The class looks at the forces of globalization, post-colonialism, internal-colonialism and cultural imperialism that have bound large parts of it together down the centuries. Areas of particular focus include the poetry of the eighth-century Chinese Tang Dynasty and its reception in the west; novels and poetry from twentieth-century Africa with related patterns of cultural diffusion and appropriation; and poetry and drama from Scotland, shedding light upon writing from the periphery and the possibility of long-term resistance to cultural hegemony.
