Abstract
Teaching creative writing in an international classroom has a number of challenges. Especially when the lecturer is from the country that was once the colonial power in that space. Working against an educational system that was put in place prior to independence and which is deeply steeped in Victorian teaching practices adds another layer. This paper looks at how I decolonize the classroom when teaching creative writing with examples from Kurdistan in Northern Iraq and the Caribbean Island of Trinidad. There are wide-ranging differences between the two spaces, and yet there is an overlap in working with students who have been educated to believe that English literature and therefore creative writing must adhere to the Literary Canon. Within this classroom the teacher is learning as the students are creating. There is a necessity to be open and vulnerable in this setting and to be willing to shed your own preconceived ideas of what constitutes good writing. In Kurdistan the students’ writing leaned towards death and martyrdom, in Trinidad towards humour and myth. Yet within the classroom students in both countries are dealing with generational trauma through the creative medium of writing.
Presenters
Muli AmayeCoordinator MFA Creative Writing, Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of The West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Creative Writing, Teaching, Decolonisation, Postcolonial
