Global South Connections
With its genealogy in the discourse of the “Third World,” the Global South as a critical concept has evolved in the post-Cold War era to encompass a broad range of meanings: from a geographical location on a grid, to a space marked by economic inequality, to a radical imaginary that responds to colonial and neocolonial formations of power. Specifically, however, the term “Third World” originated during the Cold War to designate countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Communist Bloc.
Generally understood as a state of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War (1947-1991) is remembered foremost by the Cuban missile crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the threat of nuclear war, and the war of ideas between communist and capitalist ideologies. In Asia and other parts of the world, however, the Cold War played out differently as the stage of multiple violent conflicts with devastating consequences that continue to be felt today.
In this course, we will examine how literature and culture reimagines the Cold War and its afterlife, with a focus on writing related to the geographical contexts of Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the U.S. South. The conflicts that took place in Korea (1950-1953), Vietnam (1955-1975), and Cambodia (1970-1990) are examples of “hot wars” that have generally been overlooked in the West’s historiography of the Cold War, despite being some of the most violent and protracted of all the hot wars in the Asian region. These regional conflicts were marked by heavy external military support by the global superpowers, secret bombing campaigns, collateral damage, genocide, and massive refugee displacement. The course will focus on asking how contemporary authors respond to these legacies of war through experiments in literary form. The emphasis will be less on the wars themselves than on the aftermaths—on the memories, resettlements, inheritances, and traumatic legacies of war. We will attend to how literature offers an alternative to the dominant “Cold War frame,” and we will pay particular attention to how authors map connections between the Cold War in Asia and the Black American South. This course will explore how the topic of war/militarism intersects with issues of race, gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, and more.
Potential Readings
Krys Lee, Drifting House, 2012
Han Kang, The Vegetarian, 2007
Toni Morrison, Home, 2012
Monique Truong, Bitter in the Mouth, 2010
Madeleine Thien, Dogs at the Perimeter, 2011
Generally understood as a state of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War (1947-1991) is remembered foremost by the Cuban missile crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the threat of nuclear war, and the war of ideas between communist and capitalist ideologies. In Asia and other parts of the world, however, the Cold War played out differently as the stage of multiple violent conflicts with devastating consequences that continue to be felt today.
In this course, we will examine how literature and culture reimagines the Cold War and its afterlife, with a focus on writing related to the geographical contexts of Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the U.S. South. The conflicts that took place in Korea (1950-1953), Vietnam (1955-1975), and Cambodia (1970-1990) are examples of “hot wars” that have generally been overlooked in the West’s historiography of the Cold War, despite being some of the most violent and protracted of all the hot wars in the Asian region. These regional conflicts were marked by heavy external military support by the global superpowers, secret bombing campaigns, collateral damage, genocide, and massive refugee displacement. The course will focus on asking how contemporary authors respond to these legacies of war through experiments in literary form. The emphasis will be less on the wars themselves than on the aftermaths—on the memories, resettlements, inheritances, and traumatic legacies of war. We will attend to how literature offers an alternative to the dominant “Cold War frame,” and we will pay particular attention to how authors map connections between the Cold War in Asia and the Black American South. This course will explore how the topic of war/militarism intersects with issues of race, gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, and more.
Potential Readings
Krys Lee, Drifting House, 2012
Han Kang, The Vegetarian, 2007
Toni Morrison, Home, 2012
Monique Truong, Bitter in the Mouth, 2010
Madeleine Thien, Dogs at the Perimeter, 2011
All material © Y-Dang Troeung, 2021