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A recent resurgence of interest in decolonial theory raises important questions about the relationship between postcolonial literature and the institutions, as well as disciplinary frameworks, by which it’s advanced. From Ngugi wa Thiong’o, to the writers of South Africa’s Drum generation, to the contemporary Afropolitan theorist Achille Mbembe, U.S. universities have been host to many of decolonization’s notable intellectuals. This seminar takes a synthetic approach to understanding the forms and histories by which decolonization has been articulated: we’ll survey fiction, personal and political essays, and “theory” to make sense of the various tensions at decolonization’s core (e.g. territorialization vs. de-territorialization, internationalism vs. cosmopolitanism, or text vs. context). Writers studied will include Frantz Fanon, Lewis Nkosi, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Walter Mignolo, An Yountae, Kwame Nkrumah, Hamid Dabashi, Buchi Emecheta, and Sylvia Wynter, among others.