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Homers Odyssey and the Caribbean

Module description

This module focuses on Homer’s Odyssey, and how the epic poem has been read and re-imagined from Caribbean points of view in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Far from being an exclusively European classic, we will examine the role the Odyssey has played in how Caribbean thinkers, artists, and poets have described voyages of colonial displacement, theorized revolution, and understood their place in history. We will explore the Odyssey in translation, paying particular attention to how Odysseus’ wanderings in the first half of the poem can be read as colonial encounters in describing and categorizing difference. Alongside this reading we will look at various receptions of the Odyssey by thinkers from all over the Caribbean including C.L.R. James, Dionne Brand and Sylvia Wynter, memoirists Gaiutra Bahadur and Edgar Nkosi White, and poets Kai Miller and Derek Walcott.

This course is for you if you are interested in taking an imaginative and critical look at the relationships between Classics and colonialism, race, and global modernity. Prior knowledge of Homer’s Odyssey is desirable. No prior knowledge of Caribbean history or culture is required, but enthusiasm for learning about the Caribbean as a place that produces culture is necessary.

Module aims - intentions of the module

•   To give you the opportunity to engage with the global scope of classical reception, beyond the cultural and philosophical traditions of Europe.

•   To engage with critical questions Caribbean authors frame vis-à-vis the Odyssey.

•   To demonstrate that the vibrant literary and philosophical cultures of the Caribbean are vantage points for scrutinizing the notion of the classical itself, along with ideas about modernity and empire.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key themes in classical reception scholarship on the Odyssey
• 2. Explain the stakes of reading Homer through post-colonial frameworks and describe critiques of Eurocentrism
• 3. Demonstrate awareness of a broad range of twentieth century Caribbean authors, and the ability to situate oneself as a reader

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Analyse critically how Classics has been a discipline of colonial knowledge-making
• 5. Describe some of the key theoretical debates in classical reception around the idea of ‘world’ literature
• 6. Engage and mobilize core concepts of post-colonial theory for the interpretation of ancient texts

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Demonstrate sophisticated critical and analytical skills in reading a range of theoretical and technical texts
• 8. Demonstrate awareness of the ethical stakes of knowledge-making in colonial and post-colonial contexts
• 9. Collaborate as part of smaller and larger groups with an emphasis on discussion, demonstrating skills of listening and engagement
• 10. Demonstrate independent research skills including the ability to present written information clearly and to develop an outline for a research investigation with appropriate support

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

After introductory seminars on the stakes of Caribbean classical reception in a critical mode (readings from Greenwood, Padilla Peralta, and Andujàr), we will move through the epic poem, pairing significant episodes or books such as Odysseus’ encounter with Sirens in Book 12, and Penelope’s dream of the suitors in Book 19 with thematically apposite texts, critiques, and readings from Caribbean authors.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral will occur if an overall mark of less than 50% is achieved. In this case, a supplementary mini essay will be assigned where appropriate. The mark for this will be taken into consideration of the final overall grade.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Gaiutra Bahadur 2013, Coolie Woman: the Odyssey of Indenture. University of Chicago Press.
• Emily Greenwood 2010, Afro-Greeks: Dialogues Between Anglophone Caribbean Literature and Classics in the Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press.
• Justine McConnell 2013, ‘The Odysseys of Postcolonialism’ in Black Odysseys: The Homeric Odyssey in the African Diaspora since 1939. Oxford University Press.
• Kei Miller 2014, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion. Carcanet Press.
• Ian Morse, Adam Lecznar, Heidi Morse 2020,’Introduction’ Classicisms in the Black Atlantic. Oxford University Press.
• Dan-el Padilla-Peralta 2020, ‘Santo Domingo and the Politics of Classical Reception in the Caribbean’ in L. Jenco, M. Idris, and M. Thomas, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Political Theory. 169-190.
• Derek Walcott 1992, Nobel lecture ‘The Antilles, or, Fragments of Epic Memory’ https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1992/walcott/lecture/.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• Dionne Brand lecture:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ychlzoeeIm0&t=202s

• Critical Caribbean Feminisms Project

        https://bcrw.barnard.edu/projects/critical-caribbean-feminisms/

Key words search

Classical Reception Studies, Homer, Caribbean, postcolonial