Cult E: Palestinian Literature as World Literature

This course uses Palestinian literature (prose and poetry) to provide context for understanding the Palestinian struggle against occupation, apartheid, and genocide. Students will reflect on the idea of a "world-system", a concept we inherit from Immanuel Wallerstein, and consider the "combined and uneven development" of state power. In turn, we will consider how the patterns of dispossession and settler-colonialism shape the social and cultural identity of Palestine, and how these connected with broader forces of modernity and colonial power. In doing so, will think of Palestinian Literature as world literature, changing our orientation towards texts in a way that helps us illuminate the dynamics that structure power worldwide.