Module ENGL2801: Postcolonial World Literatures

Department: English Studies

ENGL2801: Postcolonial World Literatures

Prerequisites

• At least one of the following modules: Introduction to Drama (ENGL1011), Introduction to the Novel (ENGL1061), Introduction to Poetry (ENGL1071).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To explore the imbrication of world literatures with the histories of empire, colonialism and capitalism.
• To investigate the intersections of such social categories as race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability across a range of postcolonial and world literatures.
• To introduce students to key debates in postcolonial theory and the contemporary field of “world literature”.
• To compare different national, generic and poetic registrations of (post)colonial modernity, anti-colonial resistance, and neoliberal globalization.

Content

• Approaches colonial and postcolonial world literatures via such thematic lenses as: the colonial archive, borders and migration, translation, land and ecology, bodies and subjects.
• Embraces a chronologically and generically broad range of literature from early twentieth-century global modernisms, through literatures of decolonization, to contemporary postcolonial literature (including such genres as prose fiction, poetry, drama, the essay, life writing, and travel writing).
• Includes selected material from non-Anglophone postcolonial traditions that have become central to Anglophone literatures and/ or postcolonial theory.
• Combines close readings of specific literary and critical texts with attention to relevant historical and intellectual contexts.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will gain detailed knowledge and understanding of the ways in which postcolonial and world literatures register, thematically and poetically, the lived experiences of empire and capitalist modernity.
• Students will gain a deeper understanding of the intersections of such categories as race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and disability across a range of world literatures.
• Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with relevant historical and intellectual contexts informing the trajectory of postcolonial and world literatures.

• Students studying this module will develop:
• critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts
• an ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts and critical approaches
• informed awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and ability to offer cogent analysis of their workings in specific texts
• sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects on communication of historical circumstances, and to the affective power of language
• an ability to articulate and substantiate an imaginative response to literature
• an ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary studies
• skills of effective communication and argument
• awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographic skills including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation
• command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated

• Students studying this module will develop:
• a capacity to analyse critically
• an ability to acquire complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way involving the use of distinctive interpretative skills derived from the subject
• competence in the planning and execution of essays
• a capacity for independent thought and judgement, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others
• skills in critical reasoning • an ability to handle information and argument in a critical manner
• information-technology skills such as word-processing and electronic data access information
• organisation and time-management skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Independent but directed reading in preparation for lectures and tutorials provides opportunity for students to enrich subject-specific knowledge and enhances their ability to develop appropriate subject-specific skills.
• Lectures: enable students to gain subject-specific knowledge of cultural, aesthetic and intellectual issues in relation to individual works and authors, an area or period, or a theoretical or language-related topic; encourage students to be aware of the range and variety of approaches to literary study; present ideas and information to encourage, on the part of students, further thought and discussion.
• Tutorials: enable students to explore, in a selective way, through small-group discussion, specific texts and topics (many of which will be addressed by lectures); to focus on selected literary issues and problems; and guide them in developing subject-specific analytical skills and knowledge.
• Formative work: one formative outline is written, with written feedback and individual one-to-one consultation . A choice of essay topics encourages students to develop their capacity for independent, creative thought and judgement.
• Coursework: tests the student's ability to argue, respond and interpret, and to demonstrate subject-specific knowledge and skills such as appreciation of the power of imagination in literary creation and the close reading and analysis of texts; they also test the ability to present word-processed work, observing scholarly conventions.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

1,000 word essay outline, with written feedback and 15 minute one-to-one consultation discussion in Epiphany Term.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University