ENG 480S—Postcolonial Literature & Film

Dr. C J Fontenot, Jr.

Spring Semester 2009
Group Project & Research Paper

In an interview in Newsweek, Brad Pitt was featured for using his star power to do more
than force the press to focus on the poverty and disease that plague Africa. In fact, he has
been studying “trade issues, diving into why much of Africa is so impoverished and how
it can be turned around. ‘Industrialized nations cost Africa three times what we give it in
aid,’ he says. ‘We buy their coffee beans, but we don’t let them process the beans, which
is where the real money is. So what we’re doing is digging a hole for them that they can’t
get out of, and then throwing a little money in the hole. The odds are just stacked against
them.’” (Newsweek, July 10, 2006, p. 60-61)

Your group project is as follows:

1) Assume that you have been assigned to a think tank composed of yourself and another
member of your class.

2) Your think tank’s purpose is to offer advice to a postcolonial country to help it address
some of the problems it faces because “the odds are just stacked against them.” You must
begin by choosing a country to assist. Your choices are as follows: Antiqua, Brazil, Haiti,
Jamaica, Nigeria, Senegal, and India. Once you choose a country, focus on the literature
and/or film assigned in class, and some of the problems represented in these materials.

3) To complete this project, you must, first, study the history of the country you have
chosen, specifically what the social, political, and economic structures of the country
were like before colonization. Second, provide an analysis of the effects of colonization
on the indigenous nation. Third, analyze 3 of the major problems the postcolonial nation
faces in 2006. And, finally, design a program that you feel helps this nation begin getting
out of the “hole” that industrialized nations have dug for it. The literature and/or film you
read will serve as the data, or specific instance of the problem you’re addressing. The
theoretical/critical readings from The Postcolonial Studies Reader will serve as one
source of analysis and critique. Your other sources will come from your research.

4) Each group must prepare a written analysis between 7-10 pages to present on the date
indicated in your syllabus for group projects. Your group project will be graded on
thoroughness of research, quality of analysis of the problem represented in the literature
or film, the grounding of the program you design in the theoretical/critical readings from
The Postcolonial Studies Reader and other research materials, and the ability of the group
to respond to questions posed about the presentation.

5) Each group will present their project on the date indicated in the course syllabus via an
open forum during the class meeting time. I will extend an invitation to the Mercer
community to participate in this open forum. Faculty and students outside of this class
will be allowed to pose questions to each group at the end of the forum.
Note: Your “term” or “research paper” will be derived from your group project. Each of
you will be required to take some aspect of your group project and develop it into a full
research paper (20-25 pages in length). In other words, the material for your group
research project will serve as your research for your “term” or “research” paper. Your
research paper will be due on the date indicated on your syllabus.