Hong Kong Shue Yan University
Department of English Language & Literature
Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies
Course Title
: Seminar in Cultural Theories and Practice
Course Code
: ENG 503
Number of Credits
:3
Duration in Weeks
: 14
Contact Hours Per Week
: Discussion (3 Hours)
Pre-requisite(s)
: NIL
Prepared by
: Prof. WONG Kin Yuen, Dr. Amy CHAN, Dr. Josephine YAM
Course Description
This Graduate Seminar is designed to feature a tripartite structure with equal emphasis on
1 Ecocriticism, ○
2 Gender Studies & Society, and ○
3 Language &
three areas, namely ○
Literature, to be delivered by a team of teaching staff. Students are assigned to read a core of
original articles written by established scholars in the fields. Each area will take up three
weeks and together they form a background of individual presentations starting from the
tenth week. Topics for presentation are chosen by students and all teachers and students will
engage in rigorous discussion, with specific attention given to the feasibility of the proposals,
their methodologies, conceptual framework and appropriateness, and the scope and breadth
of the projects. It is hoped that, instead of the teacher-to-students format, all participants in
the seminar will join in a structured discussion guided by a proposer-respondent platform.
Course Outcomes, Teaching Activities and Assessment
Course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
Upon completion of this course students should be able to:
discuss the critical concepts in original articles written by established
ILO1
scholars
apply the critical concepts in analysis of cultural texts
ILO2
question the validity of the concepts in class discussion and debate
ILO3
Evaluate the critical concepts in writing
ILO4
TLA1
Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
Close reading of articles
TLA2
TLA3
TLA4
TLA5
TLA6
AT1
AT2
AT3
AT4
AT5
Class discussion
Oral presentation
Response to oral presentation
Research paper presentation
Research paper
Assessment Tasks (ATs)
In-class discussion
Students are to respond actively to specific questions made by the
lecturer as well as participate in class discussion in either in lecture
or tutorial.
Oral presentation
Students are to take turn to deliver oral presentation on the assigned
readings and lead discussion.
Response to oral presentation
Students are assigned to respond to an oral presentation. They are
to comment on the presentation and raise questions which
demonstrate their understanding of the topic.
Research paper presentation
Students are to deliver an oral presentation of paper thesis and
outline.
Research paper
Students are to write a research paper which can demonstrate a
solid grasp of issue(s) and concept(s) taught in the course. Students
have to formulate a specific question and adopt a problem-solving
approach which can demonstrate their ability of critical thinking
and analysis.
TOTAL
10%
20%
10%
20%
40%
100%
Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Activities
and Assessment Tasks
Course Intended Learning
Teaching and Learning
Assessment Tasks
Outcomes
Activities
ILO1
TLA1,2,3
AT1,2
ILO2
TLA5,6
AT4,5
ILO3
TLA2,3,4
AT3,4,5
ILO4
TLA5
AT6
Course Outline
PART A
Ecocriticism
Week 1
Bate, Jonathan. (2000) The Song of the Earth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp.
94-175; 205-242; 293-302; 306-311.
Week 2
Howarth, William. (1996) “Some Principles of Ecocriticm.” The Ecocriticism Reader. Ed.
Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm.Georgia: University of Georgia Press. pp.69-91.
Manes, Christopher. (1996) “Nature and Silence.” The Ecocriticism Reader. Ed. Cheryll
Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Georgia: University of Georgia Press. pp.15-29.
Love, Glen A. (1996) “Revaluing Nature: Toward an Ecological Criticism.” The
Ecocriticism Reader. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Georgia: University of
Georgia Press. pp. 225-240.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Mont Blanc”
John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale,” “To Autumn”
Thomas Hardy, “She Hears the Storm”
Week 3
Campbell, Sueelee. “The Land and Language of Desire: Where Deep Ecology and Poststructuralism Meet.” The Ecocriticism Reader. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm.
Georgia: University of Georgia Press. pp. 124-136.
Norwood, Vera L. (1996) “Heroines of Nature: Four Women Respond to the American
Landscape.” The Ecocriticism Reader. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Georgia:
University of Georgia Press. pp. 323-250.
