The Curriculum of Erstwhile MA (English) Program: Reviewing the Canonicity of English Literature in Pakistani Public-Sector Universities

Abstract

This study analyses the curriculum of the MA English (a two year program) of the departments of English that had been in practice in the public-sector universities of Pakistan until recently. The research employs a broader postcolonial transformative perspective to analyse the curriculum while looking at how Pakistan (being a former-colony of the Great Britain) has dealt with its colonial legacy. The study, thus, focusses on understanding the canonicity of English literature in the curricula that remained an inevitable part of the curricula in the selected Pakistani universities since the colonial times. The research draws from the existing postcolonial critiques of English literature. It combines the contents’ analysis of the MA (English) curricula with survey research to bring to light the issue of the curricula of literary studies in English in Pakistan. The study finds that the departments of English in Pakistan (which historically retained the legacy of colonial literature) have started transforming in recent times as new literatures in English (from the non-native regions) have emerged to represent their societies on the global scale.