2023/24 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3025 Postcolonial Literature

20 creditsClass Size: 55

School of English

Module manager: Dr Samuel Durrant
Email: s.r.durrant@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2023/24

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.

PLEASE NOTE: This module is restricted to Level 3 students and visiting students.

This module is mutually exclusive with

ENGL3013

Postcolonial Literature

Module replaces

ENGL3013

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Contemporary English literature is global in scope: much of the most exciting and challenging writing to have emerged over the last half century is from India, Africa, the Caribbean, New Zealand, and other regions of the formerly colonised world. This 'postcolonial' literature engages, directly or indirectly, with the multiple legacies of colonialism, but also with the issues and problems surrounding today's increasingly globalised world.Topics of discussion will therefore include: representations of cultural identity, the uses of history, (post)national and gender politics, cross-cultural transformations, migrant aesthetics, the function of postcolonial theory, and the role played by English literatures and languages in a modern globalised world.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students will be equipped with knowledge of a wide range of postcolonial literature from Commonwealth countries as well as postcolonial discourse theory.

Learning outcomes
In terms of Academic Excellence this module develops critical thinking, flexibility of thought and analytical skills. It supports and develops the ability to work autonomously, initiative, planning and organisational skills. Students will learn to analyse information, synthesise views and make connections; students will be critically aware of, and be informed by, current knowledge; and will develop research skills. In short:

- 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.

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 trouble with the English is that their hiss hiss history happened overseas, so they dodo don't know what it means.' So says Whiskey Sisodia in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. This module is your chance to explore some of what did happen overseas, as told by those who were once the subjects of British Empire, and what this history now means for us all in our postcolonial, increasingly globalised world.

The module focuses on the literature of both indigenous peoples and the settlers who stole their lands; those who fashioned new postcolonial nation states and those who migrated to others; and those who continue to suffer and contest the inequities of globalisation.

Accordingly, after a short introductory section on Colonialism and Postcolonialism, the module is divided into three overlapping sections: Settlers and Indigenous Peoples; Nations and Disaporas; Globalization and the New World Order. While the module will pay due attention to history and politics, its primary concern is with the aesthetic properties of literature. It will explore some of the most powerful literature there is today, examining some of the ways in which contemporary writers from across the world have adopted, adapted and transformed the traditions of 'English' literature.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	22	1.00	22.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			168.00
Total Contact hours			32.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Seminar preparation, reading, preparation of assessed work.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Contribution to seminars.
- Submission of assessed essay.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1,500 word essay	33.30
Essay	2,500 word essay	66.70
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Students must submit/sit and pass all elements of assessment. Students who fail any element (even as a result of penalties)) will have to resit the failed element in order to pass the module.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 28/04/2023 14:39:49

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