English Studies Beyond the ‘Center’

Book excerpt: This book addresses the shape of English studies beyond the ‘center’ by analyzing how the discipline has developed, and by considering how lessons from this analysis relate to the discipline as a whole. The book aims to open a cross-disciplinary conversation about the nature of the English major in both non-Anglophone and Anglophone countries by addressing the tensions between language and literature pedagogy, the relevance of a focus on hyper-canonical Anglophone literature in a world of global Englishes, world literature, and multilingual students, and by reflecting on the necessary contingency and cross-purposes of blended literature and language classrooms. Many of the book’s points of discussion arise from the author’s experience as an English professor in Japan, where the particularities of English language and literature pedagogy raise significant challenges to Anglo-centric critical and pedagogical assumptions. English Studies Beyond the ‘Center’: Teaching Literature and the Future of Global English therefore argues that English literature must make a case for itself by understanding its place in a newly configured discipline. Issues discussed in the book include: English language and literature pedagogy in Japan The modes through which EFL and English literary studies converge and diverge Globalized English beyond the Anglo-American perspective English classroom practices, particularly in Japan