Narrative, Place, Identity

Module overview

This module investigates how cultural narratives have been produced, disseminated and consumed across national boundaries since the mid-twentieth century. Through examination of a range of narrative forms, including fiction, essay, memoir, film and photography produced by artists and thinkers from across the world, the module seeks to deepen your understanding of transnational models of hybridity, migration, cultural translation and ideas of place and displacement. Throughout, we will engage closely with critical approaches that consider the implications of class, race, gender, disability and other forms of identity, and the role of centres and peripheries in their formation.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

manage deadlines and make effective use of your time
engage in high-level analysis of texts and arguments
reach an advanced level of global and cultural awareness
engage in advanced debate around complex, high-level ideas and theories
communicate complex, advanced ideas and arguments in an essay format
identify, select and draw upon a wide range of printed and electronic sources

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

how to engage, at a high level, with cultural texts in a variety of forms.
working and thinking globally and across cultures, at an advanced level
how culture manifests and is disseminated through global exchange and encounter, at an advanced level
advanced conceptualisations, theories and debates around cultural narrative, identity, imperialism, colonisation, migration, globalisation and representation

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

evaluate advanced theoretical approaches to cultural narrative, place and identity
employ critical and cultural theory in high-level analysis of cultural trends, narratives and texts
interpret and reflect critically, at an advanced level, on a range of global cultural texts
communicate a high-level academic argument in written and oral form

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, seminars and individual tutorials, alongside in-depth independent study.

Study time
Type	Hours
Seminar	24
Guided independent study	126
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Williams, Patrick, and Laura Chrisman, eds (1993). Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory: A Reader.

Mbembe, Achille (2001). On the Postcolony / De la postcolonie: essai sur l'imagination politique dans l'Afrique contemporaine.

Hartman, Saidiya (1997). Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America.

Ang, Ien (2001). On Not Speaking Chinese: Living between Asia and the West.

Patterson, Orlando (1982). Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study.

Chakrabarty, Dipesh (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference.

Appadurai, Arjun (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation.

Kaplan, Caren (1998). Questions of Travel: Postmodern Discourses of Displacement.

Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988). The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge.

Gómez-Barris, Macarena (2017). The Extractive Zone: Social Ecologies and Decolonial Perspectives.

Rodney, Walter (1972). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

Fanon, Frantz (1961). The Wretched of the Earth / Les damnés de la terre.

Galeano, Eduardo (1971). Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent / Las venas abiertas de América Latina.

Said, Edward (1978). Orientalism.

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Coursework plan

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback: Appropriate feedback will be provided.
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External