Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Third World Literatures


Ngugi wa Thiong'd (Philosophy from Africa) writes: “I have noted from a spell of teaching in the USA that Third World literatures tend to be treated as something outside the mainstream. Many epithets and labels ranging from ‘ethnic studies’ to ‘minority discourses’ are often used to legitimate their claims to academic attention. ... But the languages and literatures of the peoples of Africa, Asia, and South America are not peripheral to the twentieth century. They are central to the mainstream of what has made the world what it is today. ... Institutions of higher learning in Africa, Asia, and America should reflect this multiplicity of cultures, literatures, and languages in the ways they allocate resources for various studies” (Coetzee P H and Roux A P J 2002:57) QUESTION: Agreed? In the field of leadership, how has your institution of higher learning allocated its resources?

No comments: