MODULE SPECIFICATION TEMPLATE
MODULE DETAILS
Module title
Module code
Credit value
Level
Mark the box to the right of the
appropriate level with an ‘X’
Caribbean and African American Writing: ‘Race’, history, fiction and
resistance.
HC663
60
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6 X
Level 7
Level 8
Level 0 (for modules at foundation level)
Entry criteria for registration on this module
Pre-requisites
Specify in terms of module codes or
equivalent
Students must: (1) have developed an ability to organise and present
argument in written and oral forms, (2) have learnt to address
interdisciplinary means of working, based on the methodologies taught in
level 4, and consolidated at level 5; (3) normally, have successfully
completed level 4 and level 5 of the Humanities Degree Programme or
equivalent; (4) understand key concepts in the study of fiction and cultural
context, and be able to deploy these appropriately.
Co-requisite modules
Specify in terms of module codes or
equivalent
Module delivery
Mode of delivery
Taught
X
Distance
Placement
Online
Other
Pattern of delivery
Weekly X
Block
Other
When module is delivered
Semester 1
Semester 2
Throughout year X
Other
Brief description of module This unit explores representations of ‘race’ and resistance in the works of
content and/ or aims
Caribbean and African American writers. It focuses slavery, colonialism
Overview (max 80 words)
and their legacies in the Caribbean and African American imaginary. The
unit interrogates the complex relationships between ‘race’, gender,
sexuality and representation in a variety of cultural texts from the
Caribbean, America and Britain. It introduces students to key post-colonial
paradigms.
Module team/ author/
Anita Rupprecht
coordinator(s)
Cathy Bergin
School
Humanities
Site/ campus where
Pavilion Parade
delivered
Course(s) for which module is appropriate and status on that course
Course
Status (mandatory/ compulsory/
optional)
History, Literature and Culture (LQVO)
Optional
MODULE AIMS, ASSESSMENT AND SUPPORT
Aims
Learning outcomes
This unit consolidates and further develops key generic, formal, and
historical methods introduced in the Second Year. (i) Within a
theoretical framework informed by the key concepts of literary
postcolonialism the course explores the role of transatlantic plantation
slavery in the development of Caribbean and African American literary
traditions. (ii) It traces the ways in which these are mobilized in
powerful postcolonial critiques in late 20C Anglophone Caribbean
imaginative fiction. (iii) This work is then flexed to investigate
articulations of African American identities and agency in particular
narrative works, including fiction and autobiography. (iv) The unit
analyses the relations of such articulations of identity to the possibilities
and limitations of both ‘realist’ and ‘modernist’ novel forms. (v) The unit
draws on critical approaches to ideology, fiction, genre and the cultural
politics of ‘race’ and gender to examine a range of texts produced
within a periods of intense political resistance and cultural innovation.
By the end of the unit, students will: i) be able to consolidate, apply and thus
to develop, the methodologies introduced in Part 2; ii) have developed their
capacities for independent and self-motivated learning; iii) have developed
and consolidated their analytic, synthetic and comparative abilities through the
critical and effective presentation of competently researched oral and written
work; (iii) consider the broad historical context of the colonial and
postcolonial Caribbean, and why, and how, that geographical and historical
space has given rise to particular literary lineages, formations, and themes (iv)
be able to analyse how African American writers engaged with a set of literary
and political traditions in the articulation of particular identities
Content
The unit is structured around two linked areas of study. The first introduces
students to the colonial and post colonial Caribbean with a particular focus on
the legacy of slavery. Second, this study includes analyses of literary
techniques of intertextuality, plural voices, and fragmentation to explore the
experience of dislocation, exile, and the question of belonging. Third, the unit
then builds upon this work by tracing cultural representations of ‘race’ and
resistance in a variety of African American fiction and non-fiction texts the
US. Fourth, the aim is to explore the models of agency (political and
aesthetic) in the repertoire of Caribbean and African American writers and
activists. Fifth, we address the relationship between particular literary forms
(e.g. Gothic, Realism and Modernism) and the articulation of specific political
identities in the context of ‘race’.
