Manila Internship: Auditing a Class

Kamusta Readers,

When I'm not working on the Library Project, or contributing to the Publications Project, or completing a practicum in ESL teaching, or doing independent Writing Center research et al ( outside my internship ), or creatively reviewing for the GRE Literature subject test, I'll be auditing a Literature class called "Philippine English and Filipino American Literary Postcoloniality" every Wednesday night ( thank goodness for connections ).  How great is it that after the 1st day of class, I'm already considering ideas and or reconsidering ideas?

Prof. C got his Ph.D. in American Studies in Brown University.  He stayed in the States for 14 years taking on Lecturer jobs here and there; he taught at Berkeley, and a mentor of his teaches/taught at Haverford College.  His theatricality and passion for the subject matter/class will keep anybody wide awake.  He likes "surprises" and often discards decorous context to enjoy language and its sounds ( a word fetish as he jokingly states to create his own context ).

The premise behind the class is an offspring from his dissertation, exploring American Imperialism instead of French and British Imperialism.  A reason why American Imperialism is not talked about as much is because of the Democratic and liberal ( in the latin sense of Freedom ) values associated with the United States of America.  During the course of the semester ( until August for me ), we'll explore decolonization starting specifically using a Philippine context and then going "general" applying concepts to other colonized countries of the "3rd World." ( using literature, reading various theories, then synthesizing theories with literature ).

The class begs several questions: Why are Filipino writers ( Native/ Fil-Am/ Diasporic/ et al ) often overlooked in a postcolonial literary canon when they were considered the first to create literature in the colonizer's language (English)? What are the effects of bringing up the issue of being marginalized? Does it promote further marginilization? Or is it necessary for analysis, critique, and transformation? And many more...