By the end of 2025, current English Literature second years will have studied an estimated 33 literary texts over the course of the 2024-25 academic year and the 2025 fall semester. Of those 33, about 45 per cent were written by white men and over seventy per cent were written by white authors as a whole.
In total, six texts, amongst the 33, have been written by women of colour and three by men of colour. This is not diversity, and the English Literature curriculum at the University of Edinburgh has not broadened its scope.
The University of Edinburgh is a global university, ranking within the top fifty universities worldwide. On its own page, the university boasts of its international students that make up forty four per cent of the student body. Its undergraduate English Literature program does not reflect the broad range of cultures
found amongst its students.
Most noticeably, amongst the aforementioned works, the English Literature curriculum lacks the inclusion of any literary works from various Asian regions, the Middle East and North Africa, or South America, which have all contributed greatly to the field of literature. Nobel Prize winner Han Kang writes of the confinements of societal norms and structures in her novel The Vegetarian, and in Greek Lessons, Kang explores themes of human connection and the intricacies of language. Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa’s unpublished The Time of the Hero critiques military brutality and power in an experimental non-linear narrative. Ibrahim al-Koni’s Gold Dust is rooted in Tuareg nomadic culture and the spiritual struggle of sin. Arundhati Roy’s postcolonial work The God of Small Things scrutinises the effects of British colonialism in India.
“English” literature does not refer solely to the works produced by Britain, its diaspora, and former territories. In today’s globalised world, English literature extends far beyond Western civilisation, and the university’s English Literature program, which means to incorporate broader world literary studies, falls short.
Lastly, it is important to note the university’s known historical ties to colonialism. Literature has long been a tool for either the perpetration or critique of colonial ideologies, and in the wake of a postcolonial world, the course and its works must challenge the colonial legacy of the University of Edinburgh. Global perspectives are absolutely necessary in the study of literature. It aids in developing a holistic view of the world and provides windows into various cultures and lived experiences.
Literature is often a rare escape from the confinement of bubbles and echo chambers
that many find themselves in, and to be this escape for everyone, the curriculum must diversify.
Image via Isabel Beiboer for The Student