Module overview
What can the voices and narratives of sex workers and asylum seekers depicted in world literature and visual culture tell us about the conditions and pressures of life in the contemporary world? How might considerations of narrative technique, genre, and imagery help us to make sense of these stories? And in what ways might these narratives enable us to map the profoundly unequal circulation of money, information, and people in the contemporary world system?
This module seeks to address these questions through readings of a range of iconic literary and cultural narratives that tell stories about the postcolonial world. You will expand and develop your conceptual knowledge and close reading skills through an engagement with some cutting-edge novels and films about the pressures of the modern world. In doing so, you will also consider the extent to which these narratives can help us to imagine meaningful alternatives to predominant ideas about global culture and free trade.