Kolodny, Annette. (1996) “Unearthing Herstory: An Introduction.” The Ecocriticism
Reader. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
pp. 170-181.
Sarah Ome Jewett, “A White Heron”
Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Bones of the Earth,” from Tales from Earthsea
PART B
Gender Studies & Society
Week 1 Sexuality and Body
Irigaray, Luce. (1985) “This Sex Which Is Not One,” “When Our Lips Speak Together.”
This Sex Which Is Not One. Trans. Catherine Porter. Ithaca & New York: Cornell
University Press. pp. 23-33, 205-218.
Butler, Judith. (1993) “Bodies That Matter.” Bodies That Matter. New York & London:
Routledge. pp. 27-56.
Helen Chasin’s “The Word Plum”
Excerpts from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
Week 2 Gender and Society
hooks, bell. (2000) “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression,” “The
Significance of Feminist Movement,” “Feminist Movement to End Violence,” “Ending
Female Sexual Oppression,” “Feminist Revolution: Development Through Struggle.”
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. London: Pluto Press. pp. 18-42, 117-132, 148166.
Marge Piercy’s “The Barbie Doll”
Anne Sexton’s “Cinderella”
Week 3 Body and Writing
Cixous, Hélène. (1997) “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Feminism: An Anthology of Literary
Theory and Criticism. Revised edition. Eds. Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Price Herndl.
New Brunswick & New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. pp. 347-362.
Jones, Ann Rosalind. (1997) “Writing the Body: Toward an Understanding of l’Écriture
feminine.” Feminism: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. pp. 370-383.
Homans, Margaret. (1997) “’Women of Color’ Writers and Feminist Theory.” Feminism:
An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. pp. 406-429.
Excerpts from Hélène Cixous’ The Third Body
Excerpts from Monique Wittig’s The Lesbian Body
PART C Language & Literature
Week 1: Structural Analysis of Language in Literature
Jakobson, R. (1962). Selected Writings. The Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter. pp.3-51;87-97.
Jakobson, R.; Pomorska, K. and Rudy, S. (eds.). (1985). Verbal Art, Verbal Sign, Verbal
Time. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp.11-36;69-110.
Week 2: Sound Patterns and Signs in Literature
Culler, J. D. (1986). Ferdinand de Saussure. N.Y. Cornell University Press. pp.105-122.
Jakobson, R. ,and Waugh, L. R. (2002). The Sound Shape of Language. Berlin ; New
York : Mouton de Gruyter. pp.181-197; 208-219; 233-240.
Reference: Sipho Sepamla’s “Words, Words, Words”
Week 3: Linguistic Forms, Discourse Structures and Literary Effects
Bednarek. M. Expressivity and televisual characterization. Language and Literature.
February 2011, 20: 3-21.
Dorst, A. G. Personification in discourse: Linguistic forms, conceptual structures and
communicative functions. Language and Literature. May 2011 20: 113-135.
Toolan, M. (1998). Language in Literature: an Introduction to Stylistics. London; New
York : Arnold. pp.136-161.
Course Implementation
Students will be divided into three small groups. Each group will start with a different area.
For example, Group 1 will start with Part A, Group 2 Part B and Group 3 Part C. They will
switch to another part after 3 weeks.
Since the format of the course is a graduate seminar, there will be no lectures. Instructors
will be the facilitators in the discussion. Students will take turn to lead the discussion on the
reading materials. Each student will probably take up this role for no more than one time in
each part.
All students will come together for the project presentation starting from Week 10. Students
are required to deliver the proposal and outline of their research paper in a 15-minute oral
presentation. All students are expected to participate in
The topics in all three parts have been introduced to students in both the core and elective
courses in this programme. Students are assigned to read the secondary sources in those
courses. It is the aim of this graduate seminar to train students to read original articles written
by established scholars in the fields. Nevertheless, the topics will not be completely new to
students and that explains why students are expected to write a research paper of substantial
length and depth after enrolling in this seminar.
Primary Texts
PART A
Bate, Jonathan. (2000) The Song of the Earth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Glotfelty, Cheryll & Fromm, Harold, eds. (1996) The Ecocriticism Reader. Georgia:
University of Georgia Press.
PART B
Butler, Judith. (1993) Bodies That Matter. New York & London: Routledge.
hooks, bell. (2000) Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. London: Pluto Press.
Irigaray, Luce. (1985) This Sex Which Is Not One. Trans. Catherine Porter. Ithaca & New
York: Cornell University Press
Warhol, Robyn R. & Herndl, Diane Price, eds. (1997) Feminism: An Anthology of Literary
Theory and Criticism. Revised edition. New Brunswick & New Jersey: Rutgers University
Press.
PART C
Jakobson, R. (1962). Selected Writings. The Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter.
Jakobson, R. and Waugh, L. R. (2002). The Sound Shape of Language. Berlin ; New York :
Mouton de Gruyter.
Toolan, M. (1998). Language in Literature: an Introduction to Stylistics.
Supplementary Texts
PART A
Garrard, Greg. (2011) Ecocriticism. 2nd edition. London & New York: Routledge.
Coupe, Laurence. (2000) The Green Studies Reader: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism.
London & New York: Routledge.
Morton, Timothy. (2010) The Ecological Thought. New York: Harvard University Press.
PART B
Butler, Judith. (2006) Gender Trouble. New York & London: Routledge.
Cixous, Hélène. (1992) “Coming to Writing” and Other Essays. Ed. Deborah Jenson Trans.
Sarah Cornell. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Davidson, Maria del Guadalupe & Yancy, George, eds. (2009) Critical Perspectives on bell
hooks. New York & London: Routledge.
Freedman, Estelle, ed. (2007) The Essential Feminist Reader. New York: Random House.
Gamble, Sarah, ed. (2001) The Routledge Companion to Feminism and Postfeminism. New
York & London: Routledge.
hooks, bell. (1999) Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Jones, Rachel. (2011) Irigaray: Towards a Sexuate Philosophy. Cambridge & Malden: Polity.
Salih, Sara, & Butler, Judith, eds. (2004) The Judith Butler Reader. Malden: Blackwell.
Sellers, Susan, ed. (1994) The Hélène Cixous Reader. London & New York: Routledge.
Shiach, Morag, ed. (1999) Feminism & Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
Whitford, Margaret. (1999) The Irigaray Reader: Luce Irigaray. Malden & Oxford:
Blackwell.
PART C
Bednarek. M. Expressivity and televisual characterization. Language and Literature.
February 2011, 20: 3-21.
Culler, J. D. (1986). Ferdinand de Saussure. N.Y. Cornell University Press.
Dorst, A. G. Personification in discourse: linguistic forms, conceptual structures and
communicative functions. Language and Literature. May 2011 20: 113-135.
Jakobson, R.; Pomorska, K. and Rudy, S., eds. (1985). Verbal Art, Verbal Sign, Verbal Time.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Fabb, Nigel. (1997). Linguistics and Literature. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fabb, Nigel. (2002). Language and Literary Structure: the Linguistic Analysis of Form in
Verse and Narrative. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Academic Honesty
You are expected to do your own work. Dishonesty in fulfilling any assignment undermines
the learning process and the integrity of your college degree. Engaging in dishonest or
unethical behavior is forbidden and will result in disciplinary action, specifically a failing
grade on the assignment with no opportunity for resubmission. A second infraction will
result in an F for the course and a report to College officials. Examples of prohibited
behavior are:






Cheating – an act of deception by which a student misleadingly demonstrates that s/he
has mastered information on an academic exercise. Examples include:
Copying or allowing another to copy a test, quiz, paper, or project
Submitting a paper or major portions of a paper that has been previously submitted for
another class without permission of the current instructor
Turning in written assignments that are not your own work (including homework)
Plagiarism – the act of representing the work of another as one’s own without giving
credit.

Failing to give credit for ideas and material taken from others

Representing another’s artistic or scholarly work as one’s own
Fabrication – the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research
or other findings with the intent to deceive
To comply with the University’s policy, all written assignments have to be submitted to
VeriGuide.