Home-Work: Postcolonialism, Pedagogy, and Canadian Literature (review)

Home-Work: Postcolonialism, Pedagogy and Canadian Literature takes its place among a growing body of work on the application of postcolonial theories to Canadian literature. It provides a valuable companion to Cynthia Sugars's Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism (2004); where Unhomely States provides an overview of postcolonial Canadian criticism and theory from the mid-1960s to the end of the twentieth century, Home-Work provides of snapshot of the state of thinking about the relationships connecting (and the disjunctions separating) Canadian literature, national theory, postcolonial theory, and pedagogical practice at one specific point in time. It is a timely, relevant, and interesting collection, with essays that address issues of concern not only to scholars of Canadian and postcolonial literatures, but to everyone teaching in the Canadian academy.

Postcolonial theory, which negotiates the boundaries between cultures and critiques the cultural inequalities wrought by imperialism, would seem to lead logically into the practice of critical pedagogy, which reveals (and attempts to dismantle) similar inequalities in the classroom setting. Both should be applicable in the Canadian literature classroom, where the defining myth of multiculturalism often informs curriculum choices. However, as the essays in this volume make clear, the movement from theory to practice is fraught with difficulties. In her introduction, Sugars asks whether there is 'a gaping divide between academic theory and pedagogical practice' and whether 'the radical rhetoric of postcolonial theorists' has actually transformed 'the approach to teaching Canadian literature, and institutional practice as a whole.' The answers to these questions, as presented in the essays of this volume, are mixed. On the one end of the spectrum, Danielle Schaub suggests that analysing the strate-gies used in multi-ethnic Canadian texts 'can help open empathetic communication between groups that are ambivalently delineated by prejudice, fear, longing, hate, and desire'; at the other end, Gary Boire argues that 'radical pedagogy cannot exist within the precincts of the university – and even if it tries to come into being, it does so within a state of siege.' Beverly Huan sets up a detailed road map for putting a postcolonial pedagogy into practice, but even her explicit instructions might be difficult to transfer from page to classroom. Despite the obstacles, the essays in the collection provide many useful suggestions for transforming pedagogical practice.

One of the most unsettling aspects of applying postcolonial pedagogy in the classroom is the fact that many students are not open to such approaches. Arun Mukherjee laments 'the arrogance and authority' with which some of her students appeal to a 'New Critical orothodoxy about literature' and criticize her postcolonial readings and critical pedagogical practices. Stephen Slemon notes that when he stopped collecting articles on critical pedagogy, his 'teaching evaluations took a sharp step upwards.' Those who attempt to transform the classroom often meet more resistance from students than from university administration or more traditionally minded colleagues. Slemon argues that 'a postcolonial pedagogy for the literatures in Canada can only take place with the materiality of dialectics.' Challenging students' prejudices while providing a classroom setting where they are allowed to challenge the professor's authority can provide some of the most fertile ground for change, but also some of the most unproductive and reactionary resistance.

The twenty-nine essays in the collection (including Sugars's introduction and Slemon's afterword) provide constructive ideas for how to create a successful postcolonial pedagogy within the Canadian literature classroom. They approach the topic in a variety of ways: from positing theories, to exploring history, to analysing specific classroom practices or reading strategies for individual texts or types of literature. There is a good balance between established and emerging scholars. Although the majority of contributions to the collection come from scholars in English, there are some papers from an education perspective that provide an important addition to the practical pedagogical component of the volume. The many different voices, approaches, and perspectives give the collection a scope that would be impossible in an individual monograph. Home-Work will...