Southern Spaces

Key information

Status
Module not running
Module code
152900102
FHEQ Level
6
Credits
15
Department
Centre for English Studies

Module overview

This module takes its name from a London conference that led to the landmark publication, Text, Theory, Space, edited by Kate Darian-Smith, Liz Gunner and Sarah Nuttall in 1996.

Focussing on land, literature and history in South Africa and Australia, and hosted by SOAS and the Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies in 1993, the conference aimed to look at the similarities of these two ‘settler sites’ from different disciplines and included a contribution from the spatial historian Paul Carter whose seminal work, The Road to Botany Bay, is also seminal to this module.

Taking these two critical works as a starting point, together with J. M. Coetzee’s White Writing, the module consider issues of landscape, travel, and textuality in prose from South Africa and Australia, as well as the Indian Ocean more widely: in particular there will be a focus on Ceylon as an imperial outpost and the literary output in present-day Sri Lanka.

Examining ideas of ‘networks of empire’, the module will consider questions of ownership and belonging, cultural identity and issues of migration, in relation to landscape as well as coastlines.  The module is suitable for students of anglophone literature, history and geography.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

On successful completion of this module students will be able to

  • Demonstrate an advanced level of understanding of literary and critical representations of land, literature, and history in South Africa, Australia and the Indian Ocean (particularly Sri Lanka)
  • Demonstrate the ability to undertake independent research and complete it successfully
  • Demonstrate an advanced level of expression of his/her views both orally and in written form

Workload

This module will be taught over 10 weeks with 2 hour seminars/tutorials and 1 hour essay tutorials, research skills, library excursions and film screenings classroom contact per week.

Method of assessment

  • 750-word creative-critical travelogue (worth 30% of marks)
  • 1,500-word archive story (worth 50%)
  • 750-word atlas notebook (worth 10%)
  • Regular attendance and seminar participation (worth 10%)

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules