History

The Bismillah India (Deccan, Hyderabad), 1875-1900.

The Postcolonial Literatures Research Group was launched by Dennis Walder in 1992, and was part of an important move to extend and internationalise the range of literary texts and criticism offered to students on the OU literature curriculum. At the same time it sought to pioneer new research in what was fast becoming a recognised field, overtaking earlier ‘Commonwealth Literature’ and ‘New Writings’ agendas.

The group made significant interventions into the content of the English Department’s third-level course ‘Literature in the Modern World’ (1990-2000), a new seminar series was launched and a BA dissertation course on Postcolonial Literatures followed. In addition the group worked on a new MA module ‘Literature and Nation’ and attracted doctoral candidates from within and outside the UK. It continues to offer a wide range of research-supervision for PhD students working on colonial and postcolonial writing.

The strategic appointment of new research staff was designed to broaden the group’s range of subject specialisms and activities. This led, in the first instance, to a collaborative London-based seminar series established by Susheila Nasta at the Institute of English Studies. Several successful bids for substantial externally-funded projects followed, such as The Colonial and Postcolonial History of the Book and Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, enhancing the group’s cross-disciplinary agenda and its national and international profile.