2nd semester 6 credits Form of
assessment: 100% coursework
3 contact & 3 study hours per week
Prerequisite:
None. This is a Common Core course, under the 'Humanities' Area of Inquiry.
*Please note that the first class will take place on Wednesday 18 January, at 1pm in Room MB237, Main Building.
This course looks at textual and pictorial representations of the British contact with her various colonies, in particular India, Africa, the Middle East and Hong Kong. The focus is on the nineteenth century and the period known as 'the New Imperialism', although earlier texts are considered. Students are thus invited to learn about, and reflect critically upon, a particular period in history ¡V which is also their own ¡V by approaching it through historical texts and the creative arts.
The course is structured along the theme of the 'reality' versus 'representations' of the British Empire. Within the Common Core Curriculum, it invites students to tackle an unfamiliar set of questions, texts and thoughts, and approach these academically. Within the Humanities Area of Inquiry, the course will show students that the human experience and human representation of reality might be very different from 'the truth', and that knowledge and experience are always contextual.
Demonstrate knowledge of the key features of the historical project, trajectory and history of the British Empire.
Be able to describe and critically examine a variety of representations of Empire in text and image with appropriate critical frameworks.
Be able to explain, explore and appreciate the form and function of historical texts, the novel, poetry, travel writing, painting, sketch and cartoon.
Be able to practice close reading strategies, analysis, discussion and argument.
Be able to use critical approaches to various genres of text and image, including specifically genre and gender discourse, colonial discourse analysis and postcolonial theory.
There will be three contact hours per week: in addition to the two-hour lecture on Wednesdays students must sign up for one of the following tutorial groups:
Group 1: Wednesdays, 4-5pm. Room: TT911.
Group 2: Wednesdays, 5-6pm. Room: TT911.
Group 3: Thursdays, 3-4pm. Room: TT910.
Group 4: Thursdays, 12-1pm. Room: TT910.
Tutorial slots are given away on a first-come, first-served basis, and the number of places is limited. Hence students are encouraged to sign up for a tutorial group in Week 1. Apart from the above four time slots, no other tutorial slots will be offered. Students who intend to take this course are therefore advised to arrange their timetable accordingly.
These lecture and tutorial sessions comprise formal lectures and group work, and students will also be expected to perform research tasks, individually and co-operatively. There will also be an interactive Moodle forum where students can share their views and questions with each other and with their teacher and tutor.
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Assessment
is by 100% coursework, consisting of:
* Tutorial writing or research exercises/ quizzes/ workshop reports (10%)
* Written assignment/ portfolio/ term paper (max. 1800 words) (40%)
* Tutorial, workshop and class participation, and contributions to the discussion forum on Moodle (10%)
* Two-hour in-class writing exercise (40%)
1) Students are required to get hold of the following text by purchase, borrowing or internet download/ photocopy:
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.
Suggested for purchase are the World’s Classics Series text (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) or the Penguin Classics text (London: Penguin, 1995), which contain good introductions and notes. Some copies will be available for purchase from the University bookshop. For students who do not want to buy the text, the text can also be downloaded and printed at the following sites (among many others):
The University Library contains a number of copies of the novella as well, which students may borrow.
2) Students are also required to purchase the Course Reader (1st Floor Library, AV section, cost tba), containing the below compulsory reading materials. You are asked to read ahead for each week so you can contribute to class discussion.
E. J. Eitel, extract from Europe in China (history)
R. M. Martin, extract from ‘Report on the Island of Hong Kong’ (history)
Rudyard Kipling, ‘If’, ‘The White Man’s Burden’, ‘Mandalay’ (poetry)
Lady Elizabeth Butler, ‘Egypt 1885’, from From Sketch-Book and Diary (travel writing)
John Frederick Lewis, ‘Harem Life in Constantinople’, ‘A Cairo Bazaar’, ‘A View of the Street’, ‘The Commentator on the Koran’ (painting)
Joseph Chamberlain, ‘The True Conception of Empire’ (politics)
Aimé Césaire, extract from Discourse on Colonialism (criticism)
Frantz Fanon, extract from ‘On National Culture’ (criticism)
Edward Said, extract from Orientalism (criticism)
Robert Young, extract from Colonial Desire (criticism)
Please note that the reading is appropriate for a 6-credit Common Core course in the Humanities, containing one novella (90 pages), 3 short poems (3 pages), one illustrated travelogue (20 pages), 4 paintings, 2 historical texts (50 pages), 4 critical essays/ extracts from critical writing (approx. 30 pages).
Recommended Reading
An annotated bibliography of secondary readings and recommended readings will be provided to students at a later stage (published on Moodle).
