This subject introduces the postcolonial literatures that emerged in the wake of decolonisation in the second half of the twentieth century. We will read literary works from across the postcolonial world, including from the Middle East, South and South-East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Australia, and look at the way in which writers contended simultaneously with the legacy of the colonial system and major historical crises that emerged in the wake of its collapse. We will trace the emergence of the postcolonial reality as writers registered the impact of partition, separatism, persistent dependency, and the large-scale movements of people to the first world, whether as migrants or refugees. Alongside the literature, we will read major works of postcolonial theory: one of the most influential intellectual movements in recent history.