Its Diaspora | 2 | ||||
| MUS | 426 | Music of West Africa | 2 | ||||
| MUS | 427 | Music of Asia, the Pacific, and the Near East | 2 | ||||
| MUS | 428 | Music of Africa, Europe, and the Americas | 2 | ||||
| MUS | 430 | Music of the Caribbean | 2 | ||||
| PLS | 461 | Refugees, Displaced Persons, Exiles (W) | 4 | ||||
| REL | 306 | Native American Religions | 3 | ||||
| REL | 355 | Southeast Asian Religions | 3 | ||||
| REL | 357 | Religion and Society in Bali | 4 | ||||
| REL | 360 | African Religion: An Introduction | 3 | ||||
| SOC | 215 | Race and Ethnicity | 3 | ||||
| SOC | 362 | Developing Societies | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 345 | Spanish American Culture | 3 | ||||
| SPN | 346 | Hispanic Cultures in the United States | 3 | ||||
| WS | 403 | Women and Change in Developing Countries | 3 | ||||
1 With the approval of the academic advisor for postcolonial and diaspora literature and culture, this requirement may be waived for a
student who completed English 310D or 310E if at least two-thirds of the readings for that course were in postcolonial or diaspora
literatures.
2 A student may satisfy requirements 2. and 3. by completing four of the courses in the Literature in Foreign Languages category in
requirement 2. and one of the courses in requirement 3.
Upon completion of the requirements for the Specialization in Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature and Culture, the student should contact the Chairperson of the Department of English and request certification for the completion of the specialization. After the certification is approved by the chairperson of the department and the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, the Office of the Registrar will enter on the student’s academic record the name of the specialization and the date that it was completed. This certification will appear on the student’s transcript.