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2015/16 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3389 American Danger

20 creditsClass Size: 20

School of English

Module manager: Professor Bridget Bennett
Email: b.k.g.bennett@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2015/16

Pre-requisite qualifications

Grade B at 'A' Level in English Language or Literature (or equivalent) or an achieved mark of 56 or above in a Level 1 module in English (or its non-UK equivalent).

Please note: this module is restricted to Level 3 students and visiting students.

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

The events of 11 September 2001 made Americans reflect upon the vulnerability of the nation state, often represented as "home". Homeland security rapidly became a familiar term that validated and sought to explain the need for the curtailment of the civil liberties and use of force at home and abroad. American Studies scholars have contested and critiqued the very idea of homeland in the context of the United States and asked about the power the term had to legitimate acts of state terror in defense of the homeland. In this module we will examine a long history of representations of danger at home in the nation. We will ask how the threat of danger from within (sometimes from outsiders, but also from the inside) has persistently undermined more optimistic American narratives about the nation, providing a troubling and remarkably persistent counter-narrative to dominant discourses that tell a very different story. We will look at a range of diverse, extraordinary and influential texts (novels, films, a play) that each address differing types of danger set within or constituted out of differently imagined versions of home. These include the most important and foundational Indian captivity narrative set in a period of war; a sensational mock gothic thriller; an award-winning play about a dysfunctional family set on their isolated Midwestern farm in the period of the Vietnam war; an award-winning novel about home, family and transients; one of the most celebrated Westerns of all time; one of the most significant, acclaimed and also reviled pieces of early cinema; an expressionist masterpiece . We will ask how narratives of danger and endangerment set limits of racial and gendered belonging and exclusion, how they reflect on the political events of the periods in which they were produced but also their continued relevance in our current period of violence, danger and terror.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- engage with a variety of literary texts and genres, and
- construct arguments about the relation of these texts to ideas that have been explored in seminars and that students will pursue in their own readings and investigations.

Learning outcomes
Students will have developed:
- the ability to use written and oral communication effectively;
- the capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse;
- the ability to manage quantities of complex information in a structured and systematic way;
- the capacity for independent thought and judgement;
- critical reasoning;
- research skills, including the retrieval of information, the organisation of material and the evaluation of its importance;
- IT skills;
- efficient time management and organisation skills;
- the ability to learn independently.

Skills outcomes
- Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
- Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
- Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
- Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
- Critical reasoning.
- Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
- IT skills.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Independent learning.

Syllabus

The events of 11 September 2001 made Americans reflect upon the issues of danger and threat within the purportedly safe boundaries of the nation, often conceived of as “home”. Immediately after those events, homeland security became a familiar term. American Studies scholars have contested and critiqued the very idea of homeland in the context of the United States and asked about the power the term had to legitimate acts of state terror in defense of the homeland. In this module we will examine how the threat of danger from within (sometimes from outsiders, but also from the inside) has persistently undermined more optimistic American narratives about the nation-as-home, providing a troubling and remarkably persistent counter-narrative to dominant discourses. We will look at a range of very diverse and extraordinary texts (novels, films, a play) that each address differing types of danger set within or constituted out of differently imagined versions of home. These include the most important and foundational Indian captivity narrative set in a period of war; a sensational mock gothic thriller; an award-winning play about a dysfunctional family set on their isolated Midwestern farm in the period of the Vietnam war; an award-winning novel about home, family and transients; one of the most celebrated Westerns of all time, set in the nineteenth century but confronting contemporary race relations and expansionist foreign policy; one of the most significant, acclaimed and reviled pieces of early cinema that reflects on the presence and future of African Americans in the United States. We will ask how such narratives of danger and endangerment set limits of racial and gendered belonging and exclusion, how they reflect on the political events of the periods in which they were produced but also their continued relevance in our current period of violence, danger and terror.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Meetings	5	1.00	5.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			185.00
Total Contact hours			15.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

- Teaching will be through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) plus up to 5 additional hours (content to be determined by the module tutor).
- The 5 additional hours may include lectures, plenary sessions, film showings, or the return of unassessed/assessed essays.

Private Study: Reading, seminar preparation and essay writing.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Seminar contribution.
- Unassessed essay of 1700 words (submitted during Week 7). This does not form part of the assessment for this module, but is a requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass).

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	This module will be assessed by one essay of 4000 words (including quotations and footnotes). One unassessed essay of 1700 words is also required (submitted during Week 7). This does not form part of the assessment for this module, but is a requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass)	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 10/04/2015

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