Postcolonial theory – Project topics materials

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Interviews

All interviews were conducted according to the ethical requirements of the Swedish Research Council (2002) and the teachers were selected according to the requirements of this study. The requirements were that the they had to be certified teachers in the subject of English for upper secondary school, and with more than five years of experience in order to be able to draw conclusions from their experience.

Teacher A

Teacher A, who will be referred to as TA, has been a teacher at lower secondary level for thirty years. TA is a certified teacher in English for upper secondary school. Prior to the interview being held, TA had not thought about using literary theory in earlier stages than higher education. Furthermore, TA expressed that she was not fully familiar with the specific literary theories of feminism, Marxism and postcolonialism, and that they never had been 2 See: Barthes, R. (1967). “The Death of the Author”. London: Fontana (pp. 142-148) implemented specifically in her lectures. TA found it interesting and beneficial to use literary theory when working with literature. Furthermore, TA thought that “it would be a great idea to make students more aware of […] what the theories actually convey in their meaning” (Interview, 04/26/19) and that it would provide students with more than one perspective. TA stated that “some students would benefit a lot from it and maybe get more of a challenge in school, than they do otherwise” (Interview, 04/26/19). However, TA discussed that all students are not intellectually mature enough for this kind of work, which is why a teacher needs to adapt their teaching of literary theory to the “year group, maturity and the intellectual capacity” (Interview, 04/26/19) of the students. Moreover, TA stressed the fact that even if literary theory could be backed up by the curriculum, it is first and foremost the teachers’
obligation to carry out what the curriculum states. Therefore, according to TA, it is important to consider if literary theory should be used and to what purpose, since it is a subject that can be very time consuming.

Teacher B

Teacher B, who will be referred to as TB, has been teaching English at upper secondary school for about twenty-five years. TB explains that literary theory is used to a greater extent when teaching religion, rather than English. TB states that she is familiar with the theories, mostly feminism and postcolonial theory and “not so much the Marxist” (Interview, 04/29/19), and that they “teach a lot of it in English 6 and 7” (Interview, 04/29/19); hence, she “use[s] a lot of them consciously” (Interview, 04/29/19). TB explained that they have an assignment in English 7 where the students work with literary epochs when writing a research paper, and that it is based on literary theory. TB give examples of books such as Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice together with the feminist theory and Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart for the postcolonial theory.
When explaining that the curriculum does not specifically state that literary theory should be used, but rather could be used to meet the requirements in the core values, TB defined the use of literary theory as “a pedagogical tool” (Interview, 04/29/19). TB expressed that “it is almost the only way for them to see […] how we read with our colored glasses on (Interview, 04/29/19) and, while “some get a taste of it and some are acquainted with the knowledge” there will be other students that will be able to apply it. TB mentions that some students might experience the literary theories as incomprehensible; however, she also implies that introducing the theories will give those students a tool to base their knowledge on.

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Teacher C

Teacher C, referred to as TC, has been teaching English for about eight years. TC is familiar with the three theories of feminism, Marxism and postcolonialism. TC explains that they are not used regularly but, when they are, they are rarely labeled as theories due to TC feeling that the students would not understand them. However, TC argues that it is of importance to teach students that there are different perspectives. This teaches them to step out of themselves and to broaden their mindsets, in order to understand more than one perspective.
TC discusses that some teachers approach theory directly, whilst others approach it as a supplement to ordinary lectures and that this may depend on each teachers’ confidence regarding the theory in question.

1. Introduction
2. Background .
3. Aim
4. Method and Material .
5. Theoretical framework
5.1 Postcolonial theory
5.2 Feminist theory
5.3 Marxist theory
6. Results
6.1 Interviews
7. Discussion
8. References
9. Appendices .