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Today was the final session of our 'Adventures of the Postcolonial' seminar with Aijaz Ahmad. At the end of what (for me) turned out to be one of the most thought-provoking series of discussions, Ahmad announced that, given his age, it will be his last graduate seminar 1/
We discussed Bhabha, Spivak, Said and the early history of postcolonial theory in western academia, and then in the 2nd segment read Che, CĂ©saire, Fanon, Cabral, and Sartre to understand what the 'postcolonial' leaves behind). We also read how different anthologies defined 2/
the term 'postcolonial'. One of the main observations in this segment was the creation of a field of study through anthologies and canonization of concepts. After covering a number of scholars and critics of postcolonial pc theory, we returned to Bhabha, Spivak, and Said. 3/
I was honestly miss the range and vigor of the class. For those of you who are not acquainted with his work, do read his 'In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures' which contains most of his famous essays. His essays on globalization and the formation of Indian communalism 4/
Are quite popular among the Indian Left (he is most known for his critique of Fredric Jameson in "Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the "National Allegory"). As a result he is often identified as a 'postcolonial theorist' - a title he vehemently denies! 5/
One of the coolest parts about the seminar were the anecdotes lol (though for me nothing quite tops his encounter with James Baldwin)- here's one: Back in the day (90s?), he attended a conference where Spivak was giving a talk on Mahasweta Devi's stories 6/
MD was in the audience, and at one point after Spivak shared her views, MD interjected and said no that's not what I meant in the story, Spivak responded, "When the critic is at the text, the author must wait in the wings"...
Years later, Ahmad was at Columbia to give a talk 7/
Years later, Ahmad was at Columbia to give a talk 7/
On Shelley, and Spivak who was present in the audience disputed his reading during the Q&A, on the grounds that Shelley meant something else. Ahmad grinned and said, "well then we agree! When the critic is with the text, the author must wait in the wings!" 