Learning support
Indicative Reading and References
Cleaver, E, Soul on Ice (1969).
Ellison, R Invisible Man (2001)
Ferguson, M Subject to Others: British Women Writers and Colonial Slavery,
1670-1834, (1992)
Gates, H L jr., The Signifying Monkey: Towards A Theory of Afro-American
Literary Criticism (1988)
Heuman, G & Walvin J, (eds), The Slavery Reader (2003)
Morrison, T, Beloved (1987).
Teaching and learning activities
Details of teaching and
learning activities
Tutor-led introductions/lectures to key themes and reading; staff
directed but student-led seminar presentations and discussions;
student lead seminars exploring key readings; pre and post-essay
tutorials to discuss written work; timetabled revision sessions to guide
preparation for examination.
Allocation of study hours (indicative)
Study hours
Where 10 credits = 100 learning hours
SCHEDULED
This is an indication of the number of hours students can expect to
spend in scheduled teaching activities including lectures, seminars,
tutorials, project supervision, demonstrations, practical classes and
workshops, supervised time in workshops/ studios, fieldwork,
external visits, and work-based learning.
120
GUIDED INDEPENDENT
STUDY
All students are expected to undertake guided independent study
which includes wider reading/ practice, follow-up work, the
completion of assessment tasks, and revisions.
480
PLACEMENT
The placement is a specific type of learning away from the University
that is not work-based learning or a year abroad.
n/a
TOTAL STUDY HOURS
600
Assessment tasks
Details of assessment for
this module
• Assessment criteria
The essays are assessed in relation to Learning Objectives i, ii, iv and
v with particular attention to students’ ability to (i) produce a clearly
structured and cogently argued essay; (ii) draw on an appropriate
range of interdisciplinary resources and demonstrate their relevance to
the question at hand; (iii) identify the key issues and problems in their
analysis, and in the upper range to attempt a resolution of those issues,
and/or show an awareness of the limitations of the work, (iv)
demonstrate good understanding of Caribbean and African American
literary traditions.
The seminars and oral presentations are assessed in relation to LOs
iii,iv and v with particular attention to: (i) students’ ability to contribute
effectively to group work, responding and listening appropriately to the
contributions of others, (ii) clarity of thought and of argument in
presentation, (iii) knowledge of key concepts and arguments in relation
to required reading.
The examination is assessed in relation to LO i, ii, iv and v.
Types of assessment task1
•Assessment process
All essays are assessed by the tutor, and then discussed with each
student on return;
Seminars are assessed continuously by the tutor;
Seminar marks and comments are fed back to students by personal
tutors.
% weighting
Indicative list of summative assessment tasks which lead to the award of credit or which are required for
progression.
(or indicate if
component is
pass/fail)
WRITTEN
Three hour examination (LO ii, iv and v)
12
COURSEWORK
Four 1800 word essays (LO i, ii, iii, iv and v)
44
PRACTICAL
Weekly assessment of performance in two seminars every week (iii,
iv and v)
44
1 Set exercises, which assess the application of knowledge or analytical, problem-solving or evaluative skills, are included
under the type of assessment most appropriate to the particular task.
EXAMINATION INFORMATION
Area examination board
Humanities
Refer to Faculty Office for guidance in completing the following sections
External examiners
Name
Position and institution
Date appointed
Date tenure
ends
Professor Darryl Jones
Professor Mark McGovern
Professor James Connelly
Professor Brian Kelly
Trinity
Edgehill
Hull University
Queens University, Belfast
2009/10
2012/13
2009/10
2012/13
2013/4
2015/16
2012/13
2015/6
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Date of first approval
2008
Only complete where this is not the
first version
Date of last revision
2008
Only complete where this is not the
first version
Date of approval for this
version
Version number
Modules replaced
2008
4
Specify codes of modules for which
this is a replacement
Available as free-standing module?
Yes
x
No