| | | | Course module | | LET-ETCENB205 | Category | | - | Language of instruction | | English | Offered by | | Radboud University; Faculty of Arts; English Language and Culture; | Lecturer(s) | | | | Academic year | | 2022 | | Period | | PER 3-PER 4 | (30/01/2023 to 03/09/2023) |
| Starting block | | PER 3 | |
| Course mode | | full-time | |
| Remarks | | Aanschuifonderwijs | Registration using OSIRIS | | Yes | Course open to students from other faculties | | Yes | Pre-registration | | No | Waiting list | | No | Placement procedure | | - |
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At the end of the course, the student will be able to
• discuss and reflect on the often problematic, heterogeneous manifestations of Britishness in cultural products;
• critically analyse various interrelated aspects of cultural identities (e.g. ethnicity, language, gender) and explain the ways in which texts engage with the construction of such identities;
• demonstrate a comprehensive awareness of current scholarly debates on cultural identities by applying relevant theoretical frameworks to interpretations of literature and other forms of cultural expression.
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In an article published by BBC News on 2 March 2012, Mark Easton observes that defining Britishness is like “painting wind”: Britishness cannot be nailed down and, like all identities, is subject to continuous change. Easton’s claims reflect a growing awareness in academia over the past decades that Britishness is a fluctuating, heterogeneous phenomenon that can have different meanings in various contexts, depending on issues such as class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nationality (i.e. in relation to different constituent parts of the United Kingdom). The consequent broadening of Britain’s literary, historical and cultural canons has not only led to renewed attention to forgotten writers and artists from the past, but has also ignited a growing interest in cultural products from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and former colonies.
In the wake of the UK's departure from the EU, debates about Britishness have been reignited, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Contested processes of identity formation (e.g. in relation to systemic racism) are receiving more and more attention. Likewise, class divides and a lack of trust in the political establishment have become painfully visible through the results of the 2016 Brexit referendum. New forms of chauvinism and debates about integration and equal opportunities, triggered amongst others by the December 2016 Casey report, have brought poverty and migration back on political agendas. While, as Zoe Williams wrote in The Guardian of 18 December 2016, today’s “politics of patriotism” tend to foreground homogenising British values, Britishness is “pluralist by definition”. It is this pluralism that we will explore in a variety of contexts.
During this course we will critically interrogate Britishness as it is expressed in various cultural products, including the visual arts, film, and television, but with a particular focus on contemporary literature. We will move beyond traditional concepts of being British, by examining – through insights from the fields of memory, (post)colonial, imagological, queer and gender studies – how in texts written in the United Kingdom and the (former) British Empire, alternative processes of identity formation are constructed and negotiated. We will explore, for example, magical realist refugee fiction, postcolonial drama, and queer rewritings of the literary canon; investigate the function of contested national histories in the visual arts; as well as analyse the configurations of transcultural identities in the (post-)imperialist contexts of migration and multicultural societies, with special attention to the tensions that have arisen in the wake of the Brexit referendum.
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Students should have a basic understanding of literary analysis and literary theory (e.g. by completing the B1 course 'Reading Literature') and preferably have some knowledge about British history (e.g. by completing the B1 course 'British Culture & History').
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| | | Required materialsLiteratureOther required texts: to be announced. |
| Book'A taut, gripping tale of a young woman and an Iron Age reenactment trip that unearths frightening behavior.' |
ISBN | : | | 9781783784462 |
Title | : | | Ghost Wall (2018) |
Author | : | | Sarah Moss |
| Book'[A]n audacious love story that weaves together disparate lives into an exploration of transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and queer love.' |
ISBN | : | | 9781784709952 |
Title | : | | Frankissstein (2019) |
Author | : | | Jeanette Winterson |
| Book'A New York Times bestseller, the astonishingly visionary love story that imagines the forces that drive ordinary people from their homes into the uncertain embrace of new lands.' |
ISBN | : | | 9780241979068 |
Title | : | | Exit West (2018) |
Author | : | | Mohsin Hamid |
| Book'The collection’s title points to the underlying philosophy expressed in these poems: that earthly joy is, or ought to be, just within, but is often just beyond our reach, denied by racism, misogyny, physical cruelty and those with the class power to deny others their share of worldly goods and pleasures.' |
ISBN | : | | 9781845234331 |
Title | : | | A Portable Paradise (2019) |
Author | : | | Roger Robinson |
| Movie'Amidst the political conflict of Northern Ireland in the 1990s, five high school students square off with the universal challenges of being a teenager.' (via Netflix) |
Title | : | | Derry Girls (2018-22) |
Author | : | | Lisa McGee |
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Instructional modesLectureAttendance Mandatory | | Yes |
| Seminar
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| TestsPresentationTest weight | | 20 |
Test type | | Oral exam |
Opportunities | | Block PER 3, Block PER 3 |
Minimum grade5,5
| Midterm essayTest weight | | 30 |
Test type | | Project |
Opportunities | | Block PER 3, Block PER 4 |
Minimum grade5,5
| Final essayTest weight | | 50 |
Test type | | Project |
Opportunities | | Block PER 4, Block PER 4 |
Minimum grade5,5
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