Module MLAC2021: World Literatures

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures

MLAC2021: World Literatures

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To explore and analyse themes, topics, and texts in world literatures.
• To give students insight into critical debates about the study of world literatures.
• To further familiarise the students with landmark literary works as studied in a comparative and global perspective.
• To develop transferable skills in engaging with and communicating about world literatures and the critical tradition that informs their study.

Content

• This module is aimed at students who have already been introduced to the study of literature in one or more language and wish to explore:
• • the comparative study of world literatures from the medieval period to the present day
• • literary works and critical (philosophical, theoretical, methodological) texts from the Global Middle Ages to the twenty-first century and across a range of distinct linguistic and literary traditions.
• Set texts/themes/topics may vary from year to year in accordance with the research specialisms of the tutors each year, since this is a team-taught, research-led module. Students will gain an overview of historically crucial periods and culturally significant developments in the history of world literatures and the critical tradition that informs their study.

Learning Outcomes

• an awareness of the breadth and diversity of world literatures, building on and broadening their knowledge of national literatures acquired at Level 1
• critical knowledge of a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural range of literary works
• historical, contextual, and cultural understanding of traditions of world literary scholarship
• historical, contextual, and cultural understanding of the concepts of literature, world literature, comparative literature, (post) colonialism, decolonization, and globalization
• an interest in dissertation topics at L3 on cross-cultural literary texts and using world-literary, comparative, intersectional, and decolonizing approaches.

• the ability to make effective intercultural connections and comparisons
• the ability to gather, sift, process, synthesise and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources.

• their ability to formulate arguments coherently on the basis of appropriate and relevant evidence, and, where appropriate, to present them in written or oral form
• their fluency and expression in written and spoken English
• their ability to pursue a guided programme of self-directed study, leading to the production at L3 of extended pieces of written work which demonstrate engagement with relevant critical literature.

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

• The module will be taught by means of 10 lectures and 10 seminars. Weekly reading in preparation for lectures and seminars will foster the acquisition of the relevant subject-specific knowledge. Seminars will aid acquisition of the relevant critical tools, and oral presentations by students will help them develop skills in organising arguments and presenting them fluently. Summative assessments are designed to test students' subject-specific knowledge and their ability to use their subject-specific skills in order to evaluate this knowledge: by the middle of the teaching term – a commentary in English of 1,500 words (worth 40% of final grade), analysing an example or examples of writing related to the study of world literatures; by the beginning of the term that follows the teaching term – an essay in English of 2,500 words (worth 60%) on key texts and topics studied. Teaching will take place either in Term 1 or in Term 2. The forms of assessment chosen will support the broad educational aims and intended learning outcomes of the programme for Durham students. For students coming from elsewhere, on e.g. Study Abroad programmes, they will offer the attraction of an authentic Durham-based educational experience.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

■ 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