Unit information: Interrelation of Culture Between Britain, Africa and the Caribbean in 2020/21

Unit name	Interrelation of Culture Between Britain, Africa and the Caribbean
Unit code	ENGL30137
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Gournet
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	none
Co-requisites	none
School/department	Department of English
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Description

This unit will introduce students to the diversity of literature written from British former African and Caribbean colonies and its distinctive qualities. Students will study a selection of texts from a variety of writers covering the period from Negritude to contemporary with a particular focus on the British cultural legacy in the African and Caribbean speaking countries.

Aims:

This unit will aim to examine the interrelation of cultures between the ‘mother country’ and former African and Caribbean colonies. Through the study of language, literature and music, students will be asked to read a range of creative, critical, and theoretical works, and to place them in a wider historical context. Through this work, students will also have an opportunity to consider broader developments in contemporary writing.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will be able to:

1. Analyse a wide range of works, from negritude to present days, which illustrate various aspects of creative and critical writing or thought from Africa and the diaspora
2. Critically place these works in the context of contemporary writing more widely and in their historical context
3. Communicate ideas about these issues effectively orally and in writing
4. Present a persuasive written argument appropriate to level H/6.

Teaching Information

This unit will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous teaching.

Each seminar will utilise a range of teaching methods including lectures by the tutor(s), formal and informal presentations by students, small group discussion supportied by formative tasks and self-directed exercises.

Assessment Information

1 x 3500-word essay (70%) [ILOs 1-4]

1 x Oral presentation (30%) [ILOs 1-4]

Reading and References

Stephen Greenblatt, Norton' Anthology' of English 'L'iterature': The' t'w'entieth' and 'Twenty First' Centuries'. 10th Edition.

Paula Burnett, The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse in English

Eustace Palmer, An introduction to the African 'Novel

Wa Thiong'o Ngugi, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature

Barry Chevannes, 'Betwixt and Between: Explorations in an African-Caribbean Mindscape

Bill Ashcroft: The Empire Writes back