Summer 2015
English 117B: Global Film, Literature, and Culture (3 units of SJSU
credit, satisfies a GE requirement, Area V)
Overview: This summer course will introduce students to Ireland’s rich literary and cultural history, set
in a context of contemporary global film and literature. The course spans 6 weeks: 1 week of classes at
SJSU, 3 weeks in Ireland, plus a free week in between.
Course Description: The course description (as defined by the GE committee) is as follows: “Using
films and literary works, students will appreciate and understand the narratives that create and define
cultural identity, explore cultural interaction, and illustrate cultural preservation and cultural difference
over time. We also examine how the films utilize the approaches to story-telling differently from
traditional fictional forms: especially plays and short stories. We will look at films and read texts that are
written in, set in, or depict multiple time periods and world cultures.” This particular version of the course
will focus on Ireland and other former colonies of the British Empire, including the U.S.
Course Themes: Some of the common themes we will explore across these widely different texts and
cultures will include the ways in which national and cultural identities are formed and contested,
particularly in the telling of stories and the recording of history; imperialism, occupation, and war; the
role of the artist in society, and dynamics of class, gender, race, and religion.
Why Ireland? Ireland is a great place to study how cultural identity is formed and changed over time and
how identity is affected by contact with other cultures. Because the Irish struggled to maintain their
cultural identity over 700 years of domination by the British empire, their literature contains a rich record
of that struggle, which offers many insights into the process of cultural definition and preservation. In
modern times, because Ireland has become a magnet for immigrants after its “Celtic Tiger” revival in the
90s, it is also an excellent place to study how different cultures influence each other in the era of
accelerating globalization.
Finally, despite its small population, Ireland has produced 4 Nobel laureates in literature and has a
thriving, award-winning film industry. We will visit Ireland’s two film institutes (in Galway and Dublin)
and some of their many cultural and literary pilgrimage sites, such as the James Joyce Center and the
Abbey Theater in Dublin, and Galway Bay and Coole Park out West, to name a few.
Reading List (Tentative):
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Translations: A Play by Brian Friel
“Ship Fever” (short story) by Andrea Barrett
Dubliners by James Joyce (selections)
Dubliners at 100: 15 New Stories Inspired by the Original Edited by Thomas Morris
John Bull’s Other Island by Bernard Shaw
The Deportees (stories) by Roddy Doyle
Course Reader (selections of poetry, memoir, history, flash fiction, film and literary analyses)
Film List (Tentative):
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The Hanging Gale (BBC miniseries)
Michael Collins dir. Neil Jordan
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
In the Name of the Father dir. Jim Sheridan
Death of a Superhero dir. Ian Fitzgibbon
The Mission (South America)
Whale Rider (New Zealand)
Cry Freedom (South Africa)
The Beautiful Country (Vietnam/America)
Swades (India)
Assignments
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4 Reflections on the reading: (250-350 words each)
Research Project (1000 words)
Film Comparison/Reflection
(1000 words)
Small Assignments: reflections on the sites, film responses, etc.
Final essay: Reflection/reminiscence/analysis(1000 words)
200 points
200 points
200 points
200 points
200 points
Small assignments will include daily journal entries reflecting on the day’s excursions, informal
interviews with locals, responses to performances, informal presentations on individual students’ research
and analysis, short responses to reading questions, and (optional) fictional riffs on the readings. These
assignments will have enough variety and flexibility to encourage students to capitalize on their talents,
whether in writing fiction, analyzing historical documents, or writing travel essays. Mixed media projects
(such as photo essays with commentary or podcasts including interviews of local people) will also be
encouraged.
For the research project, individually or in pairs, students will choose a global film to research and
present to the class, along with a written version of their findings. This will include analysis and
evaluation, as well as background information to provide context